Leaderboard

1000 Hours, then 39/Smooth, then Slappy, then Sweet Children. That is correct I remember it being strange when I discovered it too, since 1039 isn't in chronological order

I couldn't agree more. I know my favorites, but how could I rank them? I can't put my least favorite near the bottom of any list whatsoever. I'm not going to rank here, but just run through the redeeming qualities of each: - 1039- precocious songwriting, great preview of talented 17 year olds coming together as a band. Terrible recording quality but awesome songs. - Kerplunk- again, bad recording setup (indie album, so of course this will be the case) but good lord the songwriting and talent levels are clearly off the charts. The new drummer is damn good too. - Dookie- no explanation needed. What a slap in the face to wake grunge out of its trance like hold on the radio and what was once known as MTV. - Insomniac- turbo charged buzzsaw that reaffirmed Dookie and showed that these now ripe old 24 year olds not only had the songwriting chops but the attitude and longevity to permanently change the music scene. -Nimrod- transcendental album, creativity, experimentation, and songwriting expertise galore. What. An. Album. -Warning- yeah, they can do classic rock, and mix it with a sh*tload of punk DNA. And it will sound great. Castaway and Deadbeat Holiday- drop the mic. For those still doubting, listen to Waiting. Minority ended up being a concert staple. I could list another half dozen winners from this album. -AI- nothing needed to say here. Masterpiece. -21CB- just a pure triumph. While anyone can criticize certain segments as failing to be as strong as the body of work, overall this was their opus, in my opinion. As Rob Cavalho so well put it, they were clearly "shooting for the stars" on this one. -Trilogy- again, much like 21CB, sometimes there was clearly genius on display (X Kid, Rusty James, Stray Heart, 99, Stay the Night), sometimes it lagged, but the only flaw was they shared a little B side material with their true fans on the album instead of releasing cutting room floor material much later. Such a transparent attempt of sharing the creative and songwriting process through the album not only with the breadth of material but also with the subsequent release of Quatro. I know my favorites, but I can't criticize the others, either. It's been an insanely impressive body of work.

I took this pic on my 14th birthday, July 17th, 2000. It's from the Warped Tour show in Saratoga Springs, NY. After the set Billiewalked out into the public and a bunch of people started following him, myself included, and I got knocked down by one of his body guards.