It makes me happy that 90s pop punk bands like NOFX and Green Day are still relevant these days, but what about the zillions and zillions of others who didn’t? Like the detritus of any other trend, the vast majority of the bands who were part of the 90s pop punk glut were dreadful, and deserved to be forgotten– I mean, can you believe someone actually paid money to release albums by Wizo?? While they were definitely part of the glut, STRUNG OUT still stands head and shoulders above the rest in my book and deserves a little recognition.
LOL @ their 90s steez in the video for “Bring Out Your Dead.” Sno-core, baby!
“Lost”- listen to that furious riffing!
One of the best metal guitar sounds ever recorded
While the majority of their peers were sloppy punk rockers who could barely play their instruments, the thing that set Strung Out apart is that they were basically metal dudes playing in a “punk” band. I mean, listen to their guitar sound and playing: it’s basically like taking early Ozzy records and playing them twice as fast. Not only did they draw obvious influence from 80s metal, they eschewed the Les Paul and Strats of their peers and played ESPs– metal as fuck! I was chatting with Jake before one of their shows and asked him what his favorite bands were. He kind of shrugged and said, “Uh, I guess Deftones, Korn, and Pantera?” Fucking awesome.
“Crossroads”- more sick riffing
If you need proof of their Ozzy influence, consider that their cover of “Bark At The Moon” could easily be mistaken for an original if you didn’t know any better
“Solitaire,” the poppier side of Strung Out
After Jim left, Strung Out really wasn’t quite the same. Their last few records lacked the pop sensibility that he seemed to contribute, and were more like straight up alternative rock/metal– not exactly bad, but just kind of OK. Basically, it sounds like the intro song to the UFC. Regardless, their first few records are pretty fucking great, and it’s a damn shame that Kids These Days don’t seem to know about them.
Saw them last year, they were still a fuckload of fun live. Plus they played Virginia Madison so you know I was moshing.
Awesome band. And whether you like it or not, I think their “skatepunk meets metal” sound definitely influenced later bands such as Thrice and Funeral For A Friend.
Believe it or not, Wizo are still huge in Germany and did play reunion shows last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ctgHnUPCk
Ha, why am I not surprised? What’s up with MILLENCOLIN these days???
+1000 for millencolin
Suburban teenage…. is one of my favorite albums, front to back. sick sick sick.
lol @ wizo
think i might buy a wallet chain….
Wizo was awesome. fuckin ‘Sauerkraut & Reuben” ???!!!! c’mon… CLASSIC.
When will we talk abt Life of Agony?
Bro, I did it years ago: http://www.themetalinquisition.com/2009/05/life-of-agony-has-method-of-groove-to.html
lol mia caputo
I PREFER STRUNG UP
This is one of my favourite posts on SYWH for a while. Strung Out were the band I would play to all my IMN bros in high school when they would be all “it takes no skill to play punk music”.
also…HOLY SHIT WIZO. I wrote to them because of that fat records sampler and they sent me a catalogue for their weird german label and a whole bunch of stickers for their weird german bands.
the engrish in this song still cracks me up
http://youtu.be/AzBMSmOGaKs
“I saw you yesterday down at the bar I smiled and said Hello and how you are”