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Is Zebrahead's Broadcast to the World the must underrated pop-punk album of all time?


decisions

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Zebrahead is a very unique band, but I would like to bring special attention to their first album with vocalist Matty Lewis on this board, as this is the one where they sounded the most pop-punk IMO.

Basically, the entire album is just song after song of perfectly written pop-punk song with catchy, melodically genius choruses and some of the best riffs in the business. Except no one really talks about this album because Zebrahead seems to live in their own little space between Germany and Japan. It just never lets up. Except, well, that last song is pretty terrible but we won't discuss that here. Check out these two singles:

 

(this is just a total pop-punk classic to me, as essential to the genre as the best Blink songs IMO)

 

 

And yes I know there's a rapper in this band ahhhhh

Except his rap is really melodic and ZH produced the most natural sounding rap-rock ever. Not saying you can't disagree but to me it totally works for them.

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Hmmm, I’m surprised these songs don’t hook the people on this board. Can you guys maybe elaborate on what makes Blink’s songs good, but these forgettable? 

To me these have way more interesting stuff going on - cool genre mixing, the guitars sound better than anything Tom ever did, great vocalist who has range and clarity while still having personality.

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On this album, Lewis sounds more like a typical pop punk vocalist than Mark and Tom did. While he seems like a more talented vocalist in terms of strength, range, and inflection in some moments, the sound of his vocals just doesn't resonate with me. It doesn't sound unique, even though I could feel his passion. I think that vocals are the barrier to entry for most pop punk music in general, and these vocals are one such case where I'm not a fan of them.

They blend rap and pop punk well, I guess. Nothing sounded jarring. But Linkin Park does that kind of stuff better. Although they aren't pop punk. Maybe pop punk is just harder to blend with other genres.

Some of the choruses and riffs were catchy, but I don't remember most of them. blink writes catchier riffs imo.

edit: words

 

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this is the first time i've ever listened to anything by this band unless they had a song on a video game soundtrack back in the day. these songs were terrible. the most annoying and generic type of pop punk mixed with rap/nu metal verses? i'll pass.

Gob's 'Foot In Mouth Disease' is more worthy of an underrated pop punk album label.

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Nah it doesn't bother me lol I've talked to a lot of people who like ZH(sorry to break it to you Speedo but the ZH Facebook group is more active than this board:))...I'm way used to disagreeing with this board on just about everything by now (most people on here don't like anything heavier than the lighter side of pop-punk, and also dislike things that are well, different from the mainstream idea of pop-punk - most technical/progressive/creative things are disliked). But I am interested in that viewpoint, as I'm writing my own music and am taking it into account. I'm just glad you guys responded, unless I put a clickbaity title like this one most people don't check out my recommendations :/ Even if I think ZH is like the most fun band ever if you guys think they're shit it's still fun to talk about.

Also @Ghost, I think MFZB is their best record too and it's one of my favorite of all-time. I actually prefer Justin over Matty but BTTW and Phoenix are the albums I thought I could recommend to this board, as I think they're the most pop-punk ZH albums (BTTW moreso).

@Nasa Appreciate the thoughtful response. I guess it comes down to preference on the vocals, I think Matty is a really unique vocalist, I mean to me he is a distinct pop-punk vocalist and I don't know anyone who sounds just like him. And it is kind of interesting how easy the blend of rap and pop-punk comes right? They're the only band I know of to blend rap with pop-punk specifically and I think Ali is actually a really talented guy for making it all work. Of course there are some parts where just sings/screams, but those times also add to the versatility of the band IMO. I mean in the Anthem verses you've got rap/pop-punk vocals, and a little ska guitar part, it's really a unique sound, I think at least people should give them credit for being ambitious haha.

 

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7 hours ago, decisions said:

Appreciate the thoughtful response. I guess it comes down to preference on the vocals, I think Matty is a really unique vocalist, I mean to me he is a distinct pop-punk vocalist and I don't know anyone who sounds just like him. And it is kind of interesting how easy the blend of rap and pop-punk comes right? They're the only band I know of to blend rap with pop-punk specifically and I think Ali is actually a really talented guy for making it all work. Of course there are some parts where just sings/screams, but those times also add to the versatility of the band IMO. I mean in the Anthem verses you've got rap/pop-punk vocals, and a little ska guitar part, it's really a unique sound, I think at least people should give them credit for being ambitious haha.

Yes it is interesting! I think that often it's hard to blend disparate music styles and sounds, and not everyone succeeds. See the new Justin Timberlake record for example. :P Or someone who used to do pop punk but is now trying to blend pop rock with EDM and trap, like Fall Out Boy on their most recent album. It's a challenging task and with this album of Zebrahead's it felt seamless. Just not my taste that's all.

 

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