There are maybe a dozen pop punk records released in the last thirty years that I ever get the urge to listen to with any regularity. None of them were released on Mutant Pop. I don’t say this to baste my opinion in the self-righteous ooze of snobby disdain, but to illustrate the challenges pop punk—a genre that, contrary to all appearances, I do actually like—has had in elbowing its way over other types of music with regards to making inroads into my everyday listening habits. I like a lot of it; I listen to very little of it on the reg (although I will still grab stuff off the shelf and give it a spin; it sounds fine). Be this as it may, it cannot be denied—by anyone, anywhere—that Mutant Pop did exactly what they set out to do: They championed a sound, they defined that sound, they incubated and inculcated and disseminated that sound, that sound became a grassroots community and took on a life of its own and became this big fucking thing (well, “medium fucking thing”) and Mutant Pop (i.e., Timbo) has the receipts to prove it (possibly literally). This compilation has forty-four bands covering forty-four songs that were released on Mutant Pop at one point or another. Forty-four bands! That’s fucking amazing. Timbo, your lifetime achievement award’s in the mail. Saaaaaaaaaa-LUTE! BEST SONG: Doc Hopper, “Drugs & Masturbation.” I know a hit when I hear one! BEST SONG TITLE: Mikey Erg, “Amy Left Me for Some Emo Guy.” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Comes packaged with a bonus Dillinger 4 single; the single is in the compilation sleeve and the compilation’s in the single sleeve. Worst Idea indeed.–Rev. Nørb (Worst Idea)