Adolescents - Adolescents (Cover Artwork)

Adolescents

Adolescents (1981)

Frontier


The Adolescents' classic self-titled album whips through 16 songs in 37 minutes. It has the gritty sound recording, high energy, and all-around snottiness you'd expect from an `80s hardcore band. It shit-talks cops, the government, and all the bullshit one experiences when living in Orange County. It is a must own album for any punk.

The opening track, "I Hate Children," has an unforgettable riff and sets the tone for the rest of the album. The next song, "Who is Who," will have you singing along with the chorus. There are so many great fucking songs on this album like the 'popular' "Amoeba" (what a great fucking allegory), "Rip It Up", and "Democracy," which features singer Rikk Agnew angrily snarling "I don't see the freedom in democracy."

But the best song has to be the five-and-a-half-minute masterpiece, "Kids of the Black Hole." The guitar, vocals, lyrics, everything about this song makes it great; it's maybe one of the best songs of all time and definitely one of the top 3 punk songs of all time.

The ONLY shortcoming of this album is the boring, metallic "Welcome to Reality" near the end. I hate saying it, but this song is really a pain in the ass to listen to. But the next two songs "Losing Battle" and (especially) "Things Start Moving" more than make up for it, and the album ends nicely.

So, if you don't already own this album, GO OUT AND BUY IT MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!! Don't let the plain-looking album cover fool you; this is a sensational album.