Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

This is my salute to the band No Use For a Name.  The reason?  Well, when I was 16 years old (I am now 28) this was the very first punk rock show  I attended and one I will remember forever. That night they played with The Offspring, Quicksand, and The Lunachicks. A night that was a doorway: a place to go, a place to be my own person, a doorway straight into the punk scene. I felt like I was breaking away, breaking away from my parents, and all that they had taught. It was after this show that I started going to several punk shows- this was the beginning of a very important scene for me.

I immediately bought the CD, The Daily Grind, and listened to the entire thing with my favorite song being Until It’s Gone due to its educational and enlightening anthems while bringing awareness and listening pleasure. This is what drew me into the punk scene, taken form Until It’s Gone:

“Buildings will replace the trees; Pollution will replace the air we breathe; I’m close to the mountain, 15 miles away; But I can’t see the hills from here today; We can’t just let it pass us by; And as I look into the sky; Something in the atmosphere; Is telling me it won’t be here for long.”

The second CD I bought was Leche Con Carne and I listened to this intently. Raging fast guitars and passionate crys, “Justified!”- She was confused and abused in this life/ emotional and violent moments/ seemed to take the longest time/every single knock out drag out/fight they ever had/apologies and dignity denied/ he starts to laugh, he starts to lie/ with suddenly psychotic eyes- a passionate and descriptive picture of an abusive relationship.

Every song is real and educational and this is exactly what you will find on The Best of CD 26 tracks of pure pleasure and a history land marking a time and place when No Use For a Name became an artist for its audience! From Life Size Mirror, to Permanent Rust, to Feeding the Fire, to an acoustic Angel ending- just a few highlights so make sure you grab a copy!