rancid

These punk records from 2000 led the genre into a brand-new century

2000: The year Texas Gov. George W. Bush vanquished Bill Clinton’s Vice President Al Gore under what many contend was less-than-honest circumstances. Bush would assume the following January the seat in the Oval Office that his father George H.W. Bush occupied a decade before. The 43rd U.S. president soon blazed through Clinton’s budget surplus in […]

How ska paved the way for punk... and took over the world along the way

“We’re the Interrupters! We’re from Los Angeles, California!” the young guitarist announces over a fanfare, as the camera pulls back and reveals a four-piece band, plus a singer, and a crush of throbbing humanity in a tiny space. “And this first song is a protest song, but it’s also a unity song. Because there’s no […]

10 times different artists collaborated to make inspiring music

September 1963: A young R&B combo called the Rolling Stones are rehearsing, preparing for a recording session. Their manager, former Beatles publicist Andrew Loog Oldham, was tearing his hair out. They were about to record their second single, a follow-up to their modestly successful remake of Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” But they had one problem: […]

1998’s top 15 punk albums simultaneously changed and preserved the form

Top 15 punk albums of 1998? You’d be forgiven for thinking that there weren’t any in the year the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal dominated the news. A quick perusal of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles of the year sees domination by several R&B (Destiny’s Child, Janet Jackson, Usher, Mariah Carey) or hip-hop (Puff Daddy, Master P, […]

HE Creative are illustrating the evolution of the punk scene

Don’t be fooled: HE Creative are doing exactly what you think they’re doing when you glance over their Instagram feed for the first time—creating a normalized space for punk rock, female empowerment, diversity and more. Designed in various shades of muted hues, HE Creative are using their creative design studio as a means to elevate […]

These 15 albums from 1997 irrefutably proved that punk was far from dead

1997: All media is declaring the alternative–rock explosion—for which Nirvana lit the fuse—over. This means the commercial pop-punk wave Green Day touched off was over in their eyes, too. That selfsame media could not have been more wrong. Green Day had just issued their fifth album, Nimrod. The Offspring, the band who made the catchphrase […]

How punk and reggae united and went "outernational" to rule the world

This past March 5, the French punk label Guerilla Asso quietly slipped a genius album into the marketplace: Rocket To Kingston, credited to Bobby Ramone. The melding of the isolated vocal tracks from nine of Bob Marley’s most deathless classics to edited Ramones backing tracks, it sounds like a joke on paper. The cover even […]

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 […]

Hot Milk are expanding their musical family with each new performance

Han Mee and Jim Shaw took a big risk when they quit their jobs in the music industry to start Hot Milk. But soon enough, the Manchester-based band, rounded out by bassist Tom Paton and drummer Harry Deller, were supporting bands such as Foo Fighters and You Me At Six. In May 2019, they released […]

Shapel Lacey perfectly weaves the DIY attitude into his comedy work

Shapel Lacey, an L.A. by way of Arizona stand-up comedian, is a true-to-form alternative fan. Onstage and behind podcast mics, he never shies away from sharing his love of Oasis, Rancid and beyond, knowing full well that acts such as these inform his whole life and art form.  Lacey may have come to your attention […]

15 artists who draw influence from the Clash’s dynamic punk spirit

Some promo copywriter at the Clash’s American label, Epic Records, came up with the questionable slogan “19 songs by the only band that matters” for the sticker that appeared on the face of 1980’s U.S. release of London Calling. While singer/guitarist Joe Strummer, lead guitarist Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Topper Headon didn’t […]

15 albums from 1995 that are a perfect gateway into the world of punk

In 1996, Your Punk Professor interviewed the Clash’s distinguished lead guitarist Mick Jones for a proposed Alternative Press piece on punk’s original guitar heroes. Though it remains unpublished, I asked in the course of it what he thought of Rancid. Jones waxed effusive, noting he’d met the Berkeley punk traditionalists in the course of a […]

15 punk albums that set up 1994 to be a year of major change for the genre

To consider Alternative Press’ list of 1994’s top 15 punk albums, one has to bear in mind two factors: Green Day’s Dookie was released Feb. 1. Kurt Cobain died by his own hand April 5. The alternative nation’s voice was suddenly, shockingly stilled. After three years of the most popular music being an agonized scream […]

UK organizers detail how COVID-19 may change 2021 festival lineups

Organizers overseas are currently gearing up for the return of music festivals this summer. As COVID-19 cases in the U.K. slowly decline and more vaccinations are administered, many are optimistic that this year’s festival season will bring back some normalcy in what’s truly been an unprecedented past year. Despite some festivals going ahead as planned, […]

15 punk albums from 1993 that embraced contrarianism over prefab rebellion

Alternative rock still dominated popular music in 1993. This obviously begged the question of just how “alternative” something was if it was now on a major label and on the radio. Not necessarily a bad thing. After all, we’d never have to hear Whitesnake again. Bottom end and distortion returned to rock record-making in a […]

10 artists you probably didn't realize Travis Barker collaborated with

If the past year has proved anything, it’s that Travis Barker is the king of collaborations. From providing instrumentation and production for Machine Gun Kelly‘s Tickets To My Downfall to featuring under FEVER 333, Atreyu, Tyler Posey and phem, the blink-182 drummer has been keeping busy. But that’s hardly a change of pace. Barker has been extending his talents far and […]

21 Northern Californian artists who have influenced AFI’s Hunter Burgan

Southern California gets a lot of credit for being the birthplace of many bands that you know and love such as Black Flag and Bad Religion, but Northern California’s discography, which includes both Green Day and Metallica, isn’t exactly that shabby either. The area may get a little less public affirmation, but hopefully we can […]

21 alternative albums from 1998 that are still influencing bands today

1998 really wasn’t that long ago, but after saying the number 2021 out loud, it feels like it happened during another lifetime. To put things in perspective, Billie Eilish was born three years after 1998, and, hell, even FINNEAS was born the year before. Despite the fact that said year was toward the end of […]

10 underrated '90s lead singers who stepped in when another vocalist left

Replacing an original band member is never a fun experience, and there’s surely no role more difficult to fill than that of the lead singer. There have been exceptions to the rule, in the sense that the band went on to continue being successful (think Sammy Hagar in Van Halen), but there have also been […]

Expect everything but nostalgia from the Juliana Theory in 2021

First-person music journalism has always made this writer’s teeth grind. Most of the time the narrators don’t add anything to the story beyond the self-absorbed realm of mere attendance. (Read: “I’m here, you are not.”) But when it was announced that frontman Brett Detar and guitarist Josh Fiedler had reactivated the Juliana Theory with a […]
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