5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup

Name  Jaret Reddick

Best known for  Pop-punk Icon / Phineas and Ferb guy.

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Current city  Prosper, Texas.

Really want to be in  I just wish I had a lake by my current location! 

Excited about  Touring all the rest of 2026 and new music in 2027!!

My current music collection has a lot of  Literally everything! (Except Led Zeppelin.)

And a little bit of  Texas Red Dirt.

Preferred format  Streaming. I have never really cared about pristine sound, at least while listening to other people… And I like instant gratification. 

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:

1

Somery, Descendents

I know people frown on “greatest hits” albums on things like this, but I feel like Somery is more of a recap of what the Descendents had done so far, and at a time that they didn’t know if they would be a band ever again. 

Anyway, this album literally changed my life. I was a metal kid with no real exposure to punk rock. When I first heard this album, I was like, “Holy crap! They are playing fast… And the guy can actually sing!!! And they are singing about girls and farts!” I was in a really heavy band at the time. I needed a medical dictionary to write lyrics about things I knew nothing about, nor was I interested in said topics. Plus, the music we were playing was so technical and difficult, that I really don’t think it was all that “fun.” 

From the first listen to this record, I knew this is what I wanted to do. I was experiencing my true calling… And it stuck! 

2

The New Order, Testament

Hair metal had run its course. And most people were turning to the Seattle sound for their music, which I also liked. But those bands never really spoke to me. I was getting into heavier stuff. I had burned through Metallica and Megadeth and Slayer…and then there came Testament. Alex Skolnick could shred on the guitar like nobody’s business, but he also had a sense of melody that made his hooks as catchy as the vocals. 

Then there was Chuck Billy. Oh, Chuck. Man! He was the best metal/thrash singer I had ever heard. He could do the high stuff, but make it make sense with his low bellows and scratchy rants. I could understand the lyrics, which was a big one for me. And most of the time I could decipher what he meant lyrically. 

My band was called Terminal Seasons. We knew four sets of metal covers. Fifteen of our songs were Testament songs! 

3

Some Nights, fun.

I think this one will surprise folks. But I find this album to be near perfect. I can listen to it in any mood, during any activity, and it always does the job. 2012 was a time in my life that music was losing its luster. I will talk about that more on the next album I mention, but I was starved for something that felt fresh and new. I remember my nephew Colter had picked me up at the tour bus in Downtown Dallas to bring me home for the day. He put this album in and I was absolutely hooked! The song “Carry On” in particular really drew me in and wouldn’t let go. I still listen to this album all the time! 

4

Love Ire & Song, Frank Turner

If you know of me, you likely know of my deep love of Frank Turner. The man himself. His lyrics. His chord choices. All of it. 

As I said on the fun. album, 2012-ish was a time when music wasn’t really doing it for me. I was going through some hard times and changes personally as well. Just kinda felt dark and alone a lot. My friend Dave Lake from the band Diesel Boy had come to visit for a few days. We wrote some songs, ate some chili, took my kids to sports practice… You know, rock star shit! Anyway, towards the end of the visit he asked if I had ever heard Frank Turner. Honestly, I wasn’t really in a mood for a singer-songwriter at the time. It didn’t sounds like a punk band to me so I just sort of shrugged it off. As he was leaving he said again, “Dude, check out Frank Turner…I know you will love it.”

I put this album on while leaving the airport from dropping him off. Instantly, I was blown away in a way I hadn’t been in years. The same feeling I had when I first heard Motley Crüe. Then Testament. Then Descendents. It was THAT good. That different. And it had THAT effect on me.

I couldn’t get enough of Frank’s music after that. He had saved me from giving up on the magic of it all. I still believed!!! And I STILL do! 

It’s funny being such good friends with someone that has impacted you in such a way. I still find it odd to think of him as a colleague times because I do hold him, musically, on such a pedestal.  I realize how lucky I am to meet the folks that have shaped, guided, and helped me along the way. 

5

1039 / Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, Green Day

The world discovering Green Day in 1994 crushed me. They were mine! I had heard them first in 1990, around the time I first heard the Descendents, Screeching Weasel, and Bad Religion. All are still my favorite bands. But I bailed on Green Day for a while—“Green Day Disease” I called it. You know the drill. You like something. It gets popular. You can’t like it anymore. Or Won’t!

Well, I snapped out of it. And when doing so, it is very apparent that Green Day was a huge influence on me and my conversion from metal to punk. Much like many others in the pop-punk world, we all listened to this shit and that’s what we all used to create this genre. 
Green Day were WAY ahead of all of us. Simple chord structures and an occasional simple guitar lead. Their music was approachable. Playable. Singable! Like the Ramones, but more youthful. Like the Misfits, but more melodic! 

I had trouble picking the Green Day album to put on here. I like a lot of them. But “At the Library” and “Going to Pasalacqua” were the songs that initially reeled me in. That burnt cassette my friend Shrub Rountree had made for me didn’t come out of my tape deck for months! 

It would be years before I found out that this was a compilation album. A collection of the 7” records they had done in the earliest years of the band. To me it flowed seamlessly—like they were all recorded on the same day! 

I loved SO much the looseness of the harmonies and the simple, but growly guitar tone! The drums are a bit out of control here as this is John playing before Tre was in the band. And I can only assume they weren’t playing to a click track way back then.

Here is a pop-punk album that I think still holds up against anything else out there today. I know they hate to be called pop-punk, but you can’t listen to the first three records, at least, and tell me they aren’t—OR weren’t—even before the term existed. They showed us all how it was supposed to be done. So we did it! 

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Name  Jaret Reddick Best known for  Pop-punk Icon / Phineas and Ferb guy. Current city  Prosper, Texas. Really want to be in  I just wish I had a lake by my current location!  Excited about  Touring all the rest of 2026 and new music in 2027!! My current music collection has a lot of  Literally everything! (Except Led Zeppelin.) And a little bit of  Texas […]Liza Lentini{authorlink}https://www.spinmagazine.com/feed/SPINMusic News, Album Reviews, Concert Photos, Videos and Morehttps://static.spinmagazine.com/files/2023/08/cropped-logo-spin-s-340×340.png