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!

Welcome to the latest installment of Rocket Fuel!

On this episode we've got new music from Bob

Mould, Dinosaur Jr., Title Fight, Murder by Death

and many more.

I also talk with Jason Miller, the singer and guitarist

for the vastly underrated Minneapolis rock band

The Evening Rig.  The band was also very generous

to offer up a copy of their latest album, Nothin' To

Hear Here and shirt for our contest for this episode.

Tune in to the episode to find out how to enter and

to hear all of these great tunes!

Playlist for Episode #64:

Bob Mould "The Descent"

Redd Kross "Stay Away From Downtown"

Milhouse "Cereal"

Murder By Death "Lost River"

Jr. Juggernaut "Tonight, Come Home"

The Evening Rig "I Won't Let You Let Me Down"

Chemical Ache "Burnt Books"

Tight Bros. "Barcade"

Dinosaur Jr. "Watch The Corners"

Title Fight "Secret Society"

Pilot to Gunner "We Die Today"

The Evening Rig "Pullin' Strings"

Obi Fernandez "Don't Turn Away"

**Rules for the Rocket Fuel/The Evening Rig contest.  Entries to the contest will be Facebook status shares or Twitter retweet as described above by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Monday, November 26.  You must be over 18 years old to win and the winner will be chosen at random from valid entries.  No purchase is necessary to win.  One entry per person, please.**

Welcome to a special Live at Fest 11 episode

of Rocket Fuel!  On this episode, you'll get to

hear "live" on-site interviews and acoustic songs

from all of the action of Fest 11, which took place

October 26,27 and 28 in Gainesville, FL.

Included on this episode are interviews and

acoutic songs from Carpenter, Dan Vapid,

Horace Pinker, How Dare You and

Broadcaster.  Thank you so much to all

of the bands for participating in this and for

Tony and his team for putting on yet another

amazing weekend.

Click the play button below to check out this

special episode!

Playlist for Episode #63 (all songs are acoustic):

Carpenter "You Might Be Right"

Dan Vapid "I Just Wanna Be Happy"

Horace Pinker "Refined"

How Dare You "Hecker"

Broadcaster "Tightrope Walker"

Welcome to a special Fest 11 preview episode

of Rocket Fuel!  On this episode, we'll be

playing tunes from bands who will be playing

the Fest 11, which takes place on October

26,27 and 28 in Gainesville, FL.  We'll be

playing tracks from bands you already know and

love as well as tracks from bands you might not

have heard of yet and will defnintely want to

hear more about, including the world premiere

of a track off of the awesome new album by

Sundials.

In addition to have Fest founder and head honcho

Tony Weinbender on the show, where we talk about

everything Fest 11 including how many bigger bands

that are new to Fest that are playing and Tony's

recommendations on some of the smaller bands that

you should check out, we are having AN AMAZING

contest.  Here is what's up for grabs:

Two tickets to Fest, which are good for all three days,

Two Fest T-Shirts,

Two Fest Promo Posters,

Two Fest Coozies,

Two Fest Meal Passes,

and a box of free Pabst Blue Ribbon Merch (no beer

included).

To enter, go to the Rocket Fuel Facebook or Twitter

pages and simply share one of the statuses or retweet

on of our tweets where we mention this Fest 11

preview episode of the show.  Seriously, that's it!

The one lucky winner will be chosen at random from

who share the status or retweet the tweet by 11:59 PM

Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 11th.

This episode is the perfect thing to get you pumped for

Fest!  I hope to see you in Gainesville this October.

Playlist for Episode #62:

Lagwagon "Violins"

Astpai "Heart To Grow"

Masked Intruder "Wish You Were Mine"

Sundials "710" <------World Premiere!

Braid "Killing a Camera"

Signals Midwest "Family Crest"

Horace Pinker "Second Best"

Latterman "Yo, Get Into It"

The Snips "Lines"

All Eyes West "Help Is On the Way"

The Atom Age "I Hypnotize"

Worn In Red "Blackout"

Mustard Plug "Beer Song"

**Rules for the Rocket Fuel/Fest 11 contest.  Entries to the contest will be Facebook status shares or Twitter retweet as described above by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 11.  You must be over 18 years old to win and the winner will be chosen at random from valid entries.  All prizes must be picked up at the Fest 11 registration table and Fest tickets will not be mailed nor can they be transfered to another name one the winner has claimed their prizes.  No purchase is necessary to win.  One entry per person, please.**