NOFX

2000 is (not) the year of NOFX! But don't listen to the hype; listen to the record. Pump Up The Valuum is more clever, more irreverent and more crude than NOFX has ever been: and hot on the heels of the unprecedented The Decline, an amazing 18 minute punk-a-thon, NOFX come slamming back with 14 instant classics (in about 32 minutes).

Pump Up The Valuum combines some of NOFX's most outrageous (and curiously thought provoking) lyrics like in "Louise," "Herojuana" and "My Vagina" (a first-person account of becoming a transsexual), as well as some of their most poignant lyrics like in "Total Bummer." This, their eighth album for Epitaph contains some of the most barefaced drug references and sexual in-your-endos (innuendoes is the wrong word because that means that sexual acts are only "implied").

From day one, NOFX has been all about having a good time, regardless to whose expense it came. In the liner notes of 1996's Heavy Petting Zoo, NOFX blasted the music industry circle including major labels, print media, radio, and especially MTV. This time, NOFX bring their despise of major labels into the songwriting with "Dinosaurs Will Die." Lyrics like "Parasitic music industry" and "Music created from devotion / not ambition / not for fame / zero people are exploited / there are no tricks up our sleeves" refers to the death of the 5 remaining majors, and being glad they are independent.

NOFX are in incredibly intelligent band. The way Fat Mike and crew have set themselves up is unique in this business. They don't need to cater to anyone, and their ethics are simple: if it's not fun, don't do it; and if it is fun, do it again! To NOFX, music is for one group of people: the fans. Here's how they got to where they are : they toured their asses off for the first ten years of their career. Constantly on the road, eventually they got pretty good at playing their instruments, which meant that people might actually want to come see them play. Then, they put out killer records, year after year. On paper, that seems like a relatively easy thing to do. But if you take a look at their former Epitaph brethren Bad Religion, it is obvious that this is not such an easy task (although BR did pretty damn well for awhile there!).

Maximum respect goes out to NOFX. 1994's Punk In Drublic is officially gold in the US, and worldwide, NOFX continue to sell CD's like they are going out of style (CD's, not NOFX). In 2000, they claim two of the biggest punk rock releases of the year, the headline spot on the Warped Tour (for the third time), a kick-ass tour of Australia and New Zealand, and will do the same in Europe, guaranteed.

So don't be a schmuck. Pop a couple of V's and chill with NOFX!