The other day in the gym, my Ipod happened upon an MxPx song that took me back to the high school/college years. Back then I listened to a lot of Christian “Punk” and “Ska” music. I’ve been reminiscing ever since, playing a lot of the old jams, so I thought I’d share some albums that I listened to religiously (no pun intended) when I was younger.
Here they are…
Slick Shoes – Burn Out
The band is named after the greatest invention of all time, so right there they get bonus points. I first heard Slick Shoes at a Christian rock festival when I was 18 years old. Burn Out is probably one of my favorite albums of all time and is only a hair better than Rusty.
Sample Track: East on Tracks
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MxPx – Life in General
MxPx is from Seattle, make that Bremerton, so that means they’re cool even if they suck. Luckily, they don’t. They’ve been around a long time and have put out a ton of albums, but none of them compare with this one, their third.
Sample Track: Doing Time
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Five Iron Frenzy – Our Newest Album Ever!
I wasn’t a big fan of Ska before I heard Five Iron Frenzy – when I picked up this album and things changed. All of the sudden I started liking music with horns in it and stuff; listen to the song and you’ll know why. I still pull out this album every once in awhile because it brings back great memories.
Sample Track: Every New Day
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Supertones – Supertones Strike Back
I picked this album up, finally, my first year in college. I say finally because everyone around me told me to get it, but I just ignored them. I liked Five Iron, but I didn’t want to admit I actually liked ska music. I’m glad I finally gave in. This is easily my second favorite ska album, maybe because it’s not your typical ska…it’s edgier.
Sample Track: Supertones Strike Back
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The W’s – Fourth From the Last
The W’s were different from other bands because they were swing, not ska. There is a difference…at least that’s what I told myself. There were other swing bands that came out around that time, but this album was my favorite by far.
Sample Track: The Devil is Bad
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If you like any or all of these bands I would also recommend these albums:
Ghoti Hook – Sumo Surprise
Value Pac – Value Pac
Dogwood – More Than Conquerors
Fanmail – The Latest Craze

Comments
3 Responses to “5 Albums You Should Own”
I love how you put the sample songs on there… sweet.
Supertones Strike Back! Who can forget the Woo Haa song.
Man, I remember when I first saw FIF at Cornerstone, I was blown away! My friend who I was with knew Keith, the bass player, pretty well so we got to go back to their bus and play Scrabble. They are all GREAT Scrabble players, believe it or not.
Just to show you how long ago it was, we fired up the N64 and played a few rounds of Goldeneye 007…Reese was out first.