Jump to content
 

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


decisions

Recommended Posts

On 2/21/2018 at 6:31 AM, _Kyle_ said:

I think The Matches' Decomposer is probably the most under-rated or just generally not heard at all. It's more forward thinking than this and less ... cringy?

The first two Matches albums are the definition of "just decent" to me. They have some good songs, catchy melodies, but really lack consistency and interesting musicianship. The singer drew the album cover for BTTW though! He knew how sick ZH were back then.

On 2/21/2018 at 4:22 PM, knapton said:

I actually physically own this album and its not that good. Its got some decent songs, if you like zebrahead, which is the big kicker. This band puts out the same music every record and yes its very bland usually. 

I agree you have to like ZH to like this record, as their distinct aspects are present on it. But I have no idea how you could say ZH puts out "the same music every record". That's just being disingenuous IMO. WoM was funk/pop-punk/rap, POTY is the transition album that starts to abandon funk to lean more into rock, MFZB is the real revolution that totally replaces funk with metal/post-hardcore elements, Waste of MFZB is a B-side album but even then the tone of the songs is generally a lot more melancholy than what's found on the record, BTTW trades heaviness for more pop-punk and has a new vocalist, Phoenix has a totally different production style than BTTW (reminiscent of MFZB, believe they were done by the same guy) and the melodies are more varied  - some of their most experimental stuff is on here like Juggernauts and HMP, probably the softest rap  and heaviest rock ZH had ever done.

After Phoenix things get a little samey because the most important member of the band left. But even then that's only two records before they changed things up again in 2015, leaning more towards acoustic stuff. Even if it wasn't really to my liking they still changed things up.

ZH would be last band I would say puts out redundant music. Even if it is true of their last few records, how many bands put out 7 albums before the creativity starts to run out? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to listen to them. Phoenix was my favourite album and they were interesting back in the day but I don't think their music has aged well. 

The Movielife, Saves The Day and Crime in Stereo are the only pop punk bands from that era that I still listen to regularly though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved this album during the age of 14-16 but i would never play that record again.

Its catchy and it has good hooks but its such a teenage thing.

Its like the power rangers series, Rather have my childhood memories on it than to rewatch an episode...

You could say the same for Enema in terms of lyrical content but for some reason thats one of the only poppunk records that holds up at any age and still sounds great every damn year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/24/2018 at 3:40 PM, decisions said:

The first two Matches albums are the definition of "just decent" to me. They have some good songs, catchy melodies, but really lack consistency and interesting musicianship. The singer drew the album cover for BTTW though! He knew how sick ZH were back then.

The Barber's Unhappiness begs to differ. Their first album is pretty decent, fun, etc. But Decomposer is such an artistic leap, it's almost a different band. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/25/2018 at 5:26 AM, raw_sounds said:

I like some ZH tracks, like "Hello Tomorrow" who was the singer during the "Playmate of the year" era? During that time they had catchy songs but nothing more to me.

Why, that was Justin Mauriello - in my opinion the best pop-punk vocalist of all-time, due to his skills of ability and composition. He was as good as you could really ask for live too. His next band, Darling Thieves, was pretty good and I even liked the 2015 soft-alt-rock EP he put out.

I actually wanted him to replace Tom:/ He doesn't do much punk stuff anymore but still posts about his ZH days on social media sometimes.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 years later...

I found this while researching the name: Broadcast To The World is a fantastic album. zebrahead is my favorite band. However, while they definitely are a piece of punk rock for dummies, they aren't near as influential as blink-182. If zebrahead's your cool tall building- the Eiffel Tower- then blink-182's the Empire State Building. Way taller in my metaphor. zebrahead produces somewhat influential music- they're my lead inspiration for writing music, along with +44. Plus Forty Four! Consisting of three of the members of blink! (If you're wondering who the third member is, let's remember Jerry Finn was with blink-182's members for quite some time back then.) The band is fantastic- don't get me wrong, like I said, they're my favorite and they were always awesome- but they don't quite capture the influence or representation of pop-punk like blink-182 does. That's like me saying MGK is better than State Champs- one, he isn't, he doesn't belong on the scene- and two, he only produced two albums, both relatively new. blink-182 was there in the earliest 90s with Flyswatter. When did zebrahead start? At an early time, yes, but not early enough to pick up the talent of a venerable band quite yet: Flyswatter was released in 1993. The Yellow was released in 1998.

And also, why would you mention a post for zebrahead on a blink-182 forum? Leave MF Z out of this 182nd forum, B. They are fantastic; they have their own forum and I think blink-182 is doing fine without them. They aren't even adjacent bands- if you're gonna feature a zebrahead post on Less Than Jake's forum, then that makes sense. On blink-182's forum? They don't know anything at all about each other (zebrahead song/album reference count: 2), and to my knowledge have never gotten intimate with each other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The band is alright... I like their stuff with the first two singers, but not so much with the new guy (Matt and Justin are missed)

Although Zebrahead is one of those bands I have to be in the mood to listen to, and not a whenever band like with others.

5 hours ago, Matt. said:

Anybody know what this kid is talking about?

No, I'm lost as well...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/25/2018 at 9:26 AM, raw_sounds said:

I like some ZH tracks, like "Hello Tomorrow" who was the singer during the "Playmate of the year" era? During that time they had catchy songs but nothing more to me.

I dont know wtf i was saying, i revisited Zebrahed and made a cool playlist

Chech, Rescue me, Hello Tomorrow, Poty, Strenght, Now or never, Runaway, Into You..

They are great but i only like the Justin era.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...