NOFX - White Trash, Two Heebs, and A Bean

For many young males (and a smaller number of young females) growing up in a pre-Fall Out Boy America, pop punk was an important stepping stone into adolescence. Catchy, fast, and immature, pop punk labels like Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords existed just far enough outside the mainstream to be accessible while still seeming forbidden and rebellious. The nineties were a booming time for snotty SoCal bands eager to strum out a couple of chords and then crowd surf their way across the Vans' Warped Tour, and bands like the Offspring and Bad Religion had already crossed over into mainstream success. Around since the mid-eighties, NoFX seemed poised to be the next act to chart a major hit in 1992.

Instead of delivering a tight, radio friendly package of bouncy, punky hits, NoFX turned out White Trash, Two Heebs, and A Bean, a strange summation of their musical influences and semi-offensive humor. Amidst the basic chord driven punk anthems of "Soul Doubt" and "You're Bleeding" lie weirdo ditties like "Buggley Eyes" and a gravelly voiced, lounge-style cover of Minor Threat's "Straight Edge." Rather than stick to a formula and aim for success, White Trash is an experimental and introspective look at the disparate elements of punk culture. On "Bob," NoFX singer Fat Mike tells the tale of a burnt out alcoholic forced to quit drinking by doctor's orders who then embraces the skin head lifestyle, all over a rote ska guitar rhythm. Rather than blandly singing about punk unity, Fat Mike took an objective look at the sorts of people populating the punk scene other bands mindlessly promoted.

With a title like White Trash, Two Heebs, and A Bean, it seemed obvious that NoFX was catering to the middle school humor, anti-PC stance embraced by pop punk fans of all ages. Which makes it so surprising that the vulgar, lesbian romance ballad "Liza and Louise" comes off without a hint of condescension or disrespect - impressive for a song with the lyric "I'll never forget the first time you kissed me/ Now I want you to fist me." Throughout the album, NoFX antagonizes the different demographics that are listening in, but always does so with good humor, prodding at fans' expectations and close mindedness. The most blatant attack, however, is not aimed at fans but at the corporate interests currently courting the band's favor. "Please Play This Song On The Radio" shows that NoFX could have written a pop hit if they wanted to, but they'd rather sabotage themselves and stay subversive.

NoFX followed up White Trash two years later with the more straight forward Punk in Drublic, widely regarded as a pop punk classic. Even though the album went gold, the band still evaded the major labels' siren call. Pop punk contemporaries Rancid and Blink 182 went on to fully embrace their their sell-out status, while NoFX continued to experiment, releasing the epic 18 minute single "The Decline" and becoming pop punk's biggest critic of the Bush administration. White Trash, Two Heebs, and A Bean isn't likely to win over any new fans to the long derailed pop punk band wagon, but it shows that the genre can be more diverse and intelligent than it's ever given credit for, which is impressive for an album whose cover features four shirtless dudes in board shorts.

Less Than Jake - Hello Rockview

While not quite a concept album, Less Than Jake's Hello Rockview does pursue the singular theme of - as the chorus to "Help Save the Youth of America From Exploding" puts it - "the same old story of growing up and getting lost." Pop punk and its sister scene third wave ska have always had a hard time growing old gracefully. Most fans drop out well before their twenties and so the age demographic at concerts is oddly split between the young kids, some still in middle school, and the older crowd who is getting dangerously close to thirty while holding fast to their juvenile interests. Songs about staying put while everyone around you moves on abounds on Hello Rockview as the band thinly veils the melancholic message with upbeat tempos.

True blue bubblegum punk spruced up by a horn section and some ska flourishes, Less Than Jake rode the ska revival into a major label deal and released Hello Rockview (and the prior LP Losing Streak) on Capitol before ending their relations with the label. Even without the poignant lyrics the album would still have been a major landmark for nineties ska, featuring the trademark trombone blasts and catchy sing-a-long choruses. But the depth of the content beneath the happy go lucky surface is what makes it possible to revisit the album later and appreciate different aspects of its message. Songs like "History of a Boring Town" relay the common experience of slowly realizing you've become the person you swore you never would, hanging out with that old crowd night after night while everyone leaves to do bigger things. A different comment on the nature of the small town scene is contained in "Danny Says," a song about a prematurely jaded kid already tired of the talk about how cool things used to be.

Though each track revolves around the concept of small town dystrophy, Less Than Jake finds novel ways of re-exploring that same theme. The album plays out like the ska opera version of Richard Linklater's film Suburbia, where a bunch of small town slackers encounter an old classmate who was once a loser but is now a successful musician, and suddenly realize the sorry state of their own lives. The lyrics poignantly capture the sense of loss that accompanies growing older and realizing that dreams have slipped away, even though the music remains optimistic. Rather than being ponderous and overbearing, Hello Rockview feels confessional and heartfelt, and ends with a positive message.

The final track, "Al's War," sees one of the albums many fictional characters finally heading out of town and leaving his family and old life behind. As the album comes to a close, the chorus repeats itself: "Sometimes I think I'm the only who feels like going nowhere's like giving up." A motivating message for kids stagnating in early adulthood, but a strange one from a band that, since Hello Rockview, has basically stayed put. It's hard to imagine the members of Less Than Jake not seeing irony in the lyrics of songs like "Al's War" as they play them over and over on yet another Van's Warped Tour, singing to a high school aged crowd while they themselves push into their late thirties.