Screeching Weasel
How to Make Enemies and Irritate People
I guess I was around 16 when I first heard this ablum. I was not a huge fan of Green Day at the time, and I had just starting listening to this crazy style of music that not many people had a taste for. This album is definately the best of basically 14 full-length albums. Every song on it is catchy, and Ben was at the peak of his "singing" when this was recorded.
From the cover art to the track listing on the back, this was a great album to look at. I can remember looking through and really getting my first glimpse of what the band looked like. While I had enjoyed other albums that friens had, I had never really gone through an insert. I would come to find later that this was the only album that had clear images of any of the members. I would also come to find later that the gangley looking guy playing bass was just filling in and was never actually part of the band, in fact he played for another band that happened to be recording in the same studio and just filled in.
The track listing on the back of the album is a joke, playing on the actual title of every song. (ie, Surf Goddess became Smurf Goddess, and 99 became 88)
There was something truly gifted about the lyrics on this album. They almost didn't fit the music that was being played. The songs sounded like Punk Love Ballads, but were riddled with lyrics like, "I hate you guts on Sunday". I still feel like most of the songs had to due with some sort of attraction to the opposite sex. Regardless of what the songs were about I still sing along to them.
The song Degenerate is probably my favorite on the album and was done in almost the same style as the song Anthem for a New Tomorrow, on the album with the same name.
Anyway, the reason I brought Green Day so early in this is that Mike Dirnt, Bassist for Green Day was that gangley guy that was filling in on bass.