Keeping the 90′s punk aesthetic alive in 2k14 while hiding grey hairs at the same time. +1
LAGWAGON… if you’re under 25, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of them. If you’re 25-30ish, you might know them as that band that was in one of those Tony Hawk games. If you’re over 30, you might actually like them, or at least used to. If you are aware of them but don’t follow them, you might be surprised to find out that they’re still a band and they actually released a new album this year. But I’m not going to talk about that. I’m here to discuss how they are one of the best bands of 90′s skate punk.
DUH came out way back in 1992 and it is the first album released on Fat Wreck Chords, which would soon become the main headquarters for influential 90′s skate punk bands (Propagandhi, No Use For A Name, Strung Out, yada yada). On this album, they were basically like a faster, more proficient version of Bad Religion (if they weren’t boring). I don’t think it’s their best work but it is definitely advanced for its time and a solid debut, especially by 1992 standards… what’s up with old ass bands taking like 3-4 albums to get good? I mean, look at NOFX for an example of this.
Their sophomore album TRASHED was released in 1994, AKA “the year punk broke into the mainstream” (via Green Day and The Offspring) and it is among some of their best material in my opinion. The intensity and emotion in this song is unmatched by most in the genre. This song also features guest vocals from Fat Mike of NOFX. Not sure why guest vocal features are so rare in punk (although they’ve become a lot more common in recent years). Buffy the Vampire Slayer sample = 90′s as fuck.
Know It All is definitely one of their best songs. The lyrics are about those annoying trendy music elitists that everyone in any sort of music scene has come across before and the message is still so relevant today. This song is well known for being featured on the first Fat Wreck Chords compilation “Fat Music For Fat People”. Punk compilations were a big thing in the 90′s and pretty much the #1 way for discovering new bands.
Hoss is considered by many to be their best album. I’m not sure I agree with this, but it is such a great album that it doesn’t really matter. The whole “starting off slow and soft and then abruptly transitioning into fast and furious” thing later became a common theme in Lagwagon songs (see: Alien 8, Never Stops, and Burn).
The awkward height difference between the singer and guitarist always made for a funny visual.
Their fourth album “Double Plaidinum” was kind of a dud and is one of their least popular. They made it after a lineup change (new guitarist + drummer) so maybe they were adjusting to that and it effected the quality, although I’m not quite sure who did most of the songwriting. A lot of the album sounds kind of uninspired but “Making Friends” is a classic Lagwagon song and one of my favorite songs ever.
The title/album art almost makes up for the lack of memorability in the music. Simple yet ingenious.
“Let’s Talk About Feelings” is quite possibly their magnum opus. This song has so many great melodies and twists and turns via unpredictable chord progressions, all while maintaining a fast-paced tempo (speed + melodies are the 2 key ingredients to skate punk).
Of course, May 16 (also known as the Tony Hawk song) is their “big hit” and is one of the greatest songs ever made in any genre imo. It is uplifting, beautiful, and epic. Definitely a timeless classic.
Even their post-90′s material has some gems in it, like this song about them being washed up. I feel like lots of 90′s punk bands either only wrote jokey songs (see: Guttermouth) or had 100% srs songs but Lagwagon had a nice balance between the two and were masters of both styles.
This EP they released in 2008 is among some of their worst material but the title displays god tier accuracy and self-awareness. So amazing.
What do you think about Lagwagon? Were they good enough to compete with NOFX for the 90′s skate punk throne? Are they old enough at this point to be filed in the category of “dad punk”? Were they probably old enough to be filed in that category 8-10 years ago?
