dude, you remind me so much of my cousin its crazy which is a good thing. I will listen to the song. What is youre favorite non stream group
... That question is upsetting to me in the happiest of ways. Depends on what you mean by mainstream to me bands like Crass or Anti-Flag are mainstream (that's not a slight at pop music. Despacito fucking slaps). I'll just share five songs from five bands. Have you ever read High Fidelity by Nick Hornby? Never have I read a book written so similar to my own internal dialogue.
Lets start with Andrew Jackson Jihad, the whole album is gorgeous. Folk punk is typically dictated by trainhopping gutter punk kids. Who come here in the winter, and spend their summers in Portland but AJJ carries on the spirit of Woody Guthrie in a way he would have respected most. So I picked this because the subtle thump of an upright bass and the crooning chorus but the lyrical storytelling that cuts to a current generations emotions. Gorgeous, just gorgeous.
I saw a junkie laying in a puddle of his own blood last week, I saw a cyclist get hit by a car. I saw a homeless guy chug a bottle of mouthwash on Christmas eve. No, you can never fall too far. You can buy a Salad Glove, you can buy an iPod. And you can sell that shit to Bookman's when your wife dies and you lose your job You can hope it gets better and you can follow your dreams But hope is for presidents and dreams are for people who are sleeping.
Can I get an oof?
Next the band that encompasses the essence of my political beliefs. Brutal truth, but no expectation of change. Music that's the equivalent of spitting in the face. Leftover Crack is hella famous, but this is a remake of the song by a band Intro5pect.
To live without a heart
As another migrant family is torn apart
The xenophobia's here
But life inside a bubble that is full of fear
Will crush your soul inside
Another empty shell full of national pride
To live inside a cage
Cutting grass or washing dishes
For a slavery wage
Now lets get sexy with it, a band that's so gorgeous they're tattooed multiple times on my body. Kalnoky not just leads the band, but he writes the music as well. The tightness of the horn section? The literary references? How do you take a ska riff and make it new? That "Here's To Life!" After the Hemingway reference? Bro, perfection. The slip into the acoustic for the Salinger verse? Bah Gawd. THE DUELING BRASS as the bassist slides leading to that fucking crescendo!?
Well, Hemingway never seemed to mind the banalities of a normal life
And I find it gets harder every time.
So he aimed a shotgun into the blue
Placed his face in between the two and sighed: "Here's to life!"
Off With Their Heads, such a throwback to that 2000-2008 era of punk rock, as aging punk rockers saw their hatred and aggro turn to acceptance. No more 40 oz drunk punx, an anger not at politics or society, but at their situation. In an odd way this is a Millennial anthem in the way it echo's the acceptance of nihilism. A culture of service industry workers snorting coke off bathroom stalls, overdrinking and fucking coworkers to try and carry on with some bit of optimism.
I left it to chance
I never should've let this get so far out of hand.
But I'll do anything to not be alone 'cause when I'm alone you know I'll...
I can easily fall back into old habits that I thought I'd left behind
And they rip me apart and I realize...
Don't be alarmed, I have to lie
Take everything and keep it in stride.
I know I'm sick and I'm not right.
I'm so f*cking tired of living this life.
I made for myself, I'm sorry that I
Cannot get past what keeps me away from the light.
I hope this explains my problem to you,
Cause I feel like this every night.
Don't wanna be like this, anxious and angry, hopeless, upset all the time.
Unable to get back the feeling I lost somewhere along the line.
I wear it all on my sleeve and everyone sees no matter how hard I try.
I've never felt worse in my whole life.
Let's slow it down now, and hop back to to a soul ska tune. Plodding basslines, the final album a homage to Otis and Aretha with that old school skinhead style. So I'm going to drop it down final and drop it real sexy. A band that dropped one of the only modern Rocksteady albums since Toots coined the term Reggae around the summer of 1964. Soul/Ska/Skinhead reggae/dub all having an orgy just to create a soundscape for an out of wedlock pregnancy.
I'm not just drinking to forget you.
It's what I do to pass the time.
Because I'm proud I say I left you but we both know that isn't right.
I found my solace on this glass here.
A remedy that's conquered sleep,
I read your words they make me sick dear.
I just hang my head and weep.
Check your time boy... Check your time.
You're running to cocaine and cheap wine.
You say it's the life boy you say it's your life
Check your time boy, check your time
This took forever because there's so many fucking bands I love that should get representation. Plus I started vibing real hard while coming up with a Top 5.