We recently caught up with Sean Hills, vocalist / bassist of Sacramento melodic punk act Bastards Of Young to get his take on the songs that got him in to punk rock.  Check out his list here.

1. Green Day – “Welcome To Paradise”

“I was born in Oakland and lived in the Bay Area for many years before moving to Sacramento. I was in middle school when Dookie came out in 1994. I heard this song on the radio and I was hooked forever. GREEN DAY was my introduction to all of the other amazing East Bay punk rock bands that had a huge influence on me; Rancid, Operation Ivy, Samiam, Jawbreaker, Fifteen, Crimpshrine, etc.”

2. The Clash  – “Safe European Home”

“The Clash are the only band that matters. I celebrate their entire catalog. No seriously, even “Cut The Crap” is pretty solid in my opinion. It’s impossible to name my favorite Clash song but Safe European Home is definitely up there. It’s the opening track on Give ‘Em Enough Rope and I’ve always loved how it kicks the whole thing off.”

3. 7 Seconds – Walk Together, Rock Together

“I was never really into the macho tough guy shit. 7SECONDS was fast and hard and they kept it posi. I’ve always been a sucker for singalong songs and these guys perfected the fine art of writing hardcore anthems. My first band recorded a version of this song and we completely butchered it.”

4. The Bouncing Souls – “True Believers”

“For me, it’s very rare that a band that can write new music that impresses me more than they did when I first heard them. I think it’s just a nostalgia thing. For example, Justin Biebers’s newest album is good but it will never strike a chord with me the same way his first one did. Anyway, I was always a huge fan of THE BOUNCING SOULS but when I heard this song for the first time I was blown away…again.”

5. Social Distortion – “Don’t Drag Me Down”

“White Light, White Heat, White Trash was my introduction to SOCIAL DISTORTION and it’s still my favorite album of theirs. They were one of the first shows I ever went to. It was incredible. There was no turning back after that.”

6. Descendents – “When I Get Old”

“I didn’t have the benefit of growing up with an older sibling who introduced me to cool music. As a result, I didn’t discover the DESCENDENTS until Everything Sucks came out in 1996. Of course I went back and bought all of their old records but I think this one is still my favorite. I haven’t seen the Descendents live yet and it makes me very sad.”

7. Ramones – “Bonzo Goes To Bitburg”

“The RAMONES are fucking badass. What more can I say? I’m sorry, but if you don’t like the Ramones, we’re probably not going to be friends. This song is one of their only political songs and it’s definitely one of my favorites. My shitty band (Bastards of Young) covered this a few years back.”

8. Jawbreaker – “Boxcar”

“I was just a normal kid from the suburbs. I didn’t have a mohawk and I wasn’t a skater so I had a little bit of a hard time identifying with the punk rock “scene” for a while. This song was my introduction to JAWBREAKER and they’ve been one of my favorite bands ever since.

9. Hot Water Music – “Our Own Way”

“I didn’t jump on the HOT WATER MUSIC bandwagon until they signed to Epitaph. I began to dig through their older albums and No Division stood out as my favorite right away. It definitely doesn’t sound as polished as their later albums but that never mattered much to me anyway. I could relate to the lyrics and that’s what has always stuck with me about this song.”

10. Bad Religion – “21st Century Digital Boy”

“Stranger Than Fiction came out the around the same time as Dookie, just as I was beginning to discover punk rock. It was one of the first records I bought with my own money and I had to hide it from my parents because they were super conservative. If they found out that I was listening to a band called BAD RELIGION they would have probably sent me off to military school. I remember listening to this record, reading the lyrics and looking up all the words I didn’t know in the dictionary.”