Album Nofx

[Emelia Lute]

This is a discography of NOFX, a California-based punk rock band. The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist and bassist Fat Mike, and guitarist Eric Melvin, drummer Erik Sandin joined them shortly afterwards. Their current second guitarist is El Hefe, who has been with the band since 1991.

To date, NOFX has released 15 studio full lengths, 17 EPs,[1] and many 7" singles. The band rose to popularity in 1994 with their album Punk in Drublic, which was their only album to obtain gold status in the United States.[2]

He continues, "Was it worth it? Was it worth spending five years finishing the five songs on my double album project that I thought were the worst of the bunch? Was it a good idea to spend so much time raising the runts of the litter? Was it an error in judgement when I wrote a song about the magnitude of my arrogance? I think the answers to all these rhetorical questions might be found by listening to this half-sided album... but I seriously doubt it."

But let me stop here, because I want to make it VERY clear, that I absolutely am okay with this direction of writing, because the music is really good and songwriting should be personal, in my opinion.

I have never been an addict. I have never battled with depression. I have never had to stand by and watch all of my friends around me overdose, die, and grapple with mental health issues. I have never been marginalized for my lifestyle choices or for how I look.

This album shows you how, without having lived this turmoil yourself, you can absolutely feel extreme sadness from hearing how life has so blatantly been lopsided for some people in terms of success and in terms of tragedy.

Mike seems to be especially chewed up by his past, and those years of tragedy after tragedy turned this once upbeat, punk rocking partier into a grown man with a heavy head, heavy heart, and a soul that seems to be tortured over years of anguish.

Twenty two years ago today, NOFX released what was to become their most successful album to date, 'Punk in Drublic'. For those of you who love it, here's a great chance to reminisce. For those of you who've never heard of it, here's your chance to learn. Elliot Burr guides us through.

Could this be the final NOFX release? "Half Album" is a five-track EP that concludes the "Single Album" and "Double Album" saga that's been poking fun at album titles in their usual sarcastic manner. Those were some of their best albums released since "Wolves In Wolves' Clothing" so if you didn't check them out, there's still time. Nevertheless, NOFX has officially called it quits and is currently on a world tour playing 40 songs in 40 cities before it's all over. The initial reports from those shows have been excellent, but that's not what you say about this EP, unfortunately.

Let's start with the opening track "Fake-A-Wish Foundation". It's a super-lazy song that might be lyrically clever, but the melody line and overall impression are weak. "I'm A Rat" is signature-style NOFX with fast-paced riffs and an infectious chorus. It's a solid track. "The Queen Is Dead" is not a new song (lazy!) - it is the third reimagined version of "Naja" from the "7 Inch Of The Month" club from a few years back, which is incidentally also found in acoustic rendition on the "Cokie The Clown" record. It is a tribute to Naja Brooks, who worked their Copenhagen merch stand in the past and died recently. Fat Mike's "Naja najaaaa" shouts are pretty bad here (cue in all punk haters: yeah, the vocalist can't sing in tune), although the song itself is fairly catchy.

"The Humblest Man In The World" has an eerie "Louise" resemblance melody-wise from the "Pump Up The Valuum" record. The bass line is vibrant and pulsating here, and the guitar distortion like you remember it from the early 2000s, but otherwise, the song just isn't very good.

Luckily, "The Last Drag" saves the EP with its "The Decline" similarities. At just over six minutes, it's one of the longest NOFX songs out there. It starts with a repulsive self-loathing part (albeit characteristically Fat Mikeish) that's slow and dark, which gradually gains in volume and tempo throughout the song. It's dramatic and even features forebodingly sad string instruments during its midsection, before finishing off in a breakneck speed finale that feels like a complete contrast from its murky beginning. It's like a progressive punk song and proves NOFX still has plenty of brilliant creativity left in them, even if this is the last we'll ever hear of them on record.

But despite how good the last song is, overall "Half Album" is definitely on the weaker end of NOFX releases. Leave it to the biggest trolls of the punk scene to leave it all behind with such a lazy offering as the final fuck you too to the fan base. Love it - we wouldn't have it any other way. 6

The second half of what was supposed to be a double album, and clearly the red-headed stepchild of the two is neither of the kids were wanted. If this is going to be the last studio album from NOFX it will be a stain on the legacy in the same way a freshly 21-year-old person gets a novelty bar shot with a chaser that is nasty and then follows it with a mat shot. It contains another song addressing an attempt at sobriety, and it hits harder than most of the other songs about Fat Mike trying to get sober because anyone who has gone to detox knows that those first few days feel like cake and then it crashes down about as hard as this album.

Punk rock has been saved folks and it is all due to this Pittsburgh-based, cop adoring, pizza loving, beer swigging group of working class gentlemen. In a non-serious attempt at making fun of quite possibly everything in only 24 minutes, Worlds Scariest Police Chases have dropped quite the deuce of an album that is sure to offend some and entertain the rest. The title you ask? NOFX And Out Come The Wolves Dookie.

Taking jabs anyway they can at punk rock, the 7-piece chose to name their debut full-length release NOFX And Out Come The Wolves Dookie. The cover alone is a clear derivative of the classic Dookie album artwork complete with some rancid-looking dude and a farm animal being more than just friends. I am still curious to see what feedback is received from all of this.

Released on A-F Records, NOFX And Out Come The Wolves Dookie reminds me of a less pop, more punk Guttermouth mixed with Propaghandi, D.F.L. and maybe even some Leftover Crack sans the gutter. Now that I have typed that I am now asking myself if kids these days even know who D.F.L. is.

Having played the Playstation 1 game and wasted my life on the television show, it is no surprise that I am a fan of WSPC the band as well. Their fast and fun punk rock approach is just what I needed in my ears. If you are tired of all the bullshit and need something to just make you feel like there is hope for humanity in the punk rock world, then perhaps you need a quick dose of NOFX And Out Come The Wolves Dookie.

Greg Graffin sang background vocals on the "S&M Airlines" album (1989) and can be heard on the title track's chorus as well as on the song "Go Your Own Way". Greg: "Brett and I were still in college when he decided to run Epitaph as a serious business. He invited me to the studio to sing background vocals for this band called NOFX. I had seen those guys live before and thought to myself: This is the worst band on the planet. And they were supposed to be the basis for Brett's label! Turned out to be a good decision after all." The album was produced by Brett, as well as "Liberal Animation" (1988) and "Ribbed" (1990).

NOFX released an EP entitled "Surfer" in 2001. Both the title and the whole artwork of the 7" are a parody of Suffer. Also, the NOFX logo and the title logo use the same font as BR and Suffer. The etching on the vinyl says, "The Masses Of Humanity Have Always Had To Surf...".

This album took fuckin' forever, even longer than Decline. we started in December of '99 and finished in February '00. Of course we took the holidays off and we went on a three week tour in Jan. We recorded like 22 songs, but we scrapped 8 of them. We'll finish them some other time. The title track "Pump Up the Valuum" got cut from the album. that's wierd. we gave it to Epitaph for punk o rama 5. there's another song called "san francisco fat" that is gonna go on the next fat comp. the vinyl on the album is clear, and limited to some number. i guess a lot of the songs on this record are about drugs. i guess that's because we like drugs and like singin' about them even more. well our drummer doesn't like them so much. he did so much of em he had to quit seven years ago. but he's not writing the lyrics. am i rambling, i feel like i'm rambling, any way, i like this album. there's no ska, no reggae, no jazz, just punk and punk and a little polka. i don't feel the need to ever play a ska song again, but ya never know. yes, i definitely think i am rambling.
-NOFX

Through it all though, the group has emerged from a a few darker years with their latest studio offering, Single Album. In true NOFX fashion, Single Album began life as a double album before the 23 songs the band had recorded were pared down to a lean ten. The result is one of the most personal and surprising records ever to be released by the band.

It was said you were originally writing for a double album, and as a result, you were writing differently. But which came first? Was it the different writing, or the idea for a double album?

Hey Mike, are you okay? That's the question we should all be asking the punk rock mastermind based on "Single Album", the darkest, most brooding NOFX album to date. If you thought the Cokie The Clown stuff was weird and borderline manic depressive, this record takes it a step further and culminates in a sprawling dystopian assessment about drug abuse, gender politics, father-daughter issues, death, and the state of the world across ten tracks. At the same time, it's also a refreshing change and a unique twist to the NOFX soundscape, presenting their technical skate punk in a completely different light to what we're used to on previous records.