I guess this song is a couple years old, but I didn’t hear it until just now because, you know, it’s 2013 so I don’t exactly keep close tabs on what’s happening with H20. I had no idea they kept producing music after like 1999, and after listening to this song about how Kids These Days suck and What Happened To Real Music, I wish they didn’t.
It’s really, really bad, so in case you can’t make it through, here are the cliffs:
- Opens with Michael Rappaport complaining about skinny jeans and some other stuff, but I don’t get the references to the other stuff because I’m not old enough (note, I am 34)
- What happened to CBGB? What’s that?? Oh, you mean that John Varvatos store that used to be some shitty dive bar?
- The ironing of H20 and ALKALINE TRIO of all bands asserting themselves as the guardians or tr00 hc/punx music. I would be shocked if Matt Skiba didn’t wear skinny jeans and mascara at some point btw
- Kinda bummed that Lou from SOIA is in this– I thought he was immune to oldfagism, but I guess it happens to the best of us :/
- lol @ him holding up some DESCENDENTS 7″ at 1:23 like it’s some kvlt punx classic when it must be from one of their late 90s reunion albums on Epitaph of whatever
mindbottled that matt skiba is associating with this at all considering his current band includes the drummer from my chemical romance and the bassist from afi (who i guess have more cred nowadays via having been a ‘real’ punx band for a long time but still). the music itself is also emo as shit and matt totally wears makeup in like videos or w/e.
Is it just me or is the song like, midtempo?? This is v confusing because it makes them sound like if they’re bored and were forced into writing something.
“Ugh, so our record label wants us to write another song. I’m too tired to think of any ideas so we’ll just say something about how good the old days used to be, everyone cool with that?”
And I imagine the bassist just shrugging and that’s that.
I couldn’t make it through the first minute.
Whenever people irl start making fun of “music these days” and they are under the age of 50 it is the worst. Like “wow cool story bro, do you have some edgy jokes about Crocs to follow up with or is this your A+ material?”
“what are your thoughts on Justin Bieber, sir?”
“Please, tell us what the deal is with airline food”
Mr. Softee ice cream trucks are still alive and well.
Trigger warning: gay ppl
Trigger warning: Grimey Hood Shit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=125wznVPVDM
What happened to all this stuff that was a thing in the 70′s and 80′s?
Why are those things not things anymore?
What decade is it?
Which way back to my retirement home?
exactly. “i know people change” and then they get confused on why the music scene is changing………………….
“i know people change but i wish they wouldn’t, or at least that they would change in precisely the way that i desire them to change.’
ded.
So a bunch of tattooed old dudes in fitted caps, leather jackets, and getting 50′s dad haircuts are complaining about “fashion before passion”? Right.
hiyo!!!
It’s like a case study in unintentional self-satire.
best summary/10
was just about to comment this but you beat me to it. all of this exactly ^
Haha yes beat me to it aswell. Toby seems like a cool dude tho.
Glad my satirical pseudo-aspiness hit home for u. I re-typed aspiness like four times with different spellings before I realized that spellcheck wouldn’t recognize any of them. I hate how this song is catchy as fuck, I guess I can bump it the same way I can sing the praises of my lord Jesus Christ to Memphis May Fire or pledge my edge to xTyrantx.
Lol @ being nostalgic for rap and disco. Wait for people to get nostalgic for autotune and dubstep in 20 years when futurewave and corestep and whatever dominate the airwaves.
“Does anybody else remember T-pain, that dude was untouchable in the rap scene!”
What happened to Skrillex? What happened to Kandy Kids? What happened to crunkcore? What happened to ego boxes and synchronized running in place? Where’s the passion? Where’s the message?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oETR4ourqIM
OH GOD ACOUSTIC VERSION, THE JOKES WRITE THEMSELVES
HAHAHAHAHA They sound even more like whiny 16 year olds in that version.
I would like to thumbs up this comment. Srg, plz get on that.
I think it’s supposed to be spelled ass-penis?
This. Hah
This is lame af, but I can’t be too upset with H20 because they were what started me getting into hardcore, because Freddy Madball was on that Guilty By Association song.
I don’t know how far these guys are looking back, but when I was involved in 90′s hardcore (and aware of 80′s hardcore) we all looked and thought EXACTLY THE FUCKING SAME. Also why is this guy x’ing up in his 40′s??? Lol at being true til death.
Also why is this guy x’ing up in his 40′s??? Lol at being true til death.
A++++++
“when I was involved in 90′s hardcore (and aware of 80′s hardcore) we all looked and thought EXACTLY THE FUCKING SAME”
This times a billion. We also made fun of H2O for being nostalgic emo dorks in 1995, so SOME things never change.
i endorse and co-sign for both of these statements
So true. I’m going to start a merch line and sell “Troo 90′s HC Starter Kits”. In each kit, you will find:
1 Pair of Camo Shorts (cut down from camo pants for that troo fringe action
1 Size XL Hooded Sweatshirt (for your Size S vegan frame) (w/ your area code or town emblazoned on the back. Represent!)
1 Web Belt
1 pullchain bracelet
1 X-swatch (replica)
4 stands of Krishna beads purchased from the EVR mailorder catalog even though you think Shelter is fucking stupid (but you kind of like 108)
1 Victory Records T-Shirt (Size XL)- limited to Snapcase, Earth Crisis or Strife
It was a fashion show back then. Pretending otherwise is delusional.
somewhere in my house i still have a web belt that says “VEGAN STRAIGHT EDGE” :/
Same here. It’s now my “lucky drinking belt”.
oh god all of this
also:
It was a fashion show back then. Pretending otherwise is delusional.
always has been, always will be.
“i’m not here to criticize”
“I’m not racist, but [extremely racist statement]“
“Its not about clothing but I hate how kids nowadays care about clothing”
I liked this bands record “Go” the most because it was the poppyest and the catchyest. Would recommend to anyone who likes fast, poppy skate punk along the lines of NOFX etc. Seen them a few times and got bummed they played 0 songs from it. But wait…
was that the record I got at warped tour in 2000? THE warped tour, where punk bands try to get popular in the mainstream?
……
must say, I met their singer there and he was super super nice and signed my CD of theirs. Made 8th grade me very happy
Also, I was filling in for a band that played a show with them, and on the way to the show another band member was like “I don’t get H20. They namedrop old NYHC dudes to such a gratuitous extent that it makes you think they actually don’t know them, except its well documented that they do. Why namedrop that hard on stage?” And sure enough, after almost every song it was “THIS SONG GOES OUT TO OUR OLD FRIENDS IN GORILLA BISCUITS/MADBALL/SICK OF IT ALL” and we were all laughing
Oddly, Go is the record they lost me with. I think it was because I was still is disbelief that they went from, you know, LES melodic punk to pop punk.
But you were a fan of them before that right? I was an 8th grader who liked Blink 182 and Green Day. So “Go” was new to me, being unaware of their previous material
Kinda sorta – it was hard not to have seen them dozens of times in the NY/NJ area in the mid 90′s. They were one of the bigger bands that played local youth halls.
Don’t get me wrong, I was totally up on NFG in their heyday, but they waved the HARDCORE4LYFE banner so proudly, I couldn’t get my head around them not making the same record over and over again.
Other than the LULZY lyrics pointed out, I just listened to “Nothing to Prove” on Spotify and I’m sorta into it.
ahhh yeah iget what you are saying. They do wave that banner pretty hard, as I said in my previous comment too. I simply wasn’t aware of this at that age, and am glad of it :)
Kids these days don’t respect lawns they’re always on mine playing their jacks and kick the can, dern it.
back in my day we stayed inside and played Nintendo. we didn’t go OUTSIDE! wtf
We didn’t just HAVE cheat codes. We biked down the block to our friend with a Nintendo Power subscription just to beat Adventure of Link!
I still believe he’s not such an oldfag
http://www.onelifeonechance.com/oloc/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Biebs02.jpg
WOW!!!!! Toby Morse is a SELL OUT and NOT HXC ANYMOAR!!!1!
This is almost as big of a deal as when that idiot-I mean-musical genius from GRAVELAND was seen in a picture with Nergal from that pozer band BEHEMOTH!!!1!1111!
^ glad that i do not get this joke
U R a liar D, all ppl whoo ware glasses get Blak Metul jokes.
BUSTED
Spoiler Alert: Matt Skiba did/continues to wear makeup (eyeliner + mascara)
I saw Alkaline Trio last year and he was wearing both makeup and skinny jeans. wat
I mean he’s wearing fucking leather gloves and a t-shirt on stage while criticizing fashion.
Lol, this collab. The addition of Skiba always made me think of a schoolteacher/parent/youth workers speaking gangsta to schoolkids to be on their level so they can better get their srs message across. I like to imagine it killed them to get him involved but they saw him as a necessary evil in the fight against young people.
That said, I do <3 his vocals on this.
bright side: this reminded me of that H20 song “static” on the NFG sticks n stones bonus CD, so now listening to NFG for 5000 hours
Have no fear H20 there’s still new music out there that’s just right for you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mns9VeRguys
The lost me with Go. It was the saddest attempt to try to fit in with the Drive Thru Records bands of the late 90′s. Me thinks they’re still bitter that they weren’t accepted into the gang.
In full disclosure …
Thicker Than Water is one of my non-ironic favorite 90′s punk oldies.
Thicker Than Water has some pretty solid songs on it. Maybe not a “classic” but worth putting on your summer Spotify playlist for 4.5 days until the novelty wears off again
Looks like I’m definitely the odd one out with loving “Go”
sadlove.jpg
I’ve seen Alk3 a few times. Eye makeup/Joy Division shirt OR suit on Matt Skiba every time. No idea what he has to do with hardcore OR NYC at all. Definitely one of the worst H2O songs ever.
When I saw them on their 15th anniversary tour, Matt Skiba was wearing a blue-ish flannel shirt. Near the end of their set he took it off and was seriously wearing a fucking Madonna tee. Also, I was surprised at the amount of people in “real punk” shirts (NOFX, Kid Dynamite, etc.) at that show. Are Alk3 tr00 now????
I think tr00 kids jock their early records (read: from before Matt sobered up enough to sing in key).
I back this, my ex-hardcore, now middle aged indie friend is really into Alkaline Trio.
Also semi relevant, I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to getting a high school motivational speech from Toby Morse.
damn thats tight, wish that had happened for me
I could never fathom how I would feel about having onelife/onechance tats in 2013. The shame it brings upon my family name is almost unbearable. My mother can’t even go to the grocery store at this point.
U HAVE DISHONORED UR FAMIRY
i was first going to disregard the oldfagism and hope that the song was at least catchy or went hard, but somehow it isn’t
sounds like a tr00 version of the offspring
and i like some of the offspring :\
sounds like a tr00 version of the offspring
ouch
i love this song dgaf about the lyrics
its a catchy song bro.
DEFEND TROO JEWISHRETIREMENTHOMECORE.
This makes me uncomfortable. For a song about passion it sure doesn’t sound very passionate
Yeah, this. Many bad feels from this. H2O were my first “hardcore” band. Their first 3 albums were awesome. I just youtubed some old jams from FTTW and Thicker Than Water.. i mean kinda lulzy but very good and still hold up. Their first album doesn’t really hold up and is quite bad upon reflection. But anyway, going to H2O shows was the shit when you were a 16 year old suburban clam like myself.
Dunno. Just feels like a band that knows it’s irrelevant, that it’s a job now, and has nothing interesting to say (or play). So they churn out crap about the old days.
Also did not know this but they released a covers album. Just sampled some songs. Some lulzy choices. A bosstones song? Rancid? (I love both those bands). A fucking EMBRACE cover? How tr00 is that? Actually, embrace sucks, but H2O’s cover is pretty good, because that was always the music they were pretty good at. Upbeat somanythoughtsinmyheadcore.
i’ve only ever seen them once but it was fun as fuck. hearing nothing to prove live was the the best ever.
Was gonna post this comment. Sounds like a bummed out old dude just going through the motions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu2xM6ZzJh4
I wear white v-neck t-shirts that I buy from Wal-Mart. V-necks have been around forever.
“it’s all about an image”
it always HAS BEEN!
Running shoes, camo, hoodies, fred perry, docs, etc. etc. etc.
The problem with some of us old guys is that we have blinders on thinking life will remain the same way forever, duh, not possible.
Wear what you like and if you really hate what kids are wearing nowadays, stop and think about how your parents thought of what you wore when you headed out for your first live music events.
Currently I’m wearing dress shoes, a striped dress shirt and jeans, and an earth crisis belt. I don’t care that some kid I see when I walk to starbucks thinks I’m a square, I’ve more important stuff to worry about, though I will compliment anyone on wearing shirts of bands I like.
Old age doesn’t mean we have to subscribe to ‘tr00ism’.
Mind bottled @ Michael Rappaport doing the intro “what happened to rap music?” LOL.
Also, going to shows in the “golden age of punk” I can attest that image was always a big deal.
Song would actually be pretty sweet if the lyrics weren’t so old faggy.
NON TOCCATE GLI H2O, PORCODIO.
fidati che ti capiscono.
ps. h20merda
Prayin 4 the little kid – he never had a chance :(
OH god….THIS!!!!! I saw it and felt really sad for him. I can’t believe no one else has mentioned it. I hope he is at least being raised with a normal non special snowflake diet. I swear it was almost like seeing a kid where you know his parents are brain washing him to be in a cult.
Idk if you guys have listend to Nothing to Prove, but that kid is ALL over the record. Does song intros and what not.
Wow…that sucks. I have never heard it before. I almost want to youtube it but I don’t think I could stomach it lol.
the shitty mid 90s HC/rap band from earie Pa w/ mike ski? or a different band?
that’s STP aka sumthin ta prove aka stomp that pussy
^^^ THIS, and its really fucking annoying
gotta admit, “Thicker Than Water” and “FTTW” are pretty fun, even if they have some cheesy lyrics. I feel indifferent about pretty much everything else they’v done doe
also, that kid of his is super annoying whenever he pops up on “Nothing to Prove” and is one of the major reasons I hardly listen to that album :|
Did Matt Skiba and Toby Morse even GO to barber college?
i seen H20 last year with a bunch of support bands no one had ever heard of. i remember one of the vocalists from said support bands bitched about how no one was moshing to his band and said ”you all better be moshing next otherwise toby’s son will get you!!!” or something like that, but pretty much everyone was only there for H20 which was lulzy. band is fun as fuck live though, one of the best ”REAL” hardcore shows i’ve been to. they seem like chill dudes as well, toby let us take photos with him after the show etc.
Didn’t Cruel Hand support them? Listen to them if you haven’t yet, bro!
I couldn’t handle that video. So much embarrassment for those dudes. I had to switch it off.
dis feel, i know it
H20 is still relevant? News to me!
“Tags: old man screams at cloud”
ror
“and it makes! makes me mad that, i should have to ask!”
“it makes me mad”
YOU CANT JUST ANNOUNCE HOW YOU FEEL, THAT MAKES ME FEEL ANGRY!
Very happy with myself that I had to look up every name in this post.
Interestingly enough, when I searched Matt Skiba I found this picture of him with eyeliner.
http://www.the1stfive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/skiba.jpg
I cant stand H2O for just the same reason why I can’t stand Bane: they are obsessed with thinking they’re better than every other hardcore band, like there’s some sense of entitlement and rules to the genre. Give me any other band that sings about how life sucks, I miss my REGRETCORE
“It didn’t matter what people wore back then it was about the music!”
Complains about what people are wearing down and blames it on them.
Makes me terrible depressed to see 40 year old dudes this dumb.
the opening intro is about how skinny jeans and mascara are NOT OK for men to wear. The first part of the song is how about their “scene” didn’t care what you wear but now kids are too judgmental. I just stopped the song at that point. no reason to hear it all.
To be fair, I think H2O doesn’t really get credit for being proto-easycore (ala Civ) and basically inventing the tr00 pop punk steez (like it or not, they basically did the ‘pop punk as hardcore’ thing (although I suppose they were more so doing hardcore as pop punk) a good 12-14 years before all these other bands started meshing the music and imagery together in such a manner), this song is really embarrassing and I don’t think I even made it through the whole video the first time I saw it a few months back.
Even though they are corny as fuck, I still really like their first and third albums, tho. Dem skits on the first album though :/
all of this is valid, but this song is still fukin embarrassing
Have long considered writing a post for here about Toby Morse, aka the most embarrassing man in hardcore. Guy is a walking douche-chill.
would advice against post for fear of potential beatdown
yeah, please don’t write that post.
He seems super nice so I have a hard time ragging on him, but he’s from Newport, Rhode Island, which is one of the richest towns in the north east (it’s got it’s middle/lower class parts but it’s hardly a rough life). I saw H2O countless times in Providence and he was always way into repping that he was from here.
Which is fine, but it’s kinda weird to act like a tr00 NYC DMS dude.
Isn’t that basically the theme of their song “Guilty By Association” ?
IMO they always seemed pretty upfront about their band being not hard but friends with hard dudes
IDK man, I honestly think Rick Ta Life is way more embarrassing
I unintentionally sat through a H20 set last year while waiting for Terror to start and their age is really showing. They stopped their set so Toby could do a 5 minute speech about how no one would be there if Black Sabbath hadn’t existed, and then began a “cover” of War Pigs where he literally changed the lyrics to “My friends look out for me like family”. Never again.
smh *sobbing quietly*
omg.
Toby Morse is like that rly nice friend you have that you just can’t bring yourself to hate because he seems like a genuinely good dude, but you’re also embarrassed to be around him sometimes because of the retarded shit he does or says to bring attention to himself.
:(
the drummer was wearing a pithfork.com shirt
I honestly dont care how old a band is, what subculture they come from or how they dress. The music is all that matters. And contrary to this video people who were born after 1990 are still capable of making good music.
First time I’ve heard an H2O song on account of me just not really caring. I didn’t know they were supposed to sound like The Offsrping
Seriously, I get the biggest douchechills when I watch that intro by Michael Rapaport – what a fuckin’ loser.
How come all the music I find on this site I like is shit I feel like the writers actually legit don’t like. Either way I hope this is on iTunes without that rant at the beginning
Two things:
1. I can’t watch this video and not think of the shooting of said video. I sincerely feel bad for “dude who is getting his hair done (?) by Matt Skiba who is also screaming.” Like, I think most of the videos at this level are just “scream to a playback on a boombox of the studio track”…I may be wrong. But, egh, all the collar tugging that must have happened from the awkwardness of a dude yelling, unaccompanied, in a room full of other dudes, all of whom are trying to act hard. Yeesh.
2. Weren’t like 99% of the bands on the albums that were pulled out of bins in that “yeah this is the REAL shit” impromptu record shopping scene like despised back in the day for being poppier mainstream sell outs? Seriously, take a time machine back to 1996 and tell some NYHC dude that you like Rancid. See what happens. 1990′s: Epitaph sellouts 2010′s: tr00 punx pillar of the scene
Fuck everyone.
1990′s: Epitaph sellouts 2010′s: tr00 punx pillar of the scene
basically.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAu_Ugz6iHU
Another gem in the genre of oldfagcore (and maybe it’s not a coincidence they’re from nyc aswell). Also, the lyrics are hamfisted as fuck. Sweet mosh part doe
When I saw H2O at This is Hardcore, I actually walked out when they played this song. Band has a few fun/catchy jams that I can stage-dive to but this shit is embarrassing. Also lol, dat Descendents 7″ is from like 2004 (NOT TR00 OLDSKOOL PUNX). Matt Skiba has DEFINITELY worn make-up and skinny jeans (like 100%). Surprised this song wasn’t on your radar, the first time I heard it I legitimately thought “oh man, SYWH would have a field day with this shit”
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