We recently caught up with Vocalist / Guitarist Kody of Teenage Bottlerocket to get his take on the songs that got him in to punk rock. Check it out here.
1) Def Leppard – “Hysteria”
“This was the first cassette I can remember getting and being super stoked on. It led me into a world of bad metal bands and eventually got me pumped to start playing myself. My friends and I all asked for instruments for Christmas one year so we could start a band. No one knew had to play shit but we were determined to learn come hell or high water. I got rid of this album later when it wasn’t cool to listen to stuff like this and picked it up again later when I realized that it was still pretty kick ass and that I was never cool to begin with.”
2) Metallica – “Master of Puppets”
“I already owned the Black album and was really into it but it wasn’t until a friend showed me Master of Puppets that I was blown away. It was kinda scary hearing something to fast and wicked sounding. Fuck, the album cover was even kinda creepy. I bought all the rest of their albums and they were pretty much the only thing I listened to for a very long time. Most importantly the t-shirts that Metallica wore of other bands that I had never heard of paved the way into punk rock for me. ”
3) Danzig – “Lucifuge”
“I was introduced to Danzig by a guy in my high school art class. I was stoked on the simplicity of the tunes and I was also drawn to the dark subject matter. They were another band that were kinda scary to me. They had upside down crosses and they sang about the devil? Sign me up! I bought all the Danzig records and move on to Samhain and the Misfits. Again I went through a phase where those three bands were the only thing i listened to for a few years. I remember showing some of my metal head buddies the Misfits stuff and they were not impressed. I’ve always loved Glenn’s voice and when I started writing songs and singing he was definitely a huge influence.”
4) Ramones – “Brain Drain”
“I had heard the band name before but never really checked out any of their stuff. I first heard them on the Pet Cemetery movie so I searched out the record with that song on it. I was getting out of metal and listening to more punk rock stuff and I always gravitated to the simple bands. These fuckers took it to a whole new level! Another thing that really hooked me on the Ramones was the silliness of the songs. The picture on the inside of the jacket was of them sitting at this tiny table eating cereal, and reading comic books and they all looked so weird. I could relate to weird. I bought some of the earlier records and songs like beat on the brat, commando, and blitzkrieg bop hit the ball out of the park for me.”
5) Screeching Weasel – “My Brain Hurts”
“My first weasel record was boogada which is equally as good. But I was moving away from faster stuff and was more into simple melodic tunes. Supermarket Fantasy, stupid over you, hey suburbia we’re all exactly what I wanted to hear. So when i bought My brain hurts I was pumped when I realized that the whole record was melodic. I wore that cassette into the dirt. I bought all the other records and went through a period of weasel worship. This was the kind of band I wanted to do. I eventually moved on to the Queers, Mr.t experience, and green day. All of these bands had a big impact on me but weasel was the first.”
6) Dayglo Abortion – “Feed Us a Fetus”
“My friend Charlie introduced me to these guys. He let me borrow a recorded cassette of it that sounded like total dog shit on account that it had been recorded from another cassette that had been recorded from another cassette. Every song on this record is so retardedly laugh out loud funny that it instantly hooked me. My buddy Charlie and I still play this whenever we get together and drink beers and it still makes us laugh as hard as it did the first time. When the Internet finally came around we tracked down actual copies of this album and Here today guano tomorrow (which might actually be my favorite of the two).”
7) Head – “The Monkeys”
“I heard about Head from an article in maximumrocknroll. Another album of simple ballsy tunes and awesome subject matter. Head has been a major influence on all the songs that I’ve written since I heard them. Darker chord progressions and cool lyrical content are the two things that really stoke me out on these guys. It’s hard not to like a song that says,” that guy with a lampshade on his head, yeah he’s a friend of mine”, or ” I’m gonna play in the sand with a turban on me head”. These dudes don’t give a flying fuck!”
8) Slayer – ” Reign in Blood”
“A friend of mine had strongly suggested this album to me after I told him that I had been listening to seasons in the abyss a lot. I Fucking hated it at first. It sounded like noise to me. But the more time I gave it the more it grew on me. Eventually there was a period of about 6 months where I listened to this album only. This was the beginning of my renewed interest in heavy metal. I bought all the old Slayer records and started searching out other old metal albums that I had missed the first time around.”
9) Alkaline Trio – “From here to Infirmary”
“This was the band and record that got me back into melodic pop punk. Brandon (Bottlerocket drummer) showed me these guys when we were hanging out. I had pretty much quit writing tunes and playing music and it was this record that stoked me on doing it again. There was a long stretch where I listened to this record and also Dear You by Jawbreaker. Both of which are amazing albums. All the A3 stuff kills but I think this record ties together their earlier and later work perfectly.”
10) Municipal Waste – “The art of Partying”
“This album was a door opener into newer metal and thrash bands that I never realized existed. I think waste has a lot of Throwbacks to old D.R.I which was another band that I always loved. I’ve always been a fan of the crossover era of music from the mid eighties and these guys sound like they’re fresh out of a time machine from there. Had they been a band at that time, I think they would have rules the genre. This record led me to other bands like Skeletonwitch, toxic holocaust, and all the new metal stuff that I’m into presently.”
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