E-2 Anti-Flag

Anti-Flag is the band that I blame or thank(I cant decide weather punk rock changed my life for the better or worse) for casting me into a world that I was not really familiar with at the time. I was just a young kid that was being easily influenced by my cousins who at the time were older punkers and I wanted nothing more than to be just like them. Anti-Flags first widely sold studio album was titled "Die For The Government". It was released in 1996. The cover of the album features the three members of the band at the time in front of an upside down American flag, which is a sign of distress in the USA. They were trying to make a bold statement with that cover. Some people say they did it just to get noticed when in reality, it was because they were not happy at all with the state of our nation at the time and that was how they were getting their voices out. Almost every track on that album is very heavily influenced by the politics at the time. If it wasn't about politics, it was about the one thing punk rockers did better than argue which is alcohol, and drug abuse. And the people who followed that style of music absolutely loved it. Die For The Government was one of those albums that got your parents going if they ever saw it. Along with Die For The Government, they have released an album roughly every two years. In the early years, up to about 2006, they were still very respected in the punk rock community. After 2006, they were viewed as sellouts, because they signed over to Warner Brothers record label, and their presence in the punk community died down quite a bit. Before that time though, the album "A New Kind of Army' was the the punk rock album that most influenced my musical tastes besides a few of NoFX's early resales. As a "Punk" band Anti-Flag has almost completely died out. I still listen to their older albums quite regularly. As a pop- punk band though, they are just getting started. Which you do have to give them credit for because when you're in the music business for over twenty years, it gets difficult to constantly be angry. I would have to agree when someone says that they sold out, but on another note, I see why they felt the need to do so. Anti-Flag will always have a place in my heart as the band that got me into punk rock.