butthole surfers

These 15 classic albums made 1996 a crucial year in punk history

1996: President Bill Clinton was squaring off against Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in a successful bid for a second term in the White House. On April 3, former math professor Ted Kaczynski was arrested in his remote Montana cabin, suspected (correctly, it turns out) to be American domestic terrorist the Unabomber. Conservative public policy bulwark […]

15 bands who are crucial to the history of noise music

When it initially blasted into the world from New York’s Lower East Side almost concurrently with punk in 1977, it was dubbed no wave. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau referred to it as “skronk,” an onomatopoeia based around the general guitar sound. He uncharitably dubbed its ’80s practitioners “pigfucker” bands. This writer’s personal name for […]

These 15 punk albums from 1988 helped shape alternative rock's future

Welcome to Alternative Press’ list of the best punk albums from 1988. Which, at the time, would have had most folks scratching their heads. After all, in 1988, the entire world thought punk rock was dead. Look at the charts: Guns N’ Roses and the more lightweight Sunset Strip glam-metal acts were defining “rock ’n’ […]

The best punk albums of 1984 were leaner, meaner and so much weirder

The Sex Pistols may have cheerfully sang “No future for you” back in 1977. But in the ’80s, an entire generation lived in fear that America and Russia would lob nuclear warheads at each other, making for a really MAD time. It’s only fitting that as American politics got more conservative, the underground would dig […]

These 14 punk albums of 1984 made the year heavier and meaner

First, some background about the motives of punk albums of 1984. Jello Biafra, in the Dead Kennedys‘ masterly 1979 debut single “California Über Alles,” predicted 1984 as the year presidential hopeful Jerry Brown‘s “suede/denim secret police” would be “knock-knock(ing) at your front door” to haul “your uncool niece” to a reeducation camp because “Zen fascists […]

The Jesus Lizard close out 2019 with “poker night” gigs

Rock music is a full-contact sport. Sure, you can knock down your feeling of FOMO with the internet and your favorite device. But it’s never loud enough. It’s never in breathtaking detail. It’s never, you know, real. So when a band like searing noise-rockers the Jesus Lizard decide to get together, it feels like a […]

Cherubs channel the ’60s in a kaleidoscopic trip through America—watch

Emerging from the unapologetic noise-rock vault, Cherubs are introducing Schoolhouse Rock! to the school of hard knocks. The band are teaming up with AP for open enrollment, sharing a new track and music video for “Full Regalia.” Endorsed by the cult-favorite Butthole Surfers, the band are priming listeners for their return full-length, Immaculada High. Read […]