40: "Survive" by Rise Against
"All smiles and sunshine. A perfect world on a perfect day. Everything always works out. I have never felt so fucking great". A slow, over a minute build up into one of RA's harder songs. While the instrumentals are hard punk, the vocals are more on the pop side, and easily understandable. That is until it approaches the last third of the song where Tim once again showcases his ability to make hardcore screaming something special, and very talented.
39: "Noise Brigade" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
"A moment of silence, a lifetime of laughter". I've always felt that first track on an album is probably the most important. This song does exactly what an opening track should do, start things off with an indication of what the album will entail. This song is fast and catchy, with nice horn parts and lyrics that are easy to understand. After hearing this track you know that the rest of "Let's Face It" will quite enjoyable
38: "Date Rape" by Sublime
"Date rape stylee!". Oh, cliche city. Everyone likes this song. I like it because it is a great ska song, and was a very important one for the genre back in 1995. The band said they didn't like it much, which is understandable because it isn't the most impressive song musically. But it did very well, and really got ska back on the market for a whole 2 years! I love it when people say the music I like sucks. I ask them if they like "Date Rape", almost always I get a yes. Sorry, you like ska. You just don't know it cause you only like the popular songs, which this is probably in the top 5 in terms of popularity. This song is very good live if you've ever heard that version. This song also got me an A once in high school. We had to turn in a song that was a ballad and told a story, this one did that quite well in fact.
37: "Sell Out" by Reel Big Fish
"And she said, 'but I can't work in fast food all my life'". More cliche singles! But once again, there is a reason why this was RBF's only real hit. Also, this is once again a great example of how powerful an intro song can be. It really sets the pace for the whole album that is RBF's best, "Turn the Radio Off". This song also has a great video, but then again most of the RBF videos are great (NOT "Where Have you Been"). This is another one of those songs people like who claim they don't like ska, but not as much as the next RBF entry.
36: "Keasbey Nights" by Streetlight Manifesto
"My, my, my how the time does fly when you know you're going to die by the end of the night". Alas, the middle 1/3 of "Point/Keasbey Nights/Counterpoint". If that is confusing, look it up on Youtube, you'll see how they play it live. Earlier, "Walking Away" made it's appearance off of the original "Keasbey Nights" album by Catch 22, but this is the first off of Streetlight's re-release, which I think is much better. As for the song, it reminds me of summer so much, and is also one of those songs the "skafan-lite" might know. If you are a local band from Jersey, law requires you to cover this song in your first 2 years of preforming
35: "The Patient Ferris Wheel" by The Gaslight Anthem
"I never felt so strange standing in the Jersey rain". How fitting is it that today is very rainy, and what a perfect song to go along with it. I'm absolutely biased for the Jersey mentioning in the chorus, so deal with it because it is a great song all around. I'd like to think this is one of the tracks off of "The '59 Sound" that has Gaslight's style summed up, straight from the roots of Bruce. Also, that lyric I used serves its away message and Facebook status purposes often, especially while home in Jersey.
34: "Too Much" by The Suicide Machines
"Well I listen to your fucking shit and I can't make any sense of it". Punk Rawk to the max! This song starts out with hard chords and doesn't let up much until the ska parts towards the end. Even then it ends on a hard note. This song always makes me just want to have fun and never fails to get me in an excited mood. Another song that sums up a band's, and album's ("Destruction by Definition", my second favorite album), sound. This song is a perfect mix of punk, hardcore, and ska, what TSM always did best.
33: "To Our Unborn Daughters" by the Rx Bandits
"The matriarch was murdered, now woman is a four-lettered word". I used to not like this song very much at all. Then a year after the album was released, Rx released a recording of their performances at Bonaroo 07. This is what the opened with, and from that I really listened to the song. Nearly 3 years later it still blows me away every time. The lyrics are so meaningful about society, and the instrumentals compliment it with plenty of both hard and slow parts throughout the song. This comes near the end of "And the Battle Begins", but I think could have worked at the opening despite being a pretty slow song overall. But then again, that album is near flawless, so who am I to judge. This is one of several on there that would make a good Guitar Hero song.
32: "Everything Went Numb" by Streetlight Manifesto
"Ski mask? Check! Sawed-off? Check! Guilty conscience? Fear of Death? Check! Check! Check!". I wish I liked ska back in 02 when this album came out. I would have been looking forward to this so much, the first release from Tomas Kalnoky since "Keasbey Nights" in 1998. The first notes of the song never fail to catch my attention. Simple tunes from the saxes, then the other horns, then the rest of the band into what kicks off one of the best albums I have ever heard. This post had a lot of first-track-songs, and I think the solo horn parts in the beginning do it better than all the others. Throughout the horns are amazing. The song is fast. The lyrics tell a good story. This song basically kicked off what was destined to be a great career for Streetlight Manifesto.
31: "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" by The Clash
"If they got anything to say, there's many black ears here to listen". This song came out in the late 70's a time of social turmoil in London, and it does a great job to bring several big social issues into question through the lyrics. A nice tribute to Jamaican reggae and ska, this is the first instance of The Clash playing non-traditional punk and mixing it with other genres. Great cover of this song: The Aggrolites. Horrible cover of this song: 311. Why? Anything more ironic than 311 singing the lyric "You think it's funny turning rebellion into money?"? Didn't think so.
Up next comes where it is hard to decided which songs are better. Some of them include songs about: Break ups! Crappy bands! Gang fights! Death! And oh, so much more!
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