THE YEAR OF THE 90s COLLEGE ROCK

INSPIRED BAND.  That is what I believe

what 2012 was in the world of punk and 

independent music.  Maybe I am biased

because this is a genre of music that I

absolutely love, but I believe that there were

so many examples of excellent releases that

were inspired by the alternative and college

rock bands from the the 90s.  From bands

that have been playing this style of music for

a few years (Cheap Girls) to relative newcomers

(Luther), band after band put out stellar releases

that remind me of my days in high school, when

I wore Stussy shirts and fire-engine red Chuck

Taylor's and had a crush on Kelly Kapowski.

With that said, these releases are littered throughout

my Top 50 Albums of the year list.  As you may

know, I normally only rank my top 25 records each

year, but there were just so many great records that 

came out this year that I had to double my efforts.

This year's list includes releases from all kinds of

genres from metal to alt-country to straight up punk

rock.  There are releases from bands around the globe

and even one or two from a major label (go figure!).

So, here they are, my Top 50 Albums of 2012.

#50 New Bruises-Chock Full of Misery

#49 Toadies-Play. Rock. Music.

#48 Annabel-Youth in Youth

#47 Money/Paper/Hearts-Let Me Panic

#46 Make Do & Mend-Everything You Ever Loved

#45 Daytrader-Twelve Years

#44 Pentimento-Pentimento

#43 Chris Wollard & The Ship Thieves-Canyons

#42 Mean Jeans-On Mars

#41 Peachfuzz-We Are Solid State

#40 We Are The Union-You Can't Hide The Sun

#39 John K. Samson-Provincial

#38 Pilot to Gunner-Guilty Guilty

#37 The Menzingers-On The Impossible Past

#36 Anakin-Random Accessed Memories

#35 Classics of Love-Classics of Love

#34 Baroness-Yellow & Green

#33 Motion City Soundtrack-Go

#32 The Hives-Lex Hives

#31 Teenage Bottlerocket-Freak Out!

#30 Title Fight-Floral Green

#29 Redd Kross-Researching the Blues

#28 The Gaslight Anthem-Handwritten

#27 Civil War Rust-The Fun and The Lonely

#26 Dinosaur Jr.-I Bet On Sky

#25 The Sidekicks-Awkward Breeds

#24 Dan Vapid & The Cheats-Dan Vapid &

             The Cheats

#23 Torche-Harmonicraft

#22 Arliss Nancy-Simple Machines

#21 Flatfoot 56-Toil

#20 The Evening Rig-Nothin' To Hear Here

#19 The New Lows-I Couldn't Sleep

#18 Sore Eyelids-Sore Eyelids

#17 Hot Water Music-Exister

#16 The Downtown Struts-Victoria!

#15 Sundials-When I Couldn't Breathe

#14 Jr. Juggernaut-Wake

#13 Masked Intruder-Masked Intruder

#12 Nada Surf- The Stars Are Indifferent to

          Astronomy

#11 The Jealous Sound-A Gentle Reminder

#10 Red Collar-Welcome Home

#9 Deftones-Koi No Yokan

#8 Luther-Let's Get You Somehwere Else

#7 Murder By Death-Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon

#6 Bedford Falls-Elegant Balloons

#5 J Kutchma & The Five-Fifths-Pastorals

#4 Cheap Girls-Giant Orange

#3 The Atom Age-The Hottest Thing That's Cool

#2 Bob Mould-Silver Age

#1 Old Flings-Spite

If you get the time, I sincerely suggest that you

check out each of these bands, as they are all

awesome at what they do.  If you want to tell me

how wrong my list is, suggest a band to me or just

talk about music, drop me a line at

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  I would love to hear

from you!