Punk

David Rees and Get Your War On helped me weather the crazy bender the USA went on from 2001 to 2009. His short essay on Dennes Boon and the Minutemen from Christmas, 2005, is the best piece of rock and roll fan writing of all time:

The first time I heard the Minutemen--on a Saturday afternoon in 8th grade, when my friend lowered the stylus onto "Shit From An Old Notebook," and the song somersaulted out of his RadioShack speakers in an ecstasy of spasmodic guitar and drum fills--is the greatest "first time someone heard a band and their life changed for all time" of all time.