Let’s Face It by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Let's Face It, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' fifth studio album, came out on Mercury and Big Rig on March 11, 1997, and it's the moment the ska-punk lifers finally crashed the mainstream party with their horns blaring. Paul Q. Kolderie produced it, and he kept the sound punchy and bright without sanding off the rough edges.

The horn section does the heavy lifting: Kevin Lenear's saxophones and Dennis Brockenborough's trombone blast and swing over Nate Albert's choppy guitar, and the whole band bounces like a basement show that somehow ended up on the radio. "The Impression That I Get" is the one that did it, a skanking, fist-pumping singalong with a chorus built for shouting back at the stage. "The Rascal King" has a rowdy, barroom swagger, and "Royal Oil" struts along on a thick, brassy groove.

"The Impression That I Get" went all the way to No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, and that one song did much of the selling. "The Rascal King" peaked at No. 7 and "Royal Oil" at No. 22. The album climbed to No. 27 on the Billboard 200, the only time a Bosstones record made the top 50, and went platinum. In 2013 Asbestos Records brought it back out on vinyl.

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