Matt Baldwin

I was fifteen years old when I first heard Jawbreaker; first hearing them name-checked in an Ataris song. I downloaded “Boxcar” from whatever file sharing service I was using at the time and was instantly hooked. The opening line was the mission statement I was searching for.

“You’re not punk and I’m telling everyone. Save your breath, I never was one.”

I wouldn’t categorize my high school experience as terrible. Truthfully, it was fine. I was always invited to parties and always had a date to the school dance — though the former disinterested me and the later was realized in retrospect as I was too shy as a teenager to ever reciprocate feelings towards a girl without turning into Stan Marsh. I had a close circle of friends and a large group of acquaintances, but I never felt like I truly fit in. While my friends were discovering their love affair’s with alcohol, I was discovering Minor Threat. “Straight Edge” gave me, for the first time, a sense of community and identity.  

And while you’d think Minor Threat would score me credibility with the “punk-rockers” at my high school, any “punk-points” I’d earned were immediately revoked with The Get Up Kids and The Promise Ring. Emo wasn’t punk, and if you’re not punk, you’re a poser.

The budding individualism planted by Minor Threat bloomed with the discovery of Jawbreaker. I no longer cared about the acceptance of my punk-peers. They didn’t accept me? Fuck them. I no longer felt like I didn’t fit in. I was me and they were them and that’s how life was. 1-2-3-4 Who’s punk? What’s the score?

I’m writing this because today I get to see Jawbreaker for the first time. Really, it’s the first time in 21 years that anyone gets to see them (minus two small Riot Fest warm-up dates in the bay area last month). And as I’m screaming my lungs out to every word I’ll remember that fifteen year old, desperately looking for his place in society, pressing play on a song from a band he had heard name-checked in a dopey love song, and how his life would be so different had he not.

Yesterday I said goodbye to the best friend a guy could ever ask for. She came into my life just over twelve years ago…at a time when the thought of a new dog was incomprehensible. I wanted nothing to do with her.

That lasted all of a few minutes.

I could write a million words and tell a million different stories about Izzy and just how sweet and loving she was. I could go on and on about how she never did anything wrong and how there was never a day where she wasn’t less than 100% excited to see me. But all I’ll say is that I’ve never cared for or loved anything (or anybody) the way I did for Izzy…and I know that she cared for and loved me more than anything too. And for some reason that makes me feel at peace. Sad, no doubt, but at peace.

I’ll miss you, Izzy.

I found this post of bands I hadn’t seen by the end of 2007 (That’s almost 10 years ago...wild!) Anyways, I’ve decided to update the list. If there’s a cross through the band’s name, that mean’s I’ve seen the band live. Get it? Good. 

Here we go.

1. The Gaslight Anthem  2. Jawbreaker 3. Hot Water Music 4. Lifetime 5. Bruce Springsteen 6. Bob Dylan 7. Elvis Costello 8. Neil Young 9. The Cure 10. Descendents 11. Billy Bragg 12. Frank Turner   13. The Loved Ones  14. Lucero 15. Chuck Ragan 16. Chris Wollard and the Ship Theives 17. Midtown (circa 2001) 18. The Movielife (circa 2001) 19. Fake Problems 20. The Who (so what if the drummer died. He can be replaced) 

(note, shut up, Matt. That’s a stupid thing to say).

21. The Replacements 22. Justin Timberlake  23. The Menzingers 24. The Beastie Boys 25. Jay-Z 26. Brand New  27. Black Flag  28. Death Cab for Cutie 29. The Postal Service   30. Cap'n Jazz 31. The Bouncing Souls 32. Bedouin Soundclash 33. At The Drive-In 34. Franz Nicolay 35. The Hold Steady 36. Tegan and Sara 37. Matt and Kim   38. U2  39. A Danzig-fronted Misfits 40. Refused 41. Atmosphere 42. Strike Anywhere 43. Paul McCartney  44. Jets to Brazil 45. Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies 46. Foo Fighters  47. None More Black 48. Polar Bear Club 49. The Promise Ring 50. Minor Threat. Come on, Ian, make it happen!!!

Here are my ten favorite albums of 2015.

Wondering what I’ve been listening to? Probably not! Either way here’s an Apple Music playlist (hey...I’m a company man!) with some songs that I think are pretty cool!