![[Full Album] OPERATION IVY | "Energy"](https://img5.xaiju.com/storage/7/fj/so/d38796-019e834c-b830-76ef-8ce5-1fd2cbe5518c.png)
[Full Album] OPERATION IVY | "Energy"
Added 2025-01-01 15:00:17 +0000 UTCWell, you guys did it. This album sets the tone for 2025, and I certainly ain't mad at it. Holy crap, what a mature bass performance from Matt Freeman (or...McCall?!) at the ripe age of 22. He clearly had a soulful musical upbringing with these funky, punchy, character-ridden bass lines that drove this entire album from beat one. To me, these bass lines were lyrics.
Coincidentally, this episode was recorded the same exact day I filmed (and posted) my YouTube episode on Operation Ivy's "Bombshell", so this felt like a true full-circle moment for me. I feel like I get it now having much more context after covering punk and ska extensively for the last year. I now understand why this album cemented a legacy that's still talked about to this day.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
1:29 - "Knowledge"
5:57 - "Sound System"
12:34 - "Jaded"
16:54 - "Take Warning"
23:52 - "The Crowd"
30:26 - "Bombshell"
33:30 - "Unity"
37:59 - "Vulnerability"
40:52 - "Bankshot"
44:45 - "One of These Days"
48:26 - "Gonna Find You"
51:48 - "Bad Town"
55:32 - "Smiling"
59:14 - "Caution"
1:02:29 - "Freeze Up"
1:07:51 - "Artificial Life"
1:10:27 - "Room Without a Window"
1:14:24 - "Big City"
1:18:40 - "Missionary"
1:22:11 - Final Thoughts
Comments
I feel like it’s important context to remember that Matt was like 22 when this was recorded. What a visionary
Steve Biggin
2025-11-07 00:09:41 +0000 UTCYour thought process in analysis of this is so relatable and helpful.
Rich Lee
2025-09-15 05:56:03 +0000 UTCRancid led me to Operation Ivy, and I love it. ps never trust wikipedia
Chris M
2025-06-30 15:07:24 +0000 UTCThose songs were originally included in the Hectic E.P., which got tacked on at the end of Energy. Not sure why they wouldnt have been included in whatever streaming platform Mark is using here though as I've never seen a pressing or release of Energy without them.
jclaeys80
2025-06-17 16:00:05 +0000 UTCJourney to the East Bay
Josh Ott
2025-03-01 01:23:44 +0000 UTCThis is not operational ivys only album there is another one called seedy
Trey
2025-02-12 23:14:07 +0000 UTCAm I crazy, or is this missing like six or seven songs? Where’s Here We Go Again, Yellin’ In My Ear, and Healthy Body? Those are some of the best for bass stuff! Anyway, awesome. Would love to see a Common Rider song on the channel, and their second record (This Is Unity Music) for a full album …Mass Giorgini is another bass hero. Also, more from Alkaline Trio’s first four or five records. SO much great stuff from Dan Andriano. From Here to Infirmary for an album, and songs like Over and Out and Southern Rock are basically just bass songs with some other stuff thrown in!
Matt Payne
2025-01-15 04:00:27 +0000 UTCWould love a reaction album of Rancid 5. Great vids, Mark!
Clay1389
2025-01-10 02:53:12 +0000 UTCMatt, if you see this, I want to tell you the story of Lint. Lint was a truely influential guitarist. He pioneered the punk-ska guitar sound that would be used in every 3rd wave punk-ska band to come. After OpIvy, Lint went on to play in a couple of other Punk-ska bands, most notably Downfall. But Downfall didn't last very long, even though they were amazing. The reason why... Lint was murdered by a man named Tim Armstrong. Then, Tim assumed Lint's identity, talked Matt into starting a punk rock, no ska, band, Rancid, and only used the name Tim. Everyone has this collective amnesia, almost like a Mandela effect, about it, but this is absolutely true. It is not some conspiracy theory I invented in 1993 to explain why the first rancid album, and Let's Go!, had no ska on them at all.
charlie grasse
2025-01-08 02:33:47 +0000 UTCNOFX Coaster and Bad Religion Against the Grain for albums. Pennywise Dying to Know and Face to Face Handout for songs.
Josh Ott
2025-01-08 02:00:54 +0000 UTCLove it!!
Mark Michell
2025-01-07 23:08:38 +0000 UTCThanks Nina! Hope you've been well - yeah, I gotta circle back to those sometime, wasn't sure of the context. Spotify versions of old albums sometimes come with so many bonus/demos, so I've started sticking with the original release at first. Now I wish I had kept them on there, haha!
Mark Michell
2025-01-07 23:08:19 +0000 UTCThanks, Randy!!
Mark Michell
2025-01-07 23:07:03 +0000 UTCShucks, really appreciate that! Didn't catch the lyrics as much on this one -- bass playing first! 😇
Mark Michell
2025-01-07 23:06:56 +0000 UTCI think it's just more foreign to me from what I'm used to, but that's all subjective. It worked great for these vibes!
Mark Michell
2025-01-07 23:06:28 +0000 UTCThanks so much! Stay tuned for more RATM, another one coming fairly soon!
Mark Michell
2025-01-07 23:05:15 +0000 UTCThanks Daniel!! Happy New Year!
Mark Michell
2025-01-07 23:04:51 +0000 UTCHaha. Making shit up is fun!
Mark Michell
2025-01-07 23:04:43 +0000 UTCYou rock. This album changed my life in 1992
charlie grasse
2025-01-07 19:34:37 +0000 UTCGreat album. Some of your expressions to bits I knew you’d love were priceless! I love sound system, it was fun to play but I haven’t played it in ages. So many of my town local bands and even semi biger Aussie bands cover op ivy songs. But it always goes off coz everyone in the “scene” loves/knows this album. I forgot how many songs were on the album and ready comments I realised some songs were missing. Yelling in my ear is great.
Nina Daggett
2025-01-07 09:15:40 +0000 UTCNice , sick bass album review ! Next ; Oversight - Silent Days ! As sick as the Operation Ivy bass wise ✌🏽 i also was used to the remastered version with the extra 6 songs 😅
Craigarius
2025-01-06 16:46:50 +0000 UTCFavorite Op Ivy bassline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ1DTpuOrzA
Mickael noel
2025-01-05 14:02:45 +0000 UTCI fuckin love this album and I really enjoy your insight. Thank you for giving this a listen
Randy
2025-01-05 08:26:08 +0000 UTCthank you for the tip on the gadjits other music. i got locked into the from give em the boot vol 1 but my pre-ubiquitous internet teenage self had trouble finding any of their other ska music.
Cassidy
2025-01-04 21:36:55 +0000 UTCthis is energy music from Common Rider is also a banger.
Cassidy
2025-01-04 21:34:30 +0000 UTCand we also owe much respect to bands like Crimpshrine for paving the way for operation ivy to blossom in that space. Jesse Michaels himself said on IG that there would be no Op Ivy without Crimpshrine. i believe it.
Cassidy
2025-01-04 21:31:06 +0000 UTCalso Common Rider! i was OBSESSED with them in high school.
Cassidy
2025-01-04 21:29:14 +0000 UTCthis has been the best album breakdown yet. it really blew my mind hearing him analyze the bass part, because growing up hearing this album and being a hige fan of skacore, i just always thought “this is what music is supposed to sound like”; an alternate reality in which this wasnt the ultimate standard of bass playing just didnt exist for me. brilliant breakdown srsly. i hope Mark cam comb through the lyrics because this album has all the things. personal fav from this album is bankshot, strangely enough.
Cassidy
2025-01-04 21:28:45 +0000 UTCWhole album is a favorite
Andy Thompson
2025-01-04 14:55:43 +0000 UTCFreeze up is also my favorite song.
Aacc
2025-01-04 12:13:57 +0000 UTCChuck sucks.
Tim Kaiser
2025-01-04 06:36:47 +0000 UTCWould love this
Clay1389
2025-01-04 02:56:15 +0000 UTCits funny how the same thing can hit different peoples ears differently, you describe Tims tone here as rough which it is. That being said it is maybe one of my favorite guitar tones ever and one that has been tried to be replicated by many bands.
Mark Florczak
2025-01-04 00:54:14 +0000 UTCIf you haven’t checked out of of Jesse’s later band “classics of love”, you gotta. Start here with the 2012 self titled, it absolutely rules! https://youtube.com/watch?v=qXHeaKvSbZ0&feature=shared,
Steve Duff
2025-01-04 00:02:36 +0000 UTCAs someone who listened much more to the punk/hardcore side of things growing up, this album made me appreciate ska music. One of my first shows was seeing Green Day in 97 (Toronto) and they played Knowledge as someone else said. When I saw them pull a kid from the crowd to play, it was a moment that really stuck with me. I picked this up right away after attending that show and it has remained one of my favorites of all time since
Mark C
2025-01-03 14:10:05 +0000 UTCGreat one to do after this now: Rancid's Life Won't Wait
Ray Dweck
2025-01-03 07:26:40 +0000 UTCAmazing reaction dude. I would argue that this is the most influential album of punk rock, all time. I could appreciate an argument for the original Ramones album, or London Calling, or Dookie. But the 90s reset the love for punk, and this is what started it. Green Day, AFI, Offspring, Rancid obviously. None of these bands are who they are without this album. You clearly recognized this during your review. Appreciate a pro’s review, an outsider, on something I’ve had fully memorized for 25 years now. Thank you so much for the review, Mark.
Nicholas Mumbach
2025-01-03 04:58:38 +0000 UTCI just love how full circle this came for you, I started watching at Maxwell Murder so it's the same for me. I could talk music and drink a beer with you for hours ha Also love that you've come to appreciate the rawness and the "Era of a Band." Tim and Matt were friends since kids, and Tim is an amazing songwriter and has a great ear for music in general, so those two are a perfect symbiotic pair for writing music together. They feed off each and let one another speak musically. I would love to ask Tim when he realized Matt wasn't just "Good." Funny thing is Matt seems like such a calm collected personality type, but then he gets crazy through his music, a true Expression. You're a master musician and have a impressive ear and even you have trouble finding what he is playing, because he was a young kid freestyling and learning at the same time lol Can't wait for your next album listen. I suggest: Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire (Specifically for the Bass)
Crash Raphael
2025-01-02 23:48:32 +0000 UTCVery fun album to go through with you. I hadn't listened to it for quite a while and there were some excellent stuff I had forgotten on there. As always, Matt delivers some cool stuff, indeed. Op Ivy were a classic for a areason. I hope your New Years was good and that the upcoming year will be good for you and all all of us.
Daniel Karlsson
2025-01-02 22:10:43 +0000 UTCHalfway through. Already I can say my favorite part was during The Crowd when you start riffing some bass lines (which sounded great), shrug with a smirk, and say “making shit up”. Reminds me of playing in punk bands as a kid, and my friends doing something satisfying, and seeing its effect. Perfect moment lol
Socket Meyer
2025-01-02 20:06:31 +0000 UTCAppreciate the feedback!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:24:07 +0000 UTCDoing a song on the channel soon from that one, stay tuned!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:23:48 +0000 UTCAbout to go watch that, haha. Good timing!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:23:20 +0000 UTCI'll check it out shortly!!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:23:09 +0000 UTCAppreciate you joining, the support means a lot!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:22:34 +0000 UTCI plan to get to them soon enough!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:22:14 +0000 UTCThanks so much! There are a lot of those compilations I'm hearing about, and plan to maybe work them in for bonus episodes. All in time! Happy New Year!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:21:49 +0000 UTCYou bet Steve!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:21:11 +0000 UTCSo many cool stories here, love reading them!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:17:21 +0000 UTCYeah, I meant to circle back to it a lot sooner, but forgot honestly. Haha!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:16:04 +0000 UTCAmazing!! Love it
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:15:35 +0000 UTCLove these stories so much, thanks for sharing Chad - hope you enjoyed!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:15:27 +0000 UTCYeah! Some of my favorite songs from older eras of music are chock full of them, and I've learned to love it. Things like hearing that chorus 2 was actually played a little differently than chorus 1, etc. Way too easy to copy/paste those things today.
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:14:55 +0000 UTCOh wow, love that. I'll see if I can find any videos!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:12:27 +0000 UTCI need to go check that out!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:12:00 +0000 UTCHappy New Year, thanks for sharing this! Cheers!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:11:50 +0000 UTCGood call on The Ventures! Those guitar tones just immediately transport me to some of the BB stuff, haha
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:11:32 +0000 UTCThanks man! About 25 lbs. since then!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:10:53 +0000 UTCYou bet, cheers!
Mark Michell
2025-01-02 18:09:44 +0000 UTCGreat album!!! I'm so glad this one won. #FuckChuck
Justin Paden
2025-01-02 17:09:42 +0000 UTCGreat review, definitely bummed we missed out on the rest of the songs. Also, I always thought I heard this in some fever dream, but My Life is up there among my favorites Op Ivy tunes. Is this the only extant version, or is there a cleaner one somewhere? If anyone would have the answer it’s the patrons here. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lOAW2TbBD08
Matthew Gladys
2025-01-02 12:32:41 +0000 UTCstruggling watching this one for a couple reasons, too many pauses, and utter lack of appreciation of the entire ensemble, this shit hits so hard and the best parts are ignored, i know its bass focused but man you miss so much hyper focusing on bass
Dan P
2025-01-02 11:12:17 +0000 UTC“A bass player that can’t sit still on one note”. Hahahavaba. Love you Mark & Matt. Everyone be good in 2025.
Paydrough
2025-01-02 11:08:37 +0000 UTCRhino Records in downtown Claremont? I grew up in the IE (Alta Loma) and remember listening to KSPC a lot, making the trek to Claremont HS for the skate park, and going down Indian Hill to get to Rhino Records. I thought I heard they closed. Anyways, I live far away now but whenever I'm in the area I hit up Dr Strange Records.
Kenzi Graham
2025-01-02 05:32:25 +0000 UTCYep! Hoboken, yelling in my ear, healthy body,.etc! All great songs!
Nate
2025-01-02 05:22:50 +0000 UTC😯
Nate
2025-01-02 05:21:21 +0000 UTCEnergy video....awesome my man! But next up....we need Life Won't Wait! Matt really gets in touch with his John Entwistle roots! Please please please
Nate
2025-01-02 05:20:54 +0000 UTCI forgot “Hoboken” was not on this album 🤪. One of my favorites! Mark, you’ll have to do an extended remaster version too!
Trevor Kelly
2025-01-02 04:44:07 +0000 UTCYESSSS!! I love watching you discover these albums that I've loved for ages. Matt Freeman just did a play-along for Bombshell a few days ago! Check it out: https://youtu.be/m9k1YdwGe94
Kenzi Graham
2025-01-02 03:51:44 +0000 UTCProlly gotta have a look at common rider after this.. last wave rockers is a good one
kreviss jurjesss
2025-01-02 03:22:48 +0000 UTCHere's the performance I'm referring to https://youtu.be/LDrBvEj7HcY?si=pYw-I_UfIQe2Vkhk
Joe
2025-01-02 03:21:26 +0000 UTCFunny how many of us haven't listened to this record in ages. I have listened to it recently only because I've been buying a lot of vinyl and decided to grab this record since it's been repressed. It's a classic. When I discovered rancid in 1993, I was immediately obsessed. Then when I got to high school a few years later an older kid told me about Op Ivy. I was lucky enough to live in a town with a great record store and was able to buy it. What was crazy was buying bootleg recordings of them and one of them had a performance with them at KSPC College radio in Claremont, CA where I grew up. Unfortunately I was 9 years old when they played there but it made my heart warm to know how close i was to something so awesome.
Joe
2025-01-02 03:19:29 +0000 UTCI’ve been in love with this album since I found it in about 96 so fun to watch you hear it all for the first time really enjoyed that saw this pop up on you tube and I had to come listen
Guy Latouche
2025-01-02 02:45:31 +0000 UTCYou gotta do the other 6 songs, they're my favs! If you want another raw sounding record check out Randy - Human Atomb Bombs
Adrian Rogers
2025-01-02 01:47:08 +0000 UTCAfter finishing the video I’ll say it was a pleasure watching someone discover an album for the first time that I’ve listened to 100s of times over the last 30yrs.
Chad Smoliak
2025-01-02 01:30:31 +0000 UTCExcellent choice man, I haven’t listened to this album in ages. I’m happy to be a part of this group and look forward to these reactions. Not sure if it would ever make its way onto your poll, but my first introduction to the scene was a Fat Wreck compilation album, Survival of the Fattest. Introduced me to a bunch of great bands. You’ve covered some already. But that album, and Energy, was where it all started for me. Happy New Year and keep up the good work!
Christopher Kelly
2025-01-02 01:27:02 +0000 UTCIsn't Schlong the band that did a punked up version of the all the songs from West Side Story?
Chris J
2025-01-02 00:53:23 +0000 UTCHaven't listened to Op Ivy besides the Bombshell vid in prob 20 years so thanks for this.
Steve E
2025-01-02 00:48:57 +0000 UTCHearing this record 20 years ago in a small Midwest town really was big for me. At Ease by the Gadjits was musically also a high point for me for 90’s ska.
Josh Ott
2025-01-02 00:29:06 +0000 UTCAlso I think Jesse is a far superior singer to Tim and Lars from Rancid. He could do the rapid fire stuff, but when he needs to get melodic vocally, he was an incredible singer.
Hans
2025-01-02 00:28:04 +0000 UTCA few post vid notes 1)Knowledge is still played today by Green day live. If you've ever seen videos that are like "Fan joins Green Day on stage to play a song", almost assuredly the song they are playing is Knowledge. They did a cover of it on their first record, its slowed down and simplified, but theyve played it for years and used it as a way to get Fans on stage. one of the more unique things Green Day does as a band, always cool. 2)Unity isnt really a "political" song...I mean sadly by todays standards kinda, but not really. The punk scene in the late 80s had a HUGE Nazi problem. Skinheads and Nazis would show up and start shit at punk shows. Noodles told a story about being stabbed by a nazi one night because the Nazis REAALLLLY liked The Offspring even though they hated them. Anyway, the song had like a bunch of different versions, but ultimately it was about racism and how we need to stand together against hatred like that of those assholes. 3)The Lint and Matt Mcall thing, if I remember correctly, it was a common "cool" thing to have nicknames in punk bands. Hell, kinda still is today, I was "Tuffguy" since my first local show as a kid I got popped in the mouth, bled everywhere and kept moshing. The Vandals had Human, Worm, and Nils. Theres Fat Mike, Smelly (Also went by Erik Ghent at one point) and El Hefe. It was just what the "cool kids" do. Think it prolly spawned because everyone thought the ramones were cool and they all had "ramone" in their name, even though that wasnt their birth names. As always, Loved the reaction, having you see this in the big picture of the punk picture makes a big different. Much of the music you've listened to on the channel doesnt exist today if it werent for Op Ivy. The 3rd wave ska started there, but it also forced musicians in other punk bands to start taking their craft more seriously. Notice...theres very rare occassions of punk songs you've listened to prior to them, and while Descendents Myage, and the DK songs are cool...You wouldnt consider them incredibly polished. Op Ivy changed EVERYTHING.
Hans
2025-01-02 00:26:24 +0000 UTCI think this is the best ska punk record there is
Keith Bedelyon
2025-01-02 00:05:11 +0000 UTCOp Ivy's drummer, Dave Mello, went on to play in another band with his brother called Schlong. They are a really fun and unique listen for sure! They were considered a "drunk punk" band, but I'd level them up to progressive drunk punk, lol!
Les McLarty
2025-01-01 23:50:22 +0000 UTCI was only sorting through all my OPIV records today! What a banger of an album. You need to do the Hectic EP, that’s got some absolute killer bass lines on, and then that’s their discography complete. (Apart from the bootleg records of songs that didn’t make this or the EP).
David Hardy
2025-01-01 23:28:48 +0000 UTCYes. Just Yes my friend 💜
Crash Raphael
2025-01-01 23:18:09 +0000 UTCYellin in my Ear was the song Fat Mike heard and went "holy shit". He apparently didnt like ska at all then heard that and it legitimately immediately changed his mind.
Hans
2025-01-01 22:30:31 +0000 UTCYou should go back sometime and pay attention to the lyrics, there's a ton of amazing poetry in them. If just one, Room without a window.
Kevin Ward
2025-01-01 22:05:46 +0000 UTCI was 19 when I heard this in 89. I knew I was listening to something that was going to change the scene. The last time I felt that way was when I heard Keep Laughing by RKL in 86. (Don’t get me started on not voting in Riches to Rags) My band played at the Gilman in 90. We stayed with a couple of these guys afterwards. If I remember right, the apartment we partied at was called the ashtray. Good times. Good memories.
M Hill
2025-01-01 21:48:29 +0000 UTCMark, I have some good news for you. You chose to react to the *original* 1989 album release of Energy. This is a good thing, because it doesn't contain the songs from Op Ivy's original Hectic EP from 1988. Later releases of Energy added those songs as "bonus songs". So you have six more Op Ivy songs to explore in the future (are there more?), which includes my overall favorite Op Ivy bass line from the song, "Yellin' In My Ear". This is the list from the Hectic EP: Junkie's Runnin' Dry Here We Go Again Hoboken Yellin' In My Ear Sleep Long Healthy Body
CM
2025-01-01 20:15:30 +0000 UTCFor those who don't know, Tim wrote 2 #1 hit songs for the artist Pink in the late 2000's. And of course Transplants and his solo stuff popping off, as well as getting himself clean is what I meant by that comment about seeing how far he came.
Ceej Luige
2025-01-01 19:57:23 +0000 UTCComing into the punk scene from Green Day (which, as the time was sacrilegious but now it's the "OG" way), this was the first Ska album I had ever heard. I was so new to the genre, that I barely even realized it was sonically different from Green Day or NOFX or Bad Religion or Offspring and yet I still felt endeared to it. For a long while (until I heard Suicide Machines and The Bosstones "Let's face it") I had a bad taste for ska because it didn't sound enough like Op Ivy to me. I mean, I was like 13/14 at the time so you can't really blame me. But looking back on it, knowing how far Tim in particular has come and all the trials and tribulations they all had to go through (including the story of how Matt had to essentially force Tim into starting Rancid because he was worried Tim would die if he didn't), there's something super special about it all to me. I'm very glad you appreciate it and all it's quirks and flaws. It's a beautiful thing to see.
Ceej Luige
2025-01-01 19:44:18 +0000 UTCLoved this, great way to start the year. When I first joined the patreon this was the first album I thought of throwing in the suggestion bucket, but didn't because the first album covered was Rancid and I figured let some more different things get a chance first. But it was great. Operation Ivy is wild to me in that they only made one album, but it has 19 tracks and they're all bangers.
Tim van Rossum
2025-01-01 18:42:11 +0000 UTCI just spent NYE with drummer Dave Mello! I'll have to show him this next time we hang out
ross franklin
2025-01-01 17:19:37 +0000 UTCI live in and grew up in western Canada. In 89 my (now) friend’s band did a small tour with OpIvy and met the Greenday guys along the way and a result they set up a show here the next year. They ended playing here before Kerplunk had even been released but that show set 13yr old me down the path of punk rock and being part of the best community of people I could have hoped for. To this day I’m about to go meet someone that I met at that show. This album means so much to me for that reason and many many more. Really excited for this one.
Chad Smoliak
2025-01-01 16:46:09 +0000 UTCLove your rant about production and leaving in flaws to get that human element. I'm advocating for that currently, trying to have that raw but polished sound and telling people to leave in things like fret slides or not pitch correcting the bass, I use a fretless, when it's a little sharp or flat to keep that human element in there!
J Reid
2025-01-01 16:35:39 +0000 UTCRegarding production - a good song will sound good regardless of the production. If the song is crap, it can have the best production in the world, and it'll still be a crap song.
Paul
2025-01-01 16:10:01 +0000 UTCNot a lot of people know but Operation Ivy later added a horn section and wrote horn parts for the songs they already had. They did not release any more records but there are live recordings out there featuring horns, and even though they were only together for a short time they toured relentlessly which is really how they became so influential at the time.
Chris P
2025-01-01 16:05:33 +0000 UTC'All i know is that i dont know nothing' is the most famous qoutation of ancient philosopher Sokrates. And. Matt just released a playalong of Bombshell last week !! 😆
... and the Virtually Experienced
2025-01-01 16:03:01 +0000 UTCWhen I first heard this album in… uh, 1989 (as if I didn’t feel old enough last night)… I had no frame of reference for what my 15 year old ears were hearing. They didn’t sound like Bad Brains or Black Flag or Bad Religion, nor anything else I knew under the “punk” banner… But by the time Knowledge was over, I knew I had to cherish this album. I must’ve worn out a dozen Maxell blanks in the proceeding year—Energy/Hectic on one side, Rock For Light/No Control (and Nitzer Ebb I think lol) on the other—it took up permanent residence in my Walkman during my long-ass bus ride to school. This album is foundational to who I am today. It is both totem and talisman. It is my long-standing criterion for what music can be and should do. It is the Rosetta Stone that unlocked a new world of music few could imagine. Thank you for sharing this Mark, and Happy New Year!
Sturm
2025-01-01 15:52:44 +0000 UTCJust getting to bankshot now and yes, I definitely get the surf rock vibes. Though I'd say more Dick Dale or The Ventures vibes than Beach Boys, but yeah I get that vibe too. Actually kinda wants to make me request some modern(ish) surf like Man or Astroman...
Chris J
2025-01-01 15:48:07 +0000 UTCHey man, you look like you’ve lost weight from last year. Looking healthy man
Aacc
2025-01-01 15:41:42 +0000 UTCThis is interesting, i have never listened to this album, so lets see!
Alejandro Carrillo
2025-01-01 15:27:37 +0000 UTCI’ll be honest, I have not listened to this album all the way through in probably over a decade, so this will be a fun trip down memory lane for me. Excited for your analysis. Thanks for all you do Mark!
PRDinPDX
2025-01-01 15:11:51 +0000 UTCStarting the new year off with a banger!! Happy New Year all!!
lostmotel
2025-01-01 15:04:28 +0000 UTC
