- 24 Hour Revenge Therapy · 1993
- Dear You · 1995
- Dear You · 1995
- Unfun · 1990
- 24 Hour Revenge Therapy · 1993
- Dear You · 1995
- 24 Hour Revenge Therapy · 1993
- Dear You · 1995
- Dear You · 1995
- Etc. · 1992
- Dear You · 1995
- Dear You · 1995
- Dear You · 1995
Essential Albums
- 1995
- Jawbreaker’s third album came out in February 1994, exactly one week after their fellow Bay Area punk-scene mates Green Day released their own third album, Dookie. And as the latter record began to move millions of copies, transforming Californian pop-punk into the new grunge overnight, all eyes were on Jawbreaker—who’d just opened for Nirvana—to make a similar leap. Listening to 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, it’s easy to understand why: This album is absolutely stacked with revved-up, raised-fist, generational anthems meant to be shouted out by the sweatiest of mosh pits. But Jawbreaker frontman Blake Schwarzenbach’s mind was also preoccupied with the militant politics of the San Francisco DIY community. Because of that, he cut straight to the heart of every punk band’s existential quandary: the eternal struggle between empowered self-determinism and the pressure to fall in line with scene groupthink. At a time when even entertaining the thought of signing to a major label was enough to get you canceled by Maximum Rock N Roll readers, satirical salvos like “Indictment” and “Boxcar” suggested that selling out might be the most subversive, non-conformist action a punk band could take. But beyond these critiques, songs like “Condition Oakland” and “Ache” find Schwarzenbach expressing quarter-life-crisis disillusionment in increasingly poetic terms. Steve Albini’s raw production and Schwarzenbach’s authentically ravaged voice, still bearing the after-effects of polyps-removal surgery, probably kept 24 Hour Revenge Therapy from racking up Dookie numbers. But a quick survey of 21st-century indie rock—be it Jimmy Eat World, The Hold Steady, Japandroids, or PUP—reveals a lasting influence that’s no less profound.
Albums
- 1995
- 1991
- 1990
Music Videos
- 2007
Artist Playlists
- Influential San Francisco punk band were well ahead of the pop-punk and emo trends.
Singles & EPs
- 1989
- 1989
Live Albums
- 1999
Compilations
- 2002
About Jawbreaker
When the dust clears, it's quite possible that Jawbreaker will be viewed as one of the most influential punk bands ever. Contemporaries of Green Day prior to that band's ascendency to mega-stardom, Jawbreaker and its enigmatic frontman Blake Schwarzenbach introduced a sense of literate intelligence, musical adventurousness, and genuine emotional honesty (read: emo) to the righteous pogo-inducing fury of punk rock. Jawbreaker broke up shortly after the release of their 1995 major-label debut, Dear You, but the band left in its wake a legacy and a blueprint that have been often imitated, but never quite duplicated. One of a kind indeed.
- ORIGIN
- New York, NY, United States
- FORMED
- 1986
- GENRE
- Alternative