1 post tagged “operation ivy”

Is there an image better known in punk rock than this one? (Ok, maybe this one - man that reminds me, I have a magazine cover print of that somewhere without the album lettering on it. Man is that awesome! Gotta find it).

Well, the two are 10 years apart (79-89), so they might as well just represent different generations of punk/ska/fuckers, which is all good. Hmm, that begs the question of what would be the '99 equivalent? Out Come the Wolves is '98, but that image isn't nearly as used. I'm not sure what to say here, thoughts from the peanut gallery? What was the *THE* punk cover image of the late 90s? So there has to be some level of popularity involved here, no uber obscure cd that you swear is the second coming.

Anyway, back to the message at hand. An album with a rating of 95% (or more) - Energy (even the bonus tracks added later keep up to the standard of quality).   It's at least 95, maybe higher - the whole thing is surprisingly consistent.  Obviously it's a given that you have to enjoy this kind of music so if you don't it will probably just sound like shite.  Hey, to each its own.

Op Ivy is probably the most influential punk bank of my generation - even though I didn't get into them until years after they broke up (I think I first heard them and got the CD in '95 or '96.  Possibly '94, but I'm leaning towards later), I'm still proud to have them as part of my generation's musical chunk.  Sure, the Clash was still making music in '86, and the Ramones were going at least until the early 00s, but I count them as the previous chunk.

It doesn't hurt that two of the members (Tim Armstrong & Matt Freeman)  went on to form Rancid, another of my favorite bands.  Or that another (Jesse Michaels) went on to form Big Rig (whose ep I still haven't tracked down) and Common Rider, which I really like.  Anyway, here's three tracks to check out, if you like 'em and somehow haven't got the cd - track it down.