Before Tim Armstrong (Rancid) collaborated with diarrhea like Pink, Gwen Stefani, and Kelly Osbourne, he was actually pretty cool when he played in the ska punk Bay Area group Operation Ivy in the late '80s. Op Ivy was the shit back then, and after all these years, they still have a strong cult following. I was never cool/dumb enough to sport a mohawk, but I did memorize just about every song on Op Ivy's Energy LP. Plus, one time I played "Bombshell" for this cute girl in my German class, and I swear her left boob touched my elbow when the bell rang. Accident? Fucking doubt it!!
Energy was released on Lookout! back in May 1989. Not only was it the same month Sweet Children performed as "Green Day" for the first time, but it was the same month Operation Ivy broke up. Still, the album went on its own legacy, selling like hot cakes for years. But since Lookout! managed money like my uncle Brent (he sucked at managing money), Energy was pulled from their catalog in 2006 and has since been out-of-print.
But on May 1, Rancid Records will be reissuing the record (this is, what, the fourth reissue or so now?), completely remastered with a digipak case. It'll feature all 19 tracks from the original album, plus bonus music that was released in several other reissues, including the band's Hectic EP. No reunion is in sight (thank god), but you can bet your Girbaud jeans that left boobs the world over will be reuniting over this shit, possibly squirting milk out of them by now -- who knows, right? Life is so weird and awesome.
