Punk-O-Rama was the title given to a series of ten compilation albums published by Epitaph Records. The first volume was released in 1994,[1] the second in 1996, and the rest annually from 1998 to 2005. The albums included artists from Epitaph's roster as well as from its subsidiary label ANTI- and its partnership labels Hellcat Records and Burning Heart Records. In total the series included 257 songs contributed by 88 different artists.
Rancid and Pennywise are the only bands to appear on all 10 volumes. Scott Radinsky appears on all 10, 1 with Ten Foot Pole and 9 with Pulley.
As its title implied, the series featured mostly punk rock and various punk subgenres such as garage punk, hardcore punk, pop punk, post-hardcore, ska punk, skate punk, and street punk. However, as the series went on and the labels' rosters diversified, the music of the Punk-O-Rama compilations grew to include additional styles of music such as alternative hip hop, alternative rock, digital hardcore, emo, experimental music, garage rock, indie rock, metalcore, psychobilly, and screamo.
Artwork for the series was inconsistent over the first four installments, with cover art and layout provided by varying artists and designers. C. Martin provided artwork and layout for both the fifth and sixth volumes, though they had differing styles and themes. Nick Pritchard of Metrosea.com provided artwork and layout for the final four volumes of the series, which adopted a similar look and style.
Epitaph also organized several Punk-O-Rama tours featuring bands that had contributed to the compilations, such as Agnostic Front, All, The Distillers, Guttermouth, Millencolin, Straight Faced, and the Voodoo Glow Skulls. Occasionally these would be accompanied by special Punk-O-Rama tour sampler CDs that differed from the main. series of compilation albums. In 2003 the label published the DVD Punk-O-Rama: The Videos, Volume 1, including 22 music videos and "The Epitaph Story", a short film relating the history of the label. Though a second volume was never published, the subsequent ninth and tenth albums in the compilation series included DVDs of music videos as well.
In 2006 Epitaph announced the retirement of the Punk-O-Rama brand in favor of a new series titled Unsound,[2] [3] the less genre-specific title being more conducive to the label's expanding roster of musical styles. However, only one compilation was published under the Unsound banner before that series was also discontinued.
Punk-O-Rama | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Cover: | Punk-O-Rama cover.jpg |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 45:16 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama Vol. 2 |
Next Year: | 1996 |
Punk-O-Rama is a compilation album released by Epitaph Records on November 18, 1994. Featuring twelve bands from the label's roster, the album was the first installment in the Punk-O-Rama series which continued until 2005.
Punk-O-Rama Vol. 2 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | December 3, 1996 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 39:49 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Year: | 1994 |
Next Title: | Vans Warped Tour '97 Presents Punk-O-Rama 2.1 |
Next Year: | 1997 |
Punk-O-Rama Vol. 2 is the second compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series. This was the first entry to be released at a low price, so that it was more appealing for someone to buy to check out Epitaph's artists.
All of the songs were previously released with the exception of DFL's "Thought Control". Me First and the Gimme Gimmes' cover of Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" made its CD debut here, as it was previously only available on Billy, a vinyl single released by the band.
Vans Warped Tour '97 Presents Punk-O-Rama 2.1 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | September 26, 1997 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 40:54 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama Vol. 2 |
Prev Year: | 1996 |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama III |
Next Year: | 1998 |
A tour edition of this volume was released in conjunction with the 1997 Vans Warped Tour. The artwork and track listing are slightly modified. The track listing is as follows:
Punk-O-Rama III | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | June 30, 1998 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 62:30 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Vans Warped Tour '97 Presents Punk-O-Rama 2.1 |
Prev Year: | 1997 |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama 4 |
Next Year: | 1999 |
Punk-O-Rama III is the third compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series.
This entry features two previously unreleased tracks, "We Threw Gasoline on the Fire and Now We Have Stumps for Arms and No Eyebrows" by NOFX and "Wake Up" by Pennywise. NOFX's track was later released on their rarities compilation 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records. The European version has Undeclinable Ambuscade's track "7 Years" and takes off "Lozin' Must" by Millencolin.
Punk-O-Rama 4 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | June 22, 1999 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 58:56 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama III |
Prev Year: | 1998 |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama 5 |
Next Year: | 2000 |
Punk-O-Rama 4 is the fourth compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series. This is the only entry to have a sub-title.
All of the tracks were previously released except the first track, "Fight It" by Pennywise.
This was the first entry to include bands from the Swedish Burning Heart Records label, which has its material distributed by Epitaph Records in North America. It also includes a song from the Tom Waits album Mule Variations, which was released on Epitaph's indie rock label ANTI-.
Punk-O-Rama 5 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | July 20, 2000 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 73:32 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama 4 |
Prev Year: | 1999 |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama 2001, Vol. 6 |
Next Year: | 2001 |
Punk-O-Rama 5 is the fifth compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series.
All of the tracks were previously released except for "Pump Up the Valium" by NOFX and "Problematic" by All. The latter two tracks were title tracks left off the bands' current albums at the time, NOFX's Pump Up the Valuum and ALL's Problematic. Also, NOFX's track was later released on the rarities compilation album 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records.
"Secure Horizons" by Guttermouth was later rerecorded on their Covered With Ants record.
"Good Rats" by Dropkick Murphys was later rerecorded on their Sing Loud Sing Proud record.
The Rancid song "Poison" was a demo version of the song off their Rancid 5 record.
This is the only entry in the series not to include a song by Bad Religion.
Punk-O-Rama 2001, Vol. 6 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | June 5, 2001 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 56:25 (US Release) 54:18 (UK Release) |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama 5 |
Prev Year: | 2000 |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama 7 |
Next Year: | 2002 |
Punk-O-Rama 2001, Vol. 6 is the sixth compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series.
The cover is a reference to a scene in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, as this was the release from the year 2001.
The US release of Punk-O-Rama Vol. 6 included a total of five previously unreleased tracks. The unreleased tracks are "Blackeye" by Millencolin (US only), "We're Desperate" by Pennywise, "Original Me" by Descendents, "Let Me In" by Beatsteaks and "Bath of Least Resistance" by NOFX. Pennywise perform "We're Desperate" with Exene Cervenka, who is from X which is the band that originally performed the song. "Original Me" was originally performed by ALL, which is the band the members of the Descendents formed when Milo Aukerman went to college. "Bath of Least Resistance" by NOFX was later released on their rarities compilation 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records. "Blackeye" by Millencolin was later released in their album Home from Home, and was the only previously unreleased track to not appear on the UK release of Punk-O-Rama Vol. 6.
Punk-O-Rama 7 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | June 25, 2002 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 54:19 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama 2001, Vol. 6 |
Prev Year: | 2001 |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama 8 |
Next Year: | 2003 |
Punk-O-Rama 7 is the seventh compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series.
Punk-O-Rama 8 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | May 20, 2003 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama 7 |
Prev Year: | 2002 |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9 |
Next Year: | 2004 |
Punk-O-Rama 8 is the eighth compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series. It was released in 2003.
This is the only entry in the series to be a two-disc by containing two CDs. The entries following this had two discs, but they were one CD and one DVD.
The song "Quick Death" is on here in two different forms. The first is the original by Transplants, and the latter is a remix of that track by Error.
European Version does not include Wasted Words by Death By Stereo, but does include extra tracks:
Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | June 8, 2004 |
Genre: | Punk rock |
Length: | 78:31 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama 8 |
Prev Year: | 2003 |
Next Title: | Punk-O-Rama 10 |
Next Year: | 2005 |
Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9 is the ninth compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series.
This is the first of two entries to be released as a two-disc with a DVD. The DVD features current music videos by bands on the CD, with the exception of Randy and Converge who do not appear on the CD. Additionally, of the bands that appear on both the CD and the DVD, only The Bouncing Souls and Matchbook Romance have the same song on each, with "Sing Along Forever" and "Promise" respectively.
All of the tracks on the CD were previously released except "Seein' Diamonds" by Hot Water Music and "The Plague (live)" by Death By Stereo.
This is the only entry in the series not to include a song by NOFX.
This was one of the main albums where the now popular band Motion City Soundtrack first found their fame with the humorous video shown on the DVD.
Punk-O-Rama 10 | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | June 7, 2005 |
Genre: | Punk, emo, screamo, pop punk, hardcore punk, indie, hip hop |
Length: | 72:23 |
Label: | Epitaph |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Punk-O-Rama |
Prev Title: | Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9 |
Prev Year: | 2004 |
Punk-O-Rama 10 is the tenth and final compilation album in the Punk-O-Rama series. The following year saw the start of Epitaph Records' new compilation series called Unsound.
This is one of only two, along with the previous entry, to be released as a two-disc with a DVD. The DVD features current music videos by bands on the CD, with the exception of C. Aarme, the Weakerthans, the Black Keys, Atmosphere, Horrorpops and Eyedea & Abilities who do not appear on the CD. Additionally, of the bands that appear on both the CD and the DVD, only the Bouncing Souls and Roger Miret and the Disasters have the same song on each, with "Anchors Aweigh" and "Riot, Riot, Riot" respectively.
Although most of the tracks on the CD were previously released, this entry features more unreleased tracks than any other in the series. "Shoot Me in the Smile" by The Matches, "News From The Front" by Bad Religion (however, the song was a bonus track on certain regional releases of Stranger Than Fiction), "Mixin' Up Adjectives" by This Is Me Smiling, "From the Tops of Trees" by Scatter the Ashes, "Mission from God" by The Offspring, "Bloodstain" by Pulley and "Not the Way" by The Special Goodness" were all previously unreleased as was the live version of "Anchors Aweigh" by The Bouncing Souls. Additionally, "There's No Fun in Fundamentalism" by NOFX made its CD debut here, as it was previously only available on one of the 7" of the Month Club vinyl singles.
Unsound | |
Type: | compilation |
Artist: | Various Artists |
Released: | June 6, 2006 |
Genre: | Punk rock, Post-Hardcore, Emo, Hip hop |
Length: | 56:12 |
Label: | Epitaph Records |
Producer: | Various |
Chronology: | Unsound |
Unsound is the first, and currently only, compilation released in the Unsound series, which replaced Epitaph Records' Punk-O-Rama series. Epitaph chose to change the name of the compilation series because the name "Punk-O-Rama", especially in its later releases, no longer reflected the wide range of music released on the compilations. Unsound is similar to the last two entries in the Punk-O-Rama series in that it is a two-disc set with a CD and a DVD, which contains music videos of bands on the CD.
CD
DVD
A total of 88 artists contributed songs to the Punk-O-Rama compilation series. Pennywise and Rancid were the only acts to appear on all ten volumes, while Bad Religion, NOFX, and Pulley each appeared on nine installments. Scott Radinsky appears on all 10, 1 with Ten Foot Pole and 9 with Pulley.
Contributing artists included: