Back in my punk rock days I frequently listened to these bands, along with Agent Orange, The Buzzcocks, NOFX, Naked Aggression, Total Chaos, and Face to Face, to name a few. OK, OK, I listened to Bad Religion too!

Less Than Jake was probably my first introduction into ska. Very fun stuff but jogs a bad memory of a long-distance relationship that went sour.

The driving rock of Pennywise motivated me to swiftfully knock out the bi-weekly chore of cutting grandpa’s grass during the sweltering summers that southwest Louisiana had to offer.

I wanted to be Billie Joe Armstrong. I had the blue hair, the Green Day posters, and even decorated a clip-on tie with a question mark.

I may or may not have stolen that Pearl Jam from someone’s mailbox late one night while roaming the streets in a friend’s neighborhood. PUNK ROCK!? I was all about their “previous effort” 10 so I let said friend keep it. I remember playing drums along to 10 in an attempt impress a (different) girlfriend - over the phone mind you - and my mom barged in asking me to stop the racket. I got really embarrassed and hung up the phone immediately.

That Offspring album is probably the only one I didn’t buy (or steal) but, boy, do I remember those songs being played on the radio over and over.

I used to jam to RATM while playing Quake 3 Arena and/or Counter Strike.

I went through a brief period of being into weird stuff like Primus but it didn’t last long. “THEY CALL ME MR. KNOWITALL…”

That Weezer album is on my top 50 albums of all time list. Pinkerton is arguably just as good, or better, but this one is special because it reminds me of being a sophomore in High School driving around with my girlfriend at the time (my first girlfriend, to be exact) in my beat-up army green 1972 VW Beetle.

The only other albums I’d add without really embarrasing myself (think UB40’s Labour of Love II which was released in ‘89 and wouldn’t technically count, but proves the point) are Counting Crows’ “August and Everything After” and, unintentially related, The Black Crowes’ “Shake Your Money Maker”. Oh, I’m proud to say that I was into Dinosaur Jr’s “Without a Sound” back then. It’s still my favourite Dino album.

Thanks for bringing back those memories, Indie Schmarm! I hope my stories were at least somewhat interesting.