Bluetip - Join Us

Label: Dischord

Year: 1998

My wife thinks I'm a "pussy" for liking bands like Bluetip. To her, they're not masculine enough to be punk, but not nuanced enough to be indie rock. They exist in this sorta neither world of sensitive dude rock, or whatever. I guess her feeling is that they're watered down, and why bother with watered down? 

My wife is pretty tough, and generally doesn't tolerate a lot of weakness. Although she'll follow Guy Picciotto to his grave, and by my count, he sorta started all this "watered down" music. So what the fuck is up with her?

Back to Bluetip.

This is a mid-period release, the last to feature Dave Stern. If you know the band, then you know what to expect. If you don't know the band, you can listen to my wife, or you can take a dip into their version of emo. Clean vocals, ringing guitars, big hooks, and a punk attitude. Your basic Dischord styled D.C. music of the late 90s. I dig it, but then again, I care about lineage, and I nerd out on the fact that it's members of Swiz, Fury, Sweetbelly Freakdown, Battery, Worlds Collide, 108, Seven Gone, and Damnation AD. My lovely bride on the other hand. could give a shit about D.C. hardcore history, and her opinion does not take into account the "but it's former members of..." argument. It's no use, I've tried it. She just shakes her head and wonders why the fuck I waste so much time on this shit. 

Good point really.

DL