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”