Best of 2024: from Ricky Frankel
Hey PWV Fam!
What. A. Year.
2024 will probably go down as one of the most consequential years for punk in recent memory. Four huge bands decided to call it quits: OFF!, X, NOFX, and Sum 41. OFF! released their movie and played their last three shows, NOFX finished off their final tour, X released their final album, and Sum 41released their final double album and are currently finishing up their final tour as well. Then rumors of Fat Wreck Chords being sold (to Hopeless Records… maybe?) started flying around. That was wild.
Laura Jane Grace and Catbite played a few Operation Ivy cover shows that were truly amazing. If you haven’t watched those performances yet, I highly recommend checking one of them out on YouTube.
Green Day also had a big year with their massive ‘Saviors’ tour where they played ‘Dookie’ and ‘American Idiot’ in full, and they released their new album. On top off all of that, they released the ‘American Idiot’ box set. which if you read through my PWV “Best Of 2023” list, you would have seen that I predicted that they would release said boxset.
As you will see below, 2024 did not disappoint for new punk rock. There were a few bands that truly surprised me like Hood Rats, The Dopamines, some groups on that Red Scare Industries compilation, Pinhead Gunpowder, and a few others. But I have to point out that the self-titled Bloodstains album, is in my opinion the break out album of the year. It’s a handful of great punk tunes that was done totally DIY. That band in particular is doing the SoCal punk scene very proud.
As for 2025, I’m really hoping that we get something new from Home Front, Private Function, Clowns, The Suicide Machines, Brutal Youth, Direct Hit!, Get Dead, The Holy Mess, The Menzingers, MESS, Neighborhood Brats, Leatherman, and PEARS. I know getting new records from Cobra Skulls, Dead To Me, and Dillinger Four are reaches, but one can dream, right?
And for its 20th-ish anniversary I hope that Red Scare Industries will give Enemy You’s ‘Stories Never Told’ the vinyl pressing it so rightfully deserves.
But for the time being, I’m going to enjoy what 2024 brought us. So here’s the list of my top 20 LP’s, top 10 EP’s and singles, and a few Honorable Mentions from this past year. Don’t forget to look for which record won my ever-so coveted Best Album Art Of The Year Award, too.
See you in ’25! Later gators!
(BAND – ALBUM TITLE – FAVORITE TRACK)
20. Shooting Daggers – Love & Rage – “Not My Rival”
19. Sum 41 – Heaven :x: Hell – “Waiting On A Twist Of Fate”
18. The Last Gang – Obscene Daydreams – “Berlin To Rome”
17. Ceramik – A Life So Bleak – “Mask”
16. No Plan – Lotsa Potential – “Doesn’t Matter Why”
15. Mean Jeans – Blasted – “Something’s Going On”
14. Amyl And The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness – “It’s Mine”
13. X – Smoke & Fiction – “Winding Up The Time”
12. Omnigone – FERAL – “Absolute Zero”
11. Pinhead Gunpowder – Unt – “Draw It In”
10. Split System – Vol. 2 – “Anything”
9. Green Day – Saviors – “Look Ma, No Brains!”
8. Hot Water Music – VOWS – “Menace”
7. Chubby And The Gang – And Then There Was… – “The Ravelin”
6. Dwarves – Keep It Reel – “One Musketeer”
5. Bloodstains – Bloodstains – “Public Hanging” [BEST ALBUM ART OF THE YEAR]
4. Various Artists – Red Scare Industries: 20 Years Of Dreaming And Scheming – “Heaven (All Of It)” (by The Holy Mess)
3. The Chisel – What A Fucking Nightmare – “Cry Your Eyes Out”
2. Hood Rats – Crime, Hysteria, & Useless Information – “Give Me The Creeps”
1. The Dopamines – 80/20 – “The Doctor”
(BAND – EP/SINGLE TITLE – FAVORITE TRACK)
10. The Menzingers – Gone West/The Last One Killed Me 7-inch – “Gone West”
9. Reckoner – Reckoner 7-inch – “Short Stories”
8. GEL – Persona – “Persona”
7. Fulmine – Randagio 7-inch – “Asso Di Mazze”
6. Broadway Calls – Coming After You! 7-inch – “Dead Before I Hit The Ground”
5. Bruise Control – No More/Left Behind [digital singles] – “No More”
4. The Copyrights – New Ghosts 7-inch – “In The Somewhere”
3. Fucked Up – Being Annoying 7-inch – “Being”
2. Stiff Richards – GFC/Empty Barrels 7-inch – “GFC”
1. Descendents/Circle Jerks – split 7-inch – “Hope“ (by Circle Jerks)
HONORABLE MENTIONS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER):
Green Day – American Idiot 20 [Box Set]
OFF! – Free LSD [Movie]
Brian Gorsegner – Ancient Artifax [Book]
***
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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