Search - Sick of It All :: Scratch the Surface

Real NY hardcore

Sean Koehler | New York | 03/30/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am really surprised to see that 10 years after its release, Scratch the Surface would have a rating of only 2 stars. I have always considered it one of the most important hardcore albums of the nineties.
In 1994, popular music was in a state of flux: Weezer The Blue Album; Live Throwing Copper; Green Day Dookie; Jeff Buckley Grace; Soundgarden Superunknown; Hootie and the Blowfish... these were the albums that the music industry put their muscle behind. In that same year, Sick of it All created Scratch the Surface, the album that made New York Hardcore MATTER, the album that cemented Sick of it All as the most influential and musically accomplished of all NYHC bands.
I understand that the music SoiA wrote fell somewhere in between the popular genres of the day, and may have turned off the punk kids expecting Green Day, the metal kids expecting Pantera, and the grunge kids expecting Soundgarden, but the release of Scratch the Surface not only defined a genre, it heralded the beginning of a growing acceptance of real punk; punk that didn't have to have fake british accents, california license plates, or gimmicky videos attached to be heard. Sick of it All might never have reached the heights they were destined for, but to this day, I maintain that Scratch the Surface stands out on the punkrock road map: a landmark of where punk has been and where it can still go."