As we’re getting along in years, we figured we’d take a moment to chat about some of the seminal albums celebrating their thirtieth birthdays this year. Some are classics, others not so much, but as they’ve joined the three-decade club, it’d be rude not to chat about some of them… 

In no particular order.

1. Madball – Set It Off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seminal NYHC band that emerged from the ashes of Agnostic Front and featuring Roger Miret’s energetic baby brother Freddy Cricien. Set It Off stunk of the back alleys of New York and talked about prison life, police brutality and gang culture making it one of the forerunners of the tough guy hardcore scene. 30 years on and Madball are still slaying crowds across the world, with the title track still proving to be the ultimate opening track.

2. Bad Religion – Stranger Than Fiction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last of the pre-Brian Baker Bad Religion albums and their major label debut, Stranger Than Fiction is a full-throttle classic from the first chord to the last, as every song feels like Graffin and Gurewitz were pushing each other as songwriters, and had a point to prove to both their fans and their new label. Namely, nothing has changed and we deserve to be here, and it shows in every damn tune on the record, and while they might not play The Handshake, Markovian Process, or Inner Logic much, if at all, Stranger is worth losing yourself in for those tunes alone…

3. Biohazard – State Of The World Address

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following up the classic Urban Discipline was never going to be easy for the Brooklyn crew, but by god they gave it a good shot. Tracks like What Makes Us Tick? and Tales From The Hardside are stonewall classics and were part of the bands set up to and including their recent reformation, whilst collaborating with Cypress Hill on How It Is turned the guys into MTV’s newest darlings, for 5 minutes at least.

4. Sick Of It All – Scratch The Surface

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was much furore when New York hardcore legends stepped up to a major label for their third studio album. But rather than listen to all the noise, they hit the studio and produced one of the Top 10 greatest hardcore records ever. Almost every track has seen it’s day in the live fold and they proved that taking the money doesn’t always mean compromising your integrity. Sick Of It All’s output both numerically and sonically, puts most other bands to shame but Scratch The Surface remains the best of a very, very good bunch.

5. NOFX – Punk In Drublic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Punk In Drublic was the album that catapulted NOFX from not-so-secret punk legends in waiting to scene super stardom when the video for Linoleum became a sleeper hit, and went into constant rotation, on just about every music channel broadcasting at the time. When they started touring it, they played a sold out show in TJ’s and by the time the cycle was coming to an end, they were headlining the Astoria in London, and yes we were at both shows. It was, is and always will be the calling card that NOFX, and Fat Mike, used to change the face of, and the way the mainstream and underground, viewed punk rock.

6. Strife – One Truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Truth was the blistering debut album from California’s Strife. It took all of your favourite Judge riffs, smashed them together with some Youth Of Today, slapped an angry frontman on top and garnished with a sprinkling of Victory Records influence, to make this one of the essential hardcore records of the 90’s. They hit the UK with Sick Of It All on the back of this album and gave the New York lads a run for their money every single night, which is not something many bands can boast. Subsequent releases saw them take hardcore to the precipice of the mainstream metal crowd, when they toured with Sepultura, but although they consistently put out good records, One Truth remains their go to album.

7. Lagwagon – Trashed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lagwagon’s sophomore album saw them spread their wings outside of the US and find their global feet as they toured relentlessly to promote this collection of immediate, infectious punk anthems that was, and still is, kind of mind-blowing in its musical intensity and ferocity and emotional and personal lyrics. Mass Movement’s founding fathers were lucky enough to see Lagwagon the Trashed tour when they played TJ’s to around 30 people, before they supported them when they returned to play at the same venue to a sold-out crowd on the Hoss tour eighteen or so months later. Trashed was, and is, a snapshot of a band that had discovered its voice and was the springboard that catapulted them from relative obscurity to punk rock glory.

8. Warzone – Old School To New School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newly signed to Victory Records, who at the time, were looking to bolster their hardcore ranks with some old school bands, Old School To New School serves as something of a formal introduction to the band, for a new emerging hardcore crowd. Certainly not their best work, but it does what it set out to do as Raybeez (RIP) and the boys rip through some Youth Of Today, Urban Waste and Cause For Alarm numbers backed up by five of their own tracks including the creepy crawl classic of Face Up To It. Old style motherfucker!

9. Rollins Band – Weight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The resurgence of Henry Rollins career really picked up steam in the early to mid 90’s. 1992’s The End Of Silence catapulted Hank into the mainstream conscious with it’s bold mix of punk, funk and hard rock. This continued in 1994 with Weight and more specifically the iconic and slightly unhinged video to the album’s first single Liar. The name Henry Rollins was well known among punks, but by the end of 1994, Hank was the main man in the post grunge alternative music scene.

10. Rancid – Let’s Go

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the band’s next album …And Out Come The Wolves that saw Rancid explode, but those punks already in the know, lapped up the California punk rockers second album Let’s Go as the band continued their “Clash go street punk” style, that would see them crowned kings of the punk rock scene in the not too distant future.