NOFX
I was reading over my previous posts, the greatest bands ever and all, and i started to get worried that it was all getting a bit dramatic. Perhaps a bit too touch feely. And then i thought fuck it. If you cant be touchy feely about one of the most important things in life, then whats the point of it all anyway? Fuck. So with much swearing, substance abuse and old baggy shorts, I give you... NOFX!!
[Okay, sorry, i shouted there... see, thing is, our lads in NOFX have this fundamental hatred for public displays of adoration. They honestly believe in the whole underground keep punk rock elite thing.. So pretend i'm being all cool and underplaying their sheer brilliance, even though i'll be doing the opposite.]
So years and years and years ago, probably about the time you where crying on your first day at nursery school, a couple of guys started an utterly shit punk band called NOFX. They where terrible, absolutely awful, but in their defence they where only sixteen. So lots of kids start bands, and they suck (i did), but why do some bands keep going, and going, and going, until they cant help but sound amazing? Its like I tell Quinton sometimes, when we're watching telly, and there’s some obscure fucking Ukrainian who's managed to squirt orange juice out of his eyes. I tell him, "Dude, if we didn't work, like Olgef over there, and we spent eight hours a day learning that shit, then we'd be able to do it too". And, now get a pen cos this is important, here's the clincher: Olgef believes in what he's doing. Getting on telly didn't matter to him. What matters is squirting orange juice out of his eyes. And that’s why NOFX had no choice, they couldn't stop going, they where always going to be the best punk rock band of their generation, because they honestly live what they preach.
mmm... Perhaps a bit airy fairy for you? Okay, so what about their music?
Shit. This is hard. Its california punk rock with splashes of ska for sure, but now you're thinking Brink 182 and Green Day and thats the last thing i want. No, rather think of the most liberating moment of your life. The time you walked away from a group of 'friends' who weren’t your friends at all, or when you realised you didn't really love your boyfriend anymore and had the guts to say it. Now add a total explosion of bass, surgical strikes of guitar and the tightest drumming this side of Bloc Party, and complete with enough black humour to fill a dead whale, and you've got NOFX.
Make sense?
Good.
Now NOFX have recorded about thirteen albums so far (wtf!?), so i can't go into that. Lets rather pick common themes like swiss chocolate from a girl scout and enjoy them under the NOFX sun.
ahhh, thats nice. So the first chocolate is about being happy, and really, isn't that what lifes about? Every time i put on NOFX its like having beers with friends, they just cheer me up man. Its cool. All that weight on your shoulders melt as you buy their mantras. They just take the piss out of all those fucked up pointless guilts and miseries we knowingly and willingly embrace.
Which is a bit like their next redeeming quality, having the balls to challenge society but having the brains to do it in a way that society will hear. Isn't that clever? Be angry with the world, but tell them a joke and they actually might listen. They also wear shorts. Cool.
Did I mention they write fucking amazing songs too? Their structures always manage to elbow just a bit more room into the punk rock box. They're fast, and they're tight. So so so tight! Tighter than the tightest thing you could ever think of!! aaaaiiieeee!!!!
And they make you think of things you'd never have thought of otherwise.. like the feelings of clams, or quitting your job for punk rock, or girls fisting each other.. Well okay.. perhaps not all of it is totally new... uhhh.. next paragraph next paragraph!
NOFX are already underground punk legends, they refuse to be played on MTv, they won't sign with a major label, but still you can head to your local Look n Listen or whatever, and look under 'N' and they'll be there. When I saw them play in London, they managed to organise an entire stadium for an independent punk festival! No big brands, no computicket kak, it was a total middle finger to the idea that we can't organise any events these days without some form of corporate fucking sponsorship! (And the Mighty Mighty Bosstones also played whoo hoo!) So if anything, let the fact that they're in your local cd shop, without the distribution of some giant record label, mean that they got there cos they're a great band that writes great songs.
If you're interested by this and don't know their stuff, try get a hold of them. My favourite albums where always 'so long and thanks for all the shoes' and 'Punk in Drublic', but i gotta say, their newer 'War on Errorism' was just phenomenal! So if you're keen, then try listen to them, but be warned, if you're easily offended by the glorification of drugs, hardcore lesbian sado-masochism or ridiculing religion, then you just have to listen to them!
NOFX, they are, and will always remain, one of the greatest bands ever.
[Okay, sorry, i shouted there... see, thing is, our lads in NOFX have this fundamental hatred for public displays of adoration. They honestly believe in the whole underground keep punk rock elite thing.. So pretend i'm being all cool and underplaying their sheer brilliance, even though i'll be doing the opposite.]
So years and years and years ago, probably about the time you where crying on your first day at nursery school, a couple of guys started an utterly shit punk band called NOFX. They where terrible, absolutely awful, but in their defence they where only sixteen. So lots of kids start bands, and they suck (i did), but why do some bands keep going, and going, and going, until they cant help but sound amazing? Its like I tell Quinton sometimes, when we're watching telly, and there’s some obscure fucking Ukrainian who's managed to squirt orange juice out of his eyes. I tell him, "Dude, if we didn't work, like Olgef over there, and we spent eight hours a day learning that shit, then we'd be able to do it too". And, now get a pen cos this is important, here's the clincher: Olgef believes in what he's doing. Getting on telly didn't matter to him. What matters is squirting orange juice out of his eyes. And that’s why NOFX had no choice, they couldn't stop going, they where always going to be the best punk rock band of their generation, because they honestly live what they preach.
mmm... Perhaps a bit airy fairy for you? Okay, so what about their music?
Shit. This is hard. Its california punk rock with splashes of ska for sure, but now you're thinking Brink 182 and Green Day and thats the last thing i want. No, rather think of the most liberating moment of your life. The time you walked away from a group of 'friends' who weren’t your friends at all, or when you realised you didn't really love your boyfriend anymore and had the guts to say it. Now add a total explosion of bass, surgical strikes of guitar and the tightest drumming this side of Bloc Party, and complete with enough black humour to fill a dead whale, and you've got NOFX.
Make sense?
Good.
Now NOFX have recorded about thirteen albums so far (wtf!?), so i can't go into that. Lets rather pick common themes like swiss chocolate from a girl scout and enjoy them under the NOFX sun.
ahhh, thats nice. So the first chocolate is about being happy, and really, isn't that what lifes about? Every time i put on NOFX its like having beers with friends, they just cheer me up man. Its cool. All that weight on your shoulders melt as you buy their mantras. They just take the piss out of all those fucked up pointless guilts and miseries we knowingly and willingly embrace.
Which is a bit like their next redeeming quality, having the balls to challenge society but having the brains to do it in a way that society will hear. Isn't that clever? Be angry with the world, but tell them a joke and they actually might listen. They also wear shorts. Cool.
Did I mention they write fucking amazing songs too? Their structures always manage to elbow just a bit more room into the punk rock box. They're fast, and they're tight. So so so tight! Tighter than the tightest thing you could ever think of!! aaaaiiieeee!!!!
And they make you think of things you'd never have thought of otherwise.. like the feelings of clams, or quitting your job for punk rock, or girls fisting each other.. Well okay.. perhaps not all of it is totally new... uhhh.. next paragraph next paragraph!
NOFX are already underground punk legends, they refuse to be played on MTv, they won't sign with a major label, but still you can head to your local Look n Listen or whatever, and look under 'N' and they'll be there. When I saw them play in London, they managed to organise an entire stadium for an independent punk festival! No big brands, no computicket kak, it was a total middle finger to the idea that we can't organise any events these days without some form of corporate fucking sponsorship! (And the Mighty Mighty Bosstones also played whoo hoo!) So if anything, let the fact that they're in your local cd shop, without the distribution of some giant record label, mean that they got there cos they're a great band that writes great songs.
If you're interested by this and don't know their stuff, try get a hold of them. My favourite albums where always 'so long and thanks for all the shoes' and 'Punk in Drublic', but i gotta say, their newer 'War on Errorism' was just phenomenal! So if you're keen, then try listen to them, but be warned, if you're easily offended by the glorification of drugs, hardcore lesbian sado-masochism or ridiculing religion, then you just have to listen to them!
NOFX, they are, and will always remain, one of the greatest bands ever.
posted by OnRee | 2:47 AM
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