No band ever captured the innocent side of punk rock--the first generation, that is--as well as this Irish combo. Fuelled by adolescent desire more than political angst, front-man Feargal Sharkey quavered and quailed about "Teenage Kicks" (to name but one of the album's multiple classics) while his bandmates pounded out incessantly pogo-friendly riffs that valued fun over fearsomeness. Each three-minute blast--from the starry "Here Comes the Summer" to the "yeah, whatever" self-deprecation of "Girls Don't Like It"--carries a depth charge of power beneath its frothy surface, a formula that would later be revived by Green Day. Sharkey went on to record more subdued solo material, while several of his bandmates formed the angular post-punk band That Petrol Emotion. --David Sprague
