Punk rock should be fast, gritty, and straightforward, with hooks that stick like flypaper. Simple like all great ideas. The chords, the words, the melodies should feel like they've always been there, waiting for some average schlubs to snatch them out of the air.

The Peabodys model these virtues. Their blasts of buzz about busted love and teenage wasteland are masterworks of punk simplicity. ... more