So why is Fastbacks’ Zücker on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
The Fastbacks excel at gloriously melodic pop punk with hooks for days, and one of the reasons why Zückernudged into “best of the best” territory is because this is by far their best produced album – its crisp and clean sound allows you to fully appreciate every crunchy chord and delightful harmony thrown at your ears.
When I try to summon up my favorite Fastbacks songs of all time (which is a hard task, by the way), I’m tempted to name the two songs that made the fantastic soundtrack for a documentary called Hype! (#118 of best 1,000 albums ever), “Just Say” and “K Street.” However, Zückeris jam-packed with songs that are Top 10 or even Top 5 worthy.
My discovery of the Fastbacks came straight out of Hype! itself. My man Nirav and I actually attended the UK premiere of the documentary back in the day, based on my entering a Kerrang! magazine contest on a lark and somehow winning. We half-joked that maybe Dave Grohl or someone from the Seattle scene might show up, but it turned out to be a pretty pedestrian affair instead.
The Fastbacks hit me like a revelation: this dizzyingly melodic, hyper-hooky pop punk band seemed engineered for me in a lab. I had no idea then that I’d eventually move to Seattle or that the Fastbacks would become part of the musical DNA that connected my pre-Seattle life to the one I live now.
Nirvana is my favorite band of all time on some days, and the Fastbacks are the pop punk wunderkinds from Seattle that I think of as representing the spectacular bands that came out of Seattle that many have (still) never heard of.
“Parts” is Fastbacks at its thrashiest and hardest rocking, but it’s leavened so sweetly and wonderfully by a melodicism that very few bands ever achieve. Which is to say: I adore it endlessly.
And meanwhile, “When I’m Old” might be the band’s very best slower and quieter track. Fastbacks are a band that could have easily excelled as purely a punk rock band or a sweet and cheerful pop act, so it’s remarkable and worth heralding far and wide that they are both – and many things in between at that.
“Believe Me Never” is quintessential Fastbacks pop punk, which essentially means that it’s bliss in audio form.
There’s an alternative universe where tracks like “They Don’t Care” would rock out massive concert arenas worldwide, but alas the Fastbacks remain one of those bands that you feel deliriously happy about if one of your music-loving friends digs them too.
And the crunchy guitar hooks and harmony on “Hung on a Bad Peg” make me as happy and confident as can be that Zückerdeserves a spot within the best 100 albums ever.
It’s semi-tragic that a number of the Fastbacks’ other albums buried their own brilliance under muddy production, as their songs are always universally stellar. Zücker finally gives the band the crystal clear spotlight they deserve.
Some stats & info about Fastbacks – Zücker
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Seattle Bands, Pop Punk, Alternative Rock, Punk Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Zücker released? 1993
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #100 out of 1,000
Fastbacks’ Zücker on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Fastbacks’ Zücker that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Believe me never, hate me forever.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.