Remember that punk band you knew in high school? Remember going to all their shows at various community halls, youth centers, churches and skate parks while thinking about how cool it would be if they got signed and made it big?
Fifteen did, sort of.
Aside from boasting one of the most amusing album names I’ve come across in a long time, Extra Medium Kick Ball Star (17) is one big nostalgia trip. It really sounds like that band of friends I foolishly idolized as a confused teen.
Extra Medium Kick Ball Star (17) has an energy missing in a lot of punk today, probably due to the fact it is a 1995 re-issue. While punk was certainly nowhere near alive and well at that time, it was in a considerably better state than it is now.
The album consists of one typical pop-punk anthem after another, though its lyrics set it apart from the Simple Plans and Good Charlottes of the world. Fifteen wear their leftist politics on their sleeves and their often overly simplistic messages are still refreshing amidst the "boys will laugh at girls when they’re not funny"-type drivel that has usurped most current pop-punk.
My opinion of this album is torn in two different directions. The music snob wants nothing more than to discard it, while the bratty little punk, who will never be fully exorcised from my musical leanings, wants to proclaim it the best thing to happen to raised fists and fucking the system since Propagandhi’s Today’s Empires Tomorrow’s Ashes.
Or until it. Whatever.