Beelzebubba by Dead Milkmen

Beelzebubba, the Dead Milkmen's fourth album, came out in 1988, and it's the record that finally carried Philadelphia's snidest punks past the college-radio crowd. It was made by the band's founding four: Rodney Anonymous on vocals and keyboards, Joe Jack Talcum on guitar and vocals, Dave Blood on bass and Dean Clean on drums, still slinging their jangly, loose-limbed punk rock with thick hometown accents and a permanent smirk.

"Punk Rock Girl" is why the wider world noticed: a giddy, ramshackle singalong that landed in MTV rotation and took the band international. The rest of the record keeps the needle in, from "Stuart" to "Smokin' Banana Peels" and "Life Is Shit", all of which were later picked for the Death Rides a Pale Cow compilation. It sits between Bucky Fellini and Metaphysical Graffiti in the catalog, and it's the Milkmen at their most tuneful and their most sarcastic at once.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.