Robert James Ritchie, better known as Kid Rock and occasionally Bobby Shazam, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, musician, and record producer. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and heavy metal. A self-taught musician, he plays every instrument in his backing band and has overseen production on all but two of his albums.
NOFX is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. Vocalist/bassist Fat Mike, guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin are original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on every release of the band, although Sandin departed briefly in 1985 only to rejoin the following year. El Hefe joined the band in 1991 to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up.
Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk scenes in San Francisco and Southern California which arose as a reaction against the still predominant hippie cultural climate of the time. It was also inspired by New York punk rock and early proto-punk. New York punk had a harder-edged sound than its San Francisco counterpart, featuring anti-art expressions of masculine anger, energy, and subversive humor. Hardcore punk generally disavows commercialism, the established music industry and "anything similar to the characteristics of mainstream rock" and often addresses social and political topics with "confrontational, politically-charged lyrics."
Black Flag is an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. Initially called Panic, the band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter, and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band. They are widely considered to be one of the first hardcore punk bands, as well as one of the pioneers of post-hardcore. After breaking up in 1986, Black Flag reunited in 2003 and again in 2013. The second reunion lasted well over a year, during which they released their first studio album in over two decades, What The... (2013). The band announced their third reunion in January 2019. Brandon Pertzborn was replaced by Isaias Gil on drums and Tyler Smith was replaced by Joseph Noval on bass.
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipment. Ginn repurposed the company as a record label to release material by his band Black Flag.
Damaged is the debut studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. SST Records released it on December 5, 1981.
Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The band is well known for its politically charged lyrics and activism, focusing on human rights and various left-wing causes. The line-up includes singer/guitarist Justin Sane and drummer Pat Thetic, who founded the band together; later members are guitarist Chris Head, and singer/bassist Chris Barker (#2) who replaced Jamie "Cock" Towns, who had replaced original bassist Andy Flag in 1997 following his departure one year prior. Anti-Flag is known also for their advocacy of progressive political action groups such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International. Most recently, the band has declared solidarity with the global Occupy Together movement.
Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands signed to the label as well. A large portion of the record label, known as Hellcat Records, is owned by Tim Armstrong, frontman of the punk rock band Rancid. Several sister labels also exist, such as ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Fat Possum Records, Hellcat Records, and Heart & Skull Records that have signed other types of bands.
Punk in Drublic is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on July 19, 1994 through Epitaph Records. The title is a spoonerism of "Drunk in Public".
Michael Bernard Bloomfield was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, as he rarely sang before 1969. Respected for his guitar playing, Bloomfield knew and played with many of Chicago's blues musicians before achieving his own fame and was instrumental in popularizing blues music in the mid-1960s. In 1965, he played on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, including the single Like a Rolling Stone, and performed with Dylan at that year's Newport Folk Festival.
Fat Wreck Chords is a San Francisco, California-based independent record label, focused on punk rock. It was started by NOFX lead singer Michael Burkett and his girlfriend at the time, Erin Burkett, in 1990.
Greg Hetson is an American guitarist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in the Los Angeles area since he was 2 years old. Active since 1979, Hetson is best known as the guitarist for the influential hardcore punk bands Redd Kross, Circle Jerks and Bad Religion. He is known for his high energy stage antics which people have coined the term "The Hetson Leap ". Hetson was a founding member of and also plays guitar in another supergroup, Punk Rock Karaoke, and the hardcore punk band G.F.P.
A New Kind of Army is a punk rock album originally released by Anti-Flag on May 25, 1999. It was reissued by A-F Records on October 19, 2004 and is also the only album to feature only Justin Sane as lead vocalist. All other albums featured at least one song sung by either Andy Flag or Chris #2.
Michael Chadbourne Mills is an American film and music video director, writer and graphic designer. He is best known for his independent films Thumbsucker, Beginners, and 20th Century Women. For the latter, Mills was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
The Blasting Room is a recording studio in Fort Collins, Colorado. Founded by members of the punk rock band All in 1994, it is owned and operated by musician Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore. The studio is known for recording and producing many punk rock bands, with Stevenson and Livermore serving as in-house audio engineers and record producers.
Let Them Eat Jellybeans!, subtitled "17 Extracts From America's Darker Side", is a compilation album released by Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles in 1981. It was one of the earliest compilations of underground music in the United States and its original release included an insert of all of the punk bands known to be playing in the U.S. and Canada at that time. The first side of the LP features songs by a number of bands that formed the canon of American hardcore punk in the 1980s, while the second side features more of an art rock sound.
For Blood and Empire is the sixth studio album by American punk band Anti-Flag. It was released on March 21, 2006. It is also their first release on RCA Records, which caused the band to receive criticism from many due to their initially anti-corporate message.
Minutemen were an American punk rock band formed in San Pedro, California, in 1980. Composed of guitarist/vocalist D. Boon, bassist/vocalist Mike Watt, and drummer George Hurley, Minutemen recorded four albums and eight EPs before Boon's death in an automobile accident in 1985; after Boon's death, the band broke up. They were noted in the California punk community for a philosophy of "jamming econo"—a sense of thriftiness reflected in their touring and presentation—while their eclectic and experimental attitude was instrumental in pioneering alternative rock and post-hardcore.
Title Fight is an American rock band from Kingston, Pennsylvania, formed in 2003. They have released 3 studio albums – Shed (2011), Floral Green (2012) and Hyperview (2015) – gradually shifting from a hardcore punk-oriented sound towards an emphasis on mellow atmospheres. Hyperview was released through ANTI-, a record label to which the band signed in July 2014.
Circle Jerks are an American punk rock band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. To date, Circle Jerks have released six studio albums, one compilation, a live album and a live DVD. Their debut album, Group Sex (1980), is considered a landmark of the hardcore genre.
