Continuing with another classic record that needs to be re-explored, I have the first album from Jawbreaker. The band managed to score a major label deal in 1995 and recorded their most accessible, Dear You to some negative response from their fans and music critics. The band's sound was much more polished and produced than their past releases and the tensions in the band at this time led to the demise of Jawbreaker. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Dear You, the songs were catchy and the guitars were much more clean sounding and obviously the band/label were trying to cash in on the whole Nirvana/Green Day-punk going mainstream-thing, but if you want to hear why Jawbreaker is such an influential force in punk/alternative circles during the early 90's, dip deeper into their back catalog.
Unfun was probably the most punk record Jawbreaker recorded. Every song has an urgency and the songs have some bite. The recording is rougher and the band is grittier, but this is the reason I like Jawbreaker. Bivouac and 24 Hour Revenge Theory are also very good, but you can't discount the impact the first record had on my musical tastes at the time. My brother bought Unfun on vinyl back when it was released and of course I dubbed it to a TDK cassette (doubled up with some J Church) for my listening pleasure. The version I'm posting is the remaster from 2008 which included songs from the 1989 7" EP, Whack & Blite.
Enjoy!
JAWBREAKER
Unfun (1990)
- Want
- Seethruskin
- Fine Day
- Incomplete
- Imaginary War
- Busy
- Softcore
- Driven
- Wound
- Down
- Gutless
- Drone
- Lawn
- Crane
- Eye-5
JAWBREAKER- Unfun. rar
2 comments:
fun fact, at first I thought this album, along with Bivouac, were horrible, and I just didn’t understand why my friend (who got me into probably 90-95% of all the music I love to this day) liked them so much. Fast forward to one day in art class, where this friend was listening to the newly released 24 hour R.T. on his walkman, and after asking what he was listening to he said the new jawbreaker… before I could get the word “ewwww” out, he said “here” and handed me the headphones.
Long story longer, if “condition oakland” wasn’t the song playing at the time, I’m not sure if I would’ve changed my opinion of them, but luckily it was! But that song did something to me that’s hard to explain. I rarely change my opinions on things I don’t like, especially when i’ve heard them more than a handful of times. But it immediately turned me into a huge fan, and it was like I wasn’t listening properly to the first 2 albums, because I liked them after this moment. I can’t think of any other band that this happened with, but there’s probably 1 or 2 that I’m forgetting about.
I know what you mean, I definitely have moments like this. Thanks for sharing that story!
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