Eat Shit, You Pop Punk Wankers!

In the early to mid-nineties there was a backlash happening in the punk scene. Green Day released "Dookie", Rancid put mohawks and leather jackets into the malls of middle America, and the marketing strategists even convinced a whole lotta kids that the Offspring were a punk rock band. Next thing you know, everyone's got a label. The underground music scene became a battle ground. Groups of kids that used to hang out and go to shows together, were divided into factions. We weren't just 'punks' anymore. Now we had to be Straight-Edge kids, or Crusties, or Skins, or Skate Punx. Girls on the cheerleading squad were wearing Screeching Weasel shirts. Guys who played football were asking how they could spike their hair. Fights broke out at the Gilman, and bands were being banned, because of the new P.C. attitude. It was weird, but some good things came out of it. When the popular kids suddenly wanted to be my friend, I got to go to their parties and steal their stuff. You could bum a cigarette from anyone. It seemed like you could get away with more, maybe it's just me looking at my teenage years with rose colored beer goggles.



So, today, I'm going to post an album by one of my favorite bands to have emerged from all of that mess: the Rat Bastards. After hearing their "Contaminated Minds" 7", I wrote their guitar player, Jay Perris, to try and find more of their material. We wrote a couple letters back and forth, and I sent him a few bucks for another 7". A few weeks passed, and I hadn't seen anything in the mail from him. I started getting pissed. How could this guy rip me off for five bucks? Didn't he know that I could get a twelver of Weideman's with that cash? But, at the peak of my temper tantrum, a box arrived from Chicago. Inside was a grip of shwag: A t-shirt, several sheets of uncut stickers, a couple of patches, two 7"s, and an apology letter. I felt like an ass, but I was stoked to get all this stuff. A few years later, I even got to see them play a basement show in MPLS, and it was so fucking rad! Long story, but my point is: the Rat Bastards shred, and Jay is a super nice guy. I checked their myspace, and it looks like they broke up a while back, but still do reunions once in a while. In the meantime, check out this full length from Beer City Records. And since you've got all this free time, go check out beercity.com, who just had their 13th anniversary.



Children? They're Monsters! (DL)