Lookout! Records announced that they’re hangin’ it up after 25 years of releasing a ton of classic punk records. Much appreciation to how you impacted my life Lookout!- you will be missed!
As a 13 year-old growing up in rural MN, there weren’t a lot of avenues to find good music- just what was on the radio. When Green Day rose to fame with 1994′s “Dookie”, I had never felt an affinity with a band as I did with them. I had to get my hands on their back catalog- which led me to Lookout! Records. Little did I know what I was about to discover and how it would change my life….
Oh the memories….ordering dozens of CDs from the Lookout! Records mail order catalog (picking titles because a band had a cool name)….blowing a couple hundred bucks at Extreme Noise and walking out with a pile of new records….getting dropped off at First Avenue by my parents to see The Queers & Groovie Ghoulies….for better or for worse, Lookout! Records is largely responsible for me picking up a guitar and starting a band.
So here’s my Top 20 Lookout! Records (this list was a tough one):
20. The Hi-Fives “A Whole Lotta You”
19. Groovie Ghoulies “World Contact Day”
18. Communique “Poison Arrows”
17. Squirtgun “S/T”
16. The Bomb Bassets “Take A Trip With…”
15. Pinhead Gunpowder “Goodbye Ellston Ave.”
14. The Potatomen “All My Yesterdays”
13. Mr. T Experience “Revenge Is Sweet And So Are You”
12. Sludgeworth “Losers of the Year”
11. Green Day “1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours”
10. The Queers “Love Songs for the Retarded”
9. Pinhead Gunpowder “Carry the Banner”
8. Operation Ivy “Energy”
7. Riverdales “S/T”
6. Screeching Weasel “How To Make Enemies and Irritate People”
5. The Queers “Don’t Back Down”
4. Green Day “Kerplunk!”
3. Screeching Weasel “My Brain Hurts”
2. Mr. T Experience “Love Is Dead”
1. The Queers “Move Back Home”
