Album:
Muk
Year:
1998
Genre:
Pop Punk
This CD
instantly gives me the comforting, nostalgic feeling of 1995 when bands everywhere were
catching up to the new wave of early 90s punk caused by giants like Green Day,
NOFX and The Offspring and others that kept a touch more underground profile such
as Jawbreaker, Screeching Weasel and Crimpshrine. Bands were coming out of every basement in the
smallest to largest cities. Apparently
Neenah, Wisconsin (yeah, I had to look it up too) wasn’t immune and spawned the
pop punk machine Ben Grim. Now, if Ben
Grim were from your city at that time they would’ve been the best local punk band around; the
band everyone wanted to set up a show with, the band that packed the local all ages venue, the band everyone sang along with,
the band whose shirts were worn by the other local bands. Every city had “that” band, and once they
broke up, another took their place. Why do I say this? I don’t have a definitive reason except for
the fact that when I blast Muk, this is where their songs take me. Maybe it’s the delivery. Or, maybe it’s the production. I really don’t
know, but it just reminds me of my local scene in Detroit when things were
vibrant in that early to mid 90s period of time. Ben Grim studied their lessons well from All,
Big Drill Car and Doughboys for sure. Their songs burst with youthful
exuberance and are fun as hell just like this style is supposed to be. The quality sounds like a local band that
went to a local studio and played and sang their hearts out. That is actually a huge compliment and is
something I think is absent in so much music today. I miss the days of bands going into a studio
and not really knowing what they were doing which resulted in a unique sound
because the passion came through clearly and wasn’t stomped out by perfect
recordings and performances. Now, I’m
not going to go as far as saying Ben Grim should be remembered alongside any of
the bands previously mentioned, but Muk definitely gets a listen from me a
couple times a year.
Listen to "The Summer's Really Over" here.
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