Audio By Carbonatix
Ah, the mid-’90s pop-punk boom… remember that? Probably not, now that the genre’s nearly synonymous with emo. But there was a time when everyone was more in touch with their Ramones roots. At the forefront were bands like the Riverdales, a group comprising three-fourths of Screeching Weasel (which was pretty much at the head of the ’90s pop-punk pack). On the Riverdales’ 1995 eponymous debut album, there’s nothing but four-four punk rhythms (no math rock), vocal melodies (no synthesizers), and familiar-sounding riffs (if you’ve heard the Ramones’ Leave Home, that is). And on Asian Man’s reissue, there are more than a few added bonuses, including three unreleased tracks, the B-side from the “Fun Tonight” single (“I’m a Vegetable”), and eight live songs. Altogether, that’s 24 songs. So it’s worth checking out even if you own the original — and Leave Home.
