I mean "Goddamnit!" in the best way possible

"I need a beer to wash it all away without a trace
And it'll take 23 more to wipe this stupid smile off my fuckin' face"

It was announced late last night that the Alkaline Trio (aka the band most likely to cause Aaron and I to pound brew and singalong like this was some retardo movie about hetero man love) will be reissuing their classic debut album Goddamnit! this year with new artwork (I assume to cut out pictures of original drummer Glenn Porter and pictures that underscore the fact that Matt Skiba's hairline has been receding like the front line of a French war), remixed/remastered sound, and a documentary DVD about the band. Sweet is fuckin' right!

There's no doubt about it, the Trio has been one of the single most influential bands of the last decade. It's impossible to imagine the non-white trash side of rock (i.e. bands like Nickelback that appeal to Maury-worthy dipshits in tiny towns) without their potent combination of charging, catchy punk riffs and liquor-soaked tales romantic woe. As much as I love Jawbreaker, Blake was an intellectual, and his amazing lyrics still come across as very adult and high-falutin'. Skiba's songs sound like your recently dumped friend who's still young and smarting from his latest failure without necessarily being some self-absorbed sadsack. While he has a flair for kitchen-sink melodrama, it never really threatens to spill into histrionics or bathos. Imagine if the Morrissey that sang "Handsome Devil" was an alocholic bike messenger with a Misfits tattoo.

They introduced a band of Jawbreaker-influenced pop-tinged Midwest punk that had an effect on basically an entire generation of underground rock musicians. If My Chemical Romance covered "Trouble Breathing," they'd sell a million copies. I don't know too many people of similar sonic sensibilites to me that haven't worn out their copies of From Here To Infirmary, which might very well be their masterpiece. Still, it's the crunchy opening salvo "Cringe" that introduced them to the world and still stands as one of their greatest songs (the same goes for the sadly funny "As You Were").

I might do a series on the Trio (or at least the albums they did before they became goth-lite), I might not. Either way, getcherself a copy of the reissued Goddamnit when comes out. Hopefully within the next ten years it'll be recognized as the classic it is.

Cringe: http://www.mediafire.com/?atwdgpwjgng

San Francisco: http://www.mediafire.com/?20esstzitmj

As You Were: http://www.mediafire.com/?8jjmsuv3w1x

Clavicle: http://www.mediafire.com/?3jlzhowmghj

Trouble Breathing: http://www.mediafire.com/?9qftqbjrdq1

My Friend Peter: http://www.mediafire.com/?8biyyyknl1y