I can assume that most of you know who NOFX is, love them or hate them. For me, they were one of the first punk bands that I liked. They helped get me away from the KROQ crap that I used to listen to and on to things that were much better. When I bought this, it was like a light turning on. It made music fun again, at least at the time. Since then, my musical tastes have changed and I listen to different things. Yet somehow, this album still seems to find it's way into my CD player every now and again. This release is probably one of the best albums NOFX has released, but I don't think it's one of the punk albums ever.
This album is good because it avoids what I think is one of the downfalls of the most recent NOFX album and that is getting overly political. Musically, the album is very sound and has good instrumentation. The songs on this record are well written and have lyrics that talk about life and taking humorous slants on topics such as stereotyping and hippie punks. Songs like Linoleum and The Brews describe Fat Mike's ideal way of life and make light hearted jabs at being Jewish. The album has a good flow to it and features many memorable songs, such as Reeko, Don't Call me White, and Perfect Government (wasnât Mark Curry the guy on Hangin' with Mr. Cooper?). Good? Yes, but not perfect.
One of the problems I have with this album is that there are memorable songs, but there are also forgettable songs as well that I find myself consistently skipping over. Songs like My heart is yearning and The Happy Guy just don't do anything for me. After a while, these songs also fall in to the trap of being NOFX songs and can feel repetitive.
Here is a quote from NOFX's most recent album, The War on Errorism
When did punk rock become so safe,
I know it wasn't Duane or Fletcher, who put up the barricades.
You're right Fat Mike, it wasn't either of them. It was you. This album got a lot of people into the punk scene and made it more accessible and far reaching than it was before. This album is an inspiration for many of today's punk bands and for good reason. At the time, it was outstanding and it still is, to a point. But I just don't think it holds up as well as it used to.