The score is for Alkaline Trio(greatest band ever), The Used, American Nightmare, Madcap, Glassjaw, and i actually thought the blink 182 and box car racer songs were catchy

i like most of the songs, but i have to admit is isnt punk rock its a little too soft to be punk

this is a really good comp. i like almost every song on here.

Enough 4/4 time music already!

fuck box car racer, i had to pay 30$ so i could see the used at a peace of shit venue, and im sure the other 10,000 people there were thinking the same thing

ummmm......american nightmare is definitly not pop punk

I debated whether or not to pick up this CD. On the one hand, there's lots of bands on here that I like -- Midtown, Jimmy, Bad Astronaut, Starting Line, Cooter, NFG, and Blink. On the other hand, paying for it would mean contributing to the Blink-182 corporate empire, which I have no desire to do. The fact that it was only seven bucks won me over and I bought it. Bad Astronaut has one of the best tracks on the album. It's in 6/8 time and clocks in at under two minutes. It's just good. They're Lagwagon -- what do you expect? Jimmy's track is a nice live version of a good song. Starting Line and Midtown both have better stuff on their albums. NFG's song is creative -- a punk Christmas song. The jingle-jingle intro that's followed by a torrent of guitars playing a church bell riff is awesome. The Simple Plan song is catchy, if forgettable...and yes, the Mark Hoppus guest vocals are almost indistinguishable from the lead singer and add nothing to the song, as all he says is "I close my eyes and all I see is you...na na na." Give me a break. There's been some talk about Blink's "side project." Box Car Racer is basically Tom Delonge and a few other guys, one of whom just happens to be Travis Barker (it's definitely not blink's side project). I don't like the song, though. Travis is so simplistic, which is unfortunate, cause we all know he's capable of so much more, like in the Blink song, for example. The lyrics are shit, of course, like all Blink lyrics since Dude Ranch. But the song rocks. Travis is as good as ever, and the drum solo in the last chorus is amaaaazing. And it's nice to hear the double-time punk beat in a Blink song again. This is from an earlier post:

"This CD is complete garbage and no one should "pick it up in a second." Bands like Finch, the Movielife, Simple Plan, -they aren't good. They're horribly unorigional and they don't even write songs that say anything of substance. "This girl broke my heart, she's so mean, blah, blah, blah." -That's not punk." Dude, you can't say that. You can't just say that certain bands aren't good. What does it matter what kind of lyrics they're singing? The Ramones sung about girls too...who cares? This CD is not "complete garbage" just because you don't like mainstream pop-punk. As far as mainstream pop-punk goes, this CD is worth the seven bones I paid for it. --JP

anyone else thinks it's funny that american nightmare got stuck with a bunch of assclowns?

this is a great comp. jaked on green beers is my favorite alkaline trio song ever, and there are some solid tracks by blink, movielife, the used, and finch. overall a good cd if your into pop punk

I think this comp. is awesome! Almost all the songs are fantastic, except I was a little dissapointed by the blink song (since it's not actually unreleased. It's one of the hidden tracks on the red airplane version of "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket"), and the bad recording of the Jimmy Eat World song, even though "A Praise Chorus" is one of the better songs from their current CD. I also couldn't pinpoint any of Mark Hoppus's guest vocals on Simple Plan's song, but whatever. It's still a great song.

Jimmy Eat World, Alk Trio, and Bad Astronaut are the only reasons to hear this POS.

the alkaline trio song and the madcap song are the best ones. listen to them a few times and they will never be out of your head.

excluding american nightmare Mighty mighty bosstones and a few others this alblum truly shows whats wrong with punk rock.

Of course it will loose momentum when you hit bands like the Starting Line, you already heard the NFG song, why would you wanna hear another one.

boxcar racer is blink's side project to make themselves "get back to their punk roots". personally i think it's bullshit and they're just ripping off fugazi to make some money

It's an OK cd, but they may as well just have 20 blink 182's, with the exception of alkaline trio who are maturer and much better

Atticus Isn't actually Mark and Tom's company, although they are sponsored and endorse it.

I wondered what that whole Atticus thing is... should've known it was something from Blink 182. so when will they team up with Old Navy and start making commmercials where they run around naked endorsing Atticus?

Atticus was the name of the father in To Kill A Mockingbird.

That was one of the few books I have actually enjoyed reading while in school...

Wasn't Atticus the name of the bird in To Kill A Mocking Bird? That would explain the bird on the logo.

Dragging the lake is a term that is used by law enforcement when they're searching for missing persons in the water. They "drag the lake" - this is essentially just as it sounds - they drag nets along the bottom of the lake/river/etc. and they hope they'll find what they're looking for.

Am I the only person who has heard of this?

-Scott

the alk3 track was ok. is it just me do they seem to be getting more and more bland? the midtown track is aight, which is surprising cuz i hate midtown. and for some reason i like the sugarcult song. i only paid $2.99 for this cuz it was used, but i still think i overpaid.

From what I've heard from the compilation, Its pretty good. It has a good variety of punk and hardcore. But what the hell is Box Car Racer? Where the hell did that come from? I mean, to say, its not that bad of a song, but it pisses me off when famous people (such as Tom Delonge/Travis Barker) go and try to make more money.
Good CD though, it has my approval.

Hey, I looked up "Atticus" in the dictionary and it means "atlas moth" if you cared. I have no idea what dragging the lake means. And Finch plays some good music.

--Big Letter Guy

no they didn't... i'm stupid

did someone call american nightmare pop punk?
what?

am i thinking of a different band?

been listening to this comp for a while, and a few songs are cool, its false about MMbt because the song "sugar free" is gunna be on there new release "a jacknife to a swan." just claryfing. I've noticed a lot of drive thru representation on this compilation. The starting line song is cool and finch's. I still dont get why every makes a big deal about Alk3 they suck pretty bad. and Blink 182... lets not go there.

To the guy like 10 posts down:
Ooh, you have a zine with a circulation of 3,000, eh? Wow.

We get 100,000 hits a day.

Here's my balls; suck 'em.

-Scott

Without Blink-182 most of the bands on this compilations wouldn't be where they are. The includes some of the quote harder bands too.

I had a copy, I gave it to my blink/sum loving roomie - bigjerk

none of you are punk.

i'll give it 4 stars because i like alkaline trio, i wouldn't buy this cd but thats just because i always lose compilation cd's. THis is like a punk rock civil war or something, pretty soon everyone will split into two sides and start raging war at shows, your the pure punks and your the mainstream punks....fuck that....why can't people just get along on these sites without having to bash people for their opinions. I don't like all this mainstream pop punk bands but i'm sure they have their fans and they are doing their thing and i'm all for it. People can do what they want and like what they like and your in no position to tell them if they are punk enough or not, i like punk but i have better things to do that fight people over how punk we are.....

dumbfucks like you who try to tell people what is punk and what isn't are part of the reason i don't like "punks" and i stopped going to punk shows.
grow up, retard. you're ruining what could be a good thing by making it exclusive and exacting - two things that punk started in opposition of.

seeing as this has become a thread for manifestos, here is mine -

First off, Shindo did an excellent job of reviewing this CD. Im not going to buy it, because I download any of these songs I want, and I dont feel bad not supporting Blink, Midtown, etc. However, to the guy who is saying this review doesn't belong on this site, who are you to say what is punk and what is not? I mean, "punk" has become a very broad term, and I think it is a lot of different things to different people. To me, "punk" is The Decadents, Social Unrest, The Dead Kennedys, The Descendents and Fear. Its also Blink-182, Sum-41, Good Charlotte and A New Found Glory. It may not all be "good" punk in my opinion, but it is still punk. I mean, you can put a hunk of dog shit between two pieces of bread. Its not a "good" sandwich, but it is still a sandwich (for the record, Sum-41 is comparable to a shit sandwich, in my opinion anyway). So I guess what Im saying is, there is no rule book for being "punk". I mean, people trash on certain bands for being on major labels. The thing is, the founders of the genre were on major labels. The Clash, The Sex Pistols, the Ramones, all of them were on major labels, and they are STILL getting REISSUED on major labels. What label you are on doesn't mean shit. If you are true to the music, if you are making music you like, then you are 100% punk. Look at Bad Religion. People think that most of their major label output sucked, and lot of did, at least when compared to their body of indy work. The thing is, they didn't intentionally change for anyone, and they used the major label to try and get their message out there. So the bottom line is, nobody here can say what is punk and what is not punk. It isn't against some punk moral to review the Atticus comp on this site, because this site wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for people looking for news and reviews of Finch, Midtown, American Nightmare, even Blink.

madcap is terrible.

That's cool then, I'll shuddup now. But dude, I never said I liked like Blink 182 in the first place. In fact I said (in the review) that they needed to mature to be any good...

Jeeze...

Shindo-

I already do a zine, I've been at it for over four years, it comes out quarterly and I produce over 3,000 copies per issue. But thanks for the advice. Give Hoppus a kiss for me.

To the guy I seem to be arguing with

There is nothing problematic about me reviewing a CD. When you volunteer on a site like this you start getting promos from labels. If someone is going to send me something for free, then I’ll make every effort to give it a review, good or bad. Did it set off my “commercialization warning light” when I saw a clothing company’s name on this? Yep. But this was a record review, not a Naomi Klein globalization lecture, so I kept that to myself. For your information I said nothing endorsing the clothing, nothing about any of your “black list” of brands, nothing endorsing the “mall ideology.” It’s just a compilation, simple as that. It’s got some good decent bands and some shitty bands, fortunately the bands’ for the most part included pretty strong songs. Unless the bands start singing “I LOVE ATTICUS” I’m not going to write them ALL off as money-hungry scum. Generalizations sound really impressive when but don’t end up applying 99% of the time. Life’s more complicated then that.

Also, I can’t shit on a record for NOT having a band on it. As far as MAINSTREAM pop-punk bands go, a lot of them are on this, and therefore it succeeds at being a well-rounded compilation of mainstream pop-punk bands.

You seem content on singing the woes of the punk scene. I sincerely hope that if you think your list of grievances are ruining the entire concept of punk, then you’re doing something about it. Telling ME is preaching to the converted, my friend. Write some reviews, start a zine, only buy from ethical companies, boycott those you don’t like, write a song... Good! But again: this is just a cheap-priced compilation, not a fucking manifesto or a state-of-the-union address. It’s very low on everone’s radar anyways and you’re reading WAY too much into it.

Damn, most of these bands are not pop-punk, they are pop-shit. Really, listen to some real pop punk bands, not you're shit-filled Blink 182, Sum 41, New Found Glory, and Midtown.

Hey Shindo-

It's me, the one who called you an idiot before, writing again to tell you why you're still a complete idiot, since you seem to need an explanation. First off, I still stand behind what I said. I realize that this CD is complete fluf and that it's not trying to be "punk" or whatever, but what's problematic is the fact that you even reviewed it on this site; by doing so you somewhat validate its credibility as a CD that people should actually care about. But the fact is, this CD is by no means a benchmark of today's quality pop punk; it's complete garbage and no one should "pick it up in a second." Bands like Finch, the Movielife, Simple Plan, -they aren't good. They're horribly unorigional and they don't even write songs that say anything of substance. "This girl broke my heart, she's so mean, blah, blah, blah." -That's not punk. I know you realize this, but the 13-year-old in the shopping mall who's buying this crap does not. All any of these bands want to do is make money, not write music because it's what they love to do. It's sad that this stuff is what passes for "punk" these days, especially when legitimate pop punk bands like D4 practically go unnoticed compared to those bands on the nightmarish Warped Tour. If it even matters, I've been a fan of pop punk for nearly a decade now, so there's my cred. for those of you who are keeping score, but all I'm saying is that it's just very troubling that this is what it's come to. Punk rock isn't something that Carson Daly talks about, it's not something you buy in a shopping mall, it's not something that's sponsored by Mountain Dew, it's not an "independent" record label with ties to a major label, (think Vagrant, Victory, Drive-Thru) it's not Sum 41, it's not Dickies shorts and Atticus T-shirts. Punk rock used to mean something, it used to be real. Things like this compilation make punk rock seem like little more than some type of fashion you can buy at the mall. I can think of over 15 "punk" bands who currently reside on major labels. That's not right. And by the way Shindo, grow a sac.

I also wanted to say that i respect the reviews done on this site and i think they are a good thing...im the person who said that stuff below too

I do have to say that a lot of you below have some strong opinions, but you should also look in to some of the things you say. Many people today just say somethings in rage, stupidity and just plain ignorance. To the guy who did the review: You did an amazing job! You covered everything extremely well and told us how it was. I bought the cd and I will admit that i think it is fairly good, compared to other comps out there. I am not too fond of the blink song and their side job didn't sound that good either but, that is just my opinion. I have been listening to blink since their Buddah days and just from hearing the comp, it is not a good example of what they can do. The A3 song was definately faster than their other stuff but, I love them and i think it rocked just the same. I was quite impressed with Sugarcult...All in all i think it is a great cd to pick up and for only 6 BUCKS!!!! Keep rocking, whether you are 12 or 21, we all love the music and thats all that matters! Don't go over board trying to define "punk", "emo", "hardcore", just know that that is the music you listen to and that is the music you love, PERIOD! end of story

this pop punk shit is getting really old fast, and this cd if fuckin full of it (american nightmare, madcap, and glassjaw aside)

why's it called dragging the lake? And by the way it maybe there clothing company but BLINK 182 doesnt deserve a spot on any punk or pop punk compilation. Biggest sellout band in my opinion not to mention they suck. it was a good review tho~julian

i love alkaline trio. i dont think matt or dan is better than the other. they both have a distinctly awesome sound. the song on the cd isnt bad its just that its more poppy which i dont really like as much as their other stuff for some reason.

By the way, even though they are both good, Matt is a way better singer than Dan.

I don't understand why everyone doesnt like the alk3 song on here. Are you against alk3 when they play something remotely fast. Whoa slow down! Thats not emo enough for me. Geeze.

Hey kirby your the fuckin' man
finally someones speaking out about an issue that needs to be addressed in the punk community, instead of the what's punk or what's not punk bullshit.

to kirby:
holy shit, there's someone on here w/ half a brain, thanks dude, i'm glad someone else has taken notice to how stupid the politics of this whole fucking genre have become... hope your little speech reaches some immature peoples' minds and opens them up a bit

well put Kirby. thank you very much.

Here’s a message to the entire punk scene, so listen up!

I believe it was 1996 or 1997 when I first started listening to this music known as punk rock. My gateway to punk was that similar of most kids my age at the time; we heard bands like the Offspring, Green Day, and Rancid ripping up the air waves with this music that seemed to have a better message about respecting others, having fun, and being yourself as opposed to looking cool, doing drugs, and making money. From those bands, the Offspring in particular, I found Nitro Records and from there it was like a domino effect of me getting into more and more punk rock. I don’t know about a lot of you but this music really appealed to me because the message that I received was “It doesn’t matter who you are, we’re going to accept you for who you are.”

It’s been 5 or 6 years since I first felt that message and it was strong then. I realized that in life it doesn’t matter what you look like, who you try to impress, how “cool” you are, none of that stuff matters in the real world. Those traits are always going to be coveted by some people, that’s just their natural mentality. But as punks we are supposed to be better than that and realize that we’re all the same.

In today’s punk scene I see that message dying and fast. I am a regular reader of this site and I do comment on subjects I have an issue on. What I notice a lot as I do skim through the comment sections is tons and tons of immature adolescent slandering. Not just “Hey you’re gay!” but “Hey you’re gay because you like the Dropkick Murphy’s!” From a stupid comment like that only branches one of the most retarded arguments that anyone could possibly read. This wouldn’t’ be a problem if it occurred once every couple of weeks, but it happens EVERYDAY and on EVERY ARTICLE!

I don't know if you people noticed but a lot of punk songs are about being that outcast in school and always getting made fun of and how it sucks and we should all forget that garbage for unity. Did you ever hear a song like that?

Well I'd hate to break it to you but making fun of some kid because he likes Dashboard Confessional, hating someone because she only first heard the Dead Kennedy’s two weeks ago, harassing a 15 year old because there mom drops them off at the show and picks them up only makes you as good as a jock that pushes you down the steps, brakes your glasses, and further continues humiliating you in front of the entire school.

I’m not saying this about everyone in the scene because I know there is a lot of good out there, but in general the punk scene is going to dumps. It’s sad because as bands continue to make great music, new genres pop up, and other music boundaries are being broken we have bigots who can’t respect someone’s opinion about which bands sounds good to them.

To all of you that fit that description please don’t label yourself a punk, because you’re giving me and the other people in this scene a bad name.

the alkaline trio song is pretty bad...except the breakdown at the end with dan's nice backup vocals...

I also thought the Boxcar Racer song was pretty decent...a pleasent surprise...

the Rival Schools song is the best one on the disc....download it from audiogalaxy...along with bells and grunge model...all good songs...

otherwise, this disc is exactly what you'd expect...

still, at least a lot of it is unreleased and hard to find material...that always makes a comp a little better...even when most of the bands aren't very good...

oh, and nice review as well

Jimi

"you are a complete idiot. this compilation is a perfect example of EVERYTHING that's wrong with "punk rock" today." People need to grow up like the guy who wrote this. Pretty strong words were typed; First someone insult someones intellegents without even know the guy that is STUPID(i am not saying he is stupid as a person)Then he implies that he knows what punk rock is and then he says it is wrong. Please learn what punk is. Punk is trendy? Punk is an Attitude? Punk is a message? Punk is way to make Cash? Punk is about isolation from the mainstream? Punk is bringing down barriers? Punk has evolved? What is wrong with punk?
I have always thought that there are no rules in punk.

BROken Fence

i heard boxcar racer on the radio the other day. i was pretty impressed. way less poppy and dumb sounding than Blink. it actually had some raw emotion in it. this score is for that boxcar racer song.

its worth going to audiogalaxy for.

wyzo

Considering I only had $6 left on my Best Buy gift card, I decided to pick this up for mostly the new bosstones track which is very good. Other than that, there really isn't alot of great things about this comp other than tracks from alk3, rival schools, american nightmare and bad astronaut.

I've heard that blink track before and well, it sounds pretty bad and I don't even want to waste my time hearing boxcar racer's track nor simple plan which by the way could be even more horrific than good charlotte. If you're a huge fan of one of the five bands in the first paragraph, I suggest either download the tracks or just buy the comp because it's cheap anyway.

If not, don't waste your time with this pop cd.

That is indeed true, On Vaction is the b-side of the uk Used For Glue single along with another new song, Bells and the used for glue video, actually a neat little package. Also of note is that the uk edition of United By Fate has a bonus track called Grunge Model, i'm presuming it's new because the album has only been oficially out here for a couple of months and is not on my edition which i got in the states last september.

While i'm here, i must say that i was impressed with the Boxcar Racer song when i heard it on the radio the other night, and that's saying something considering i hate blink with a firey passion!

According to Pastepunk, the Rival Schools song is B-side from the a UK single they released. Its pretty good, but I don't know if that warrents buying an entire disc to you... if you're a real Rival Schools nut then hunt down that single...

adam

All I want to know is how the Rival Schools song sounds - is it worth buying just for that?

-Scott

This album didn't even do a good job of showcasing decent pop punk. Most of the bands are garbage, the Alk3 song was unusually bad, and as for Boxcar Racer... blah.

I think a better title for this album would be "Music to Avoid at all Costs".

get over yourself. God forbid someone put out a comp with a bunch of popular bands. And calling the guy who reviewed it an idiot? How did he prove to be an idiot? He gave a solid review of a cd that a lot of people are interested in whether you like it or think its crap. World doesnt revolve around you and your ethics buddy.

Nice review guy, covered the whole disc.

To the person below… If you noticed I constantly referred to the majority of the music as pop-punk. As a compilation of pop-punk, this works rather well. Is it my personal cup of tea? No. Does it reaffirm some kind of defiant socio-political spirit that we've affixed to punk music? No, but it never tried to do that.

Look at reviewing this way: Does the record accomplish what it sets out to do? Yes or no and why... Don't look for every single record lumped under the "punk" umbrella to be some grand statement that validates your own personal politics. When I say the NFG song "fits the flow of the disc" I meant just that... I didn't comment on how that (or any) song "fits the overall spirit of absolute fuckin’ punkness Oi Oi Oi", because if I did I'd sound like an idiot…

adam

you are a complete idiot. this compilation is a perfect example of EVERYTHING that's wrong with "punk rock" today.