Review: Various Artists

warped
Various Artists
“Warped Tour 2003 Compilation”
(Side One Dummy)

It’s hard to find fault with an $8, double-CD compilation of 52 songs from just about every band that have played the Vans-sponsored traveling punk rock summer carnival. Say what you will about the Warped Tour’s packaged and commercialized version of punk rock: punk’s dead; punk’s not dead. Whatever. It’s such a non-issue, unless you’re 15 and you’re just experiencing/learning about the history of punk and commerce. Sure it’s basically a promotional tool, but so is that fucking Exploited patch on your bookbag.

Try to think of the album as your scrapbook of pictures from summer camp. You know: photos of you and your cabin buddies holding the trophy for winning the Camp Mi-Tee-na Greasy Watermelon tournament. Good times. Good tunes. Good mix of all your favorites: The Suicide Machines, NOFX, Glassjaw, Bouncing Souls, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Tsunami Bomb, Poison the Well, the Used etc. etc. Punk, ska, skapunk, emo, screamo, rock, pop punk. Get together with your friends and categorize each group. Drink some Tang and make a game out of it.