punk

The Oblivians were an American garage punk trio from 1993 to 1998. In the 1990s, their blues-infused brand of unpolished, bravado, crudely-recorded punk rock made them one of the most popular and prominent bands within the underground garage punk scene. Formed in Memphis, Tennessee, the band consisted of three members -- Greg Cartwright, Jack Yarber, and Eric Friedl -- who alternated between instruments on stage and in the studio, each member serving as vocalist, guitarist, and drummer, in turn.

Swing Kids were a hardcore band from San Diego California during the mid 1990s. The band members were Eric Allen (of Unbroken), Jose Palafox (of Struggle and Bread and Circuits), John Brady (of Spanakorzo and Sweep The Leg Johnny), Jimmy LaVelle (The Album Leaf) and frontman Justin Pearson (later of The Locust), who would release their recordings on his own Three One G record label. They were closely involved with and heavily influenced by the forerunners of the San Diego hardcore punk scene of the 1990s.

Sheer Terror was an influential and long-lasting American hardcore band from New York City. The band was one of the first to mix shades of heavy metal with a hardcore punk base, pioneering a heavier style of hardcore that would become popular in the following decades. Formed in late 1984, the band, for the most part, stayed together until 1998, surviving numerous lineup changes and shifts in musical style. In October of 2004, the band reunited and gave two final farewell shows at New York's legendary CBGB Club.

Believe it or not, things used to be different. People used to start punk bands because they wanted to have fun, not because they needed a vehicle to get their faces on the covers of magazines. Artists used to tour to meet new people, not to sell products in various "markets." Above all, especially in the punk scene, bands in the past didn't believe in a division between themselves and their fans because at the end of the day they knew we were all the same.