Hard Rock Bottom by No Use For a Name

Hard Rock Bottom, No Use for a Name's sixth album, came out on June 16, 2002, after the Sunnyvale, California punks spent January of that year in the studio with producer Ryan Greene. The band had long since shed its heavier, metal-tinted phase for sleek melodic punk, and this record is all tight hooks, fast downstrokes and Rory Koff pounding the kit like he's late for a bus, with Tony Sly, Matt Riddle and Dave Nassie filling out the lineup.

There are fun wrinkles for anyone paying attention. Karina Denike of Dance Hall Crashers turns up on track nine, "This Is a Rebel Song", "Any Number Can Play" borrows a snippet from Coven, a 1997 indie horror short, and the video for "Dumb Reminders" has the band fleeing a mob of furious fans, which is about as self-aware as melodic punk got.

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