Minor Threat - "Bottled Violence" [buy]

A screed against getting boozed up and fighting kicks off with the sound of smashing glass. Sounds about right. The bass comes next, followed by the rest of the band, barrelling forward at speed, unwilling to waste any of the song's fifty-four seconds on anything as ornamental as a solo or breakdown. Ian MacKaye's yelling voice is raspy and perfect, delivering even the weakest rhyme in the song - "drink your grain / ... you don't feel pain" - with nothing but the purest conviction. My tape of the Anthology was a security blanket in grade ten.

The Gories - "Rat's Nest" [buy]

In "Rat's Nest" by The Gories smashing glass is just one of several homemade sound effects. The soundscape of a messed-up alleyway unravels behind the band's queasy minimal blues rock; shattering glass, hollering neighbours, clattering rubbish. It's enough to drive someone up the wall, and the grizzled character singing the song seems to be teetering on the edge as he narrates his Sisyphean labours to keep the damn alley clean. As the toms pound hypnotically, and the dual guitars veer in and out of skronking solos, the psychodrama of one citizen trying to keep the city tidy seems doomed to fail.

Royal Headache -"Garbage" [buy]

Beginning with a hail of smashing glass, "Garbage" is a revenge song. Riding in on a churning bass lick, Royal Headache's frontman, the preposterously named Shogun, lets his target have it. In his soulful Aussie voice he shouts "You belong in the GARBAGE!" Yikes! One of my favourite records of last year, High is a polished set of songs dealing with lost love and self-reflection. The wild vitriol of "Garbage" is a perfect intermission from the heavy themes, calling back to the band's scrappy origins and their powerful 2011 debut LP.

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