The story of the under appreciated band that persevered may be no less apparent than the story of No Use For A Name. It's not because they spent 25 years pursuing that rock star dream without attaining it...it's tragic because of how close they actually came to achieving it. I worked in radio back in the 90s when the crest of the pop punk movement was just about to cascade all over the radio. We at the radio stations had been given a choice: No Use For A Name's "Growing Down" or Blink-182's "Dammit." It was a toss-up by most stations. Our station picked NOFAN. I looked at their solid track record and predicted their music would only get better. Blink-182 seemed more like a flash in the pan when I considered the poor quality of their previous albums. Obviously, most stations chose Blink and the rest is history. I wonder if it would have been different if NOFAN had the support of radio stations across the country. "Growing Down" was on NOFAN's Making Friends album...which is sadly their best effort but at the same time their least popular. Now with the passing of Tony Sly at a young 41-years-old, it's their perseverance that was their achievement.
Here are the 11 Best Songs By No Use For A Name:
- Growing Down (Making Friends)
- Death Doesn't Care (Don't Miss the Train)
- A Postcard Would Be Nice (Making Friends)
- Tollbridge (Don't Miss The Train)
- The Answer is Still No (Making Friends)
- Justified Black Eye (Leche Con Carne)
- Fairytale of New York (More Betterness!)
- International You Day (Hard Rock Bottom)
- Hail To The King (Incognito)
- I Want To Be Wrong (The Feel Good Record of the Year)
- Soulmate (Leche Con Carne)
Buy No Use For A Name albums now!
1 comment:
I was definitely bummed about this, No use for a Name was one of those bands that was hard to track down but when you found their tracks on compilations it was always so good and I relish getting another taste of what they had to offer. thanks for the post.
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