Customer Reviews

Short Music for Short People

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

...but what do you expect? It's the newest project from one of punk rock's most innovative minds today, Fat Mike... 101 bands on one album playing 30 seconds-and-under songs. The album taps the scenes of over ten countries, and leave it to Fat Mike to collect the most varied lineup of punk, old-school, hardcore, emo, ska, and radio bands of any compilation. So unplug your phone, remove all distractions, and lock yourself in your room before listening or else you might miss half of the bands. Don't plan on doing anything afterwards either, because your attention span will be completely shot.

There are a lot of cool tracks on the comp, mostly from bands that have mastered the art of the short song, such as the Descendents. The lineup features everything from legends like Bad Religion, Black Flag, and the Subhumans to today's popular punk bands like NOFX, Pennywise, and the Bouncing Souls. But with such a screwy setup, you're bound to get plenty of bands that don't really take the project seriously, and there are some disappointments. Out of 101 bands, though, what did you expect? There's enough good stuff that you can skip over the crap and still get your fix. Plus, the full-color booklet features a little something from each band, including as pictures, contact information, lyrics, or random band jokes. It's hard to take this CD seriously, but it's a good opportunity to hear a wide mix of punk bands or just sit around with some friends and see who can name the most bands (or count which bands can swear the most in under 30 seconds).

It might not be the best punk compilation (check out the Peace/War double album or the Dischord box-set or the Punk-O-rama series for some alternatives) but its definitely an essentaial one. And not just for minutemen fans either, anyone who likes fast, loud punk should take a look at this.
Obviously, its good for anyone with a short attention span, but some of the songs are good enough for you to put them on 'repeat' and listen to them 14 times. It's got huge variety (blink and Black Flag, GWAR and The Descendents, AFI and Wizo....) so theres gotta be something you'll like. Even if you hate some of it ( I still don't know what to think about the Real McKenzies's track) it'll be over in 24 seconds.
Obviously the huge variety is an incentive to check this out, but theres also a whole lot more quality than you'd expect of an album with 101 songs (99 tracks, ... punk fans......). How many albums do you own that can claim to have 74 great tracks?

What is it?

This CD is 101 punk bands, each doing 30 second songs. This is a very good idea, and some of the songs are actually ok.

Will I have heard of any of the bands?

Yes, it has some gread bands such as Less Than Jake, Unwritten Law, Blink 182, Green Day, No Use For A Name, Guttermouth, Lagwagon, The Offspring, Youth Brigade, The Misfits, Snuff, Penywise, NOFX, Rancid, and a lot more. This is also good to get a taste of what some other bands are like, it can introduce you to so much more great music!

Is it good value?

It's not bad, ten dollars for 50 minutes of music. I think the value is good.

So should I buy it?

Definitely.

This is a really cool CD--FAT had a great idea by putting this out. Rather than it being the type of album that you listen to a million times, with 101 bands on it, it's a good way to find out about new bands. Whether you're a big punk fan or just a fan of bands on here like Green Day, Offspring, and Blink 182, I highly recommend this CD.

In keeping with the theme of this CD, I'll keep my review short. In short, this CD kicks serious *ss. It's worth the price just to hear Blink 182's song (and I don't care much for Blink, either, so that's saying something...), where it's basically "how many obscenities can we use in 30 seconds?". It's got something for everybody, even those who only like the MTV punk (Blink, Green Day, Offspring, etc.), older punks (Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, Subhumans), and punk favorites (Pennywise, Rancid, NOFX, No Use For A Name, Vandals). Everyone who's anyone in punk is here, even newbies The Living End make an appearance. The only downside is, you need the tracklisting right in front of you, so you know what song you're on. I wouldn't recommend listening to this in the car, however. Trust me, without the tracklisting, 12 songs will go by before you can blink. There is some crap in this CD, though. The Goober Patrol is downright annoying, to name one. The Descendants's song is also annoying. That said, There's more than enough good stuff to make this CD worth purchasing. Fat Mike did an amazing job putting this CD together. Buy this if you're a true punk, or are just getting into punk. Or, if you don't know a thing about punk and have been wanting to check it out, this CD is exactly what you're looking for.

I originally bought this cd to add to my Misfits collection, but I was amazed at how much was on this cd! I have always loved bands like Rancid andNerf Herder, but it opened my eyes to bands like H2O and AFI too. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the foul mouths on radio punks Blink 182, I always saw them as nice guys from the mainstream, but they be punks! You will never get tired of this cd, I promise you that, I bought it the day it came out and havent stopped listening to it since! Bands from all over the world show talent here, from Canada: Chixdiggit; from Asia: Hi Standard; and the list goes on! Go ahead and buy it on the fact that theres on or two artist you like on it, but you will go home liking all 101 bands! every song is a hit in my books, no misses here folks!

Before AFI went commercial, before Blink-182 rose and fell, before NOFX was working to overthrow George W. Bush, before emo and pop-punk were used interchangeably (and recklessly, may I add), heck, before GWAR went back to being metal, there was the CD.

Its funny because you wouldn't typically expect a 101-track CD to be under an hour long, but thats exactly what we have here. Stylistically speaking, the songs range from old school punk (Circle Jerks), ska (Less than Jake), and gothic rock (The Damned) to hardcore (H20), power violence (Spazz), and yes, pop punk (NOFX and the overwhelming amount of other bands on the CD). In terms of featured artists, this CD touted a "who's who" of punk during that era, featuring up-and-comers (most notably AFI, Blink-182, and Unwritten Law before they went into the mainstream) as well as established acts like Green Day, The Offspring, Rancid, Descendants, and Black Flag.

I think this CD was not only a legitimate compilation, but also relevant to punk culture of the late 90's, early 2000's. Owning this CD is equivalent to having a high school yearbook or a time capsule; you get to see what was going during that era, no matter how cool or how goofy things looked. If a teenager came up to me and was like "So what was punk music like when you were in high school?", I'd probably tell them to get a copy of this CD, because it was (and still is) a spot on snapshot of what the music and general attitude was like then.

Nowadays, there's a Hot Topic in every mall, The Warped Tour is a big corporate event, and being punk is more about fashion than it is about DIY ethic and unity that used to go along with the scene. Yet when I feel nostalgic, I'll throw this CD on and remember the way things used to be.

A punk rock statement from 101 bands. What more could you ask for. If you like punk rock, you must own this.

now i love compilations, and my jaw dropped when i saw 101 BANDS for a measly 8 BUCKS! so i picked it up, not expecting much. but i WAS SO WRONG, THIS CD IS AAAWWWWEEEESSSOOOMMEE it has many many unreleased tracks, and is lots of fun for playing name that band with your friends. among the notable songs: a lovely little acoustic greenday number a blink182 obscenity fest a WIERD bouncing souls thing (thats really the only way i can describe it...) and great songs by nearly all teh bands on the cd. and as someone else said, the few bad songs are ok, because theyre over quickly. this cd is a great way to get accustomed to new bands.

Ok so like punk rocks coz my dad sez it rocks and when hes not busy beatin my cousin I mean mom he plays this while he kicks the chickens around the yard. Burn it down smash it up corporate america will die, and from its ashes will rise... lovers. Buy this.