Twinkie Force 101: Influences – Part 1

I came of age before the Internet when there wasn’t much for a precocious teenage boy to do in his small Long Island town- except look for trouble. It must have been summer 1989- just before we entered high school- when my best friend Toast and I decided to form a band: Twinkie Force. We had nothing to lose- except our boredom- and the only rule we had for the band was that it had to be fun. Inspired by the do-it-yourself ethos of our punk and hardcore musical heroes, Toast taught himself to play guitar- I was in charge of the lyrics- and soon we were singing and recording our humorous songs onto used cassette tapes. Our suburban teenage boredom was suddenly gone and we now had something to call our own: a band. The first song we recorded was “Butt Lint”- we called our music buttcore.

Beastie Boys

At that time our musical influences were mostly punk and hardcore or whatever we could acquire from friends or score in the few records shops that carried “underground” music and fanzines- but really Toast and I were open to whatever sounded good including stuff from the radio, MTV, or our parents’ record collections. Twinkie Force was not just another suburban cover band- we wrote and recorded all our own songs- and I think that was our secret weapon in gaining a loyal following. It took a couple of years (and playing drums on paint buckets) before we finally got a bass player (Joe) and a real drummer (Rosen) and by 1991 Twinkie Force was ready to take our little town by storm.

Descendents

Twinkie Force played our first official show in summer 1991 to a packed, raucous hometown keg party where I threw Twinkies at the audience- and audience members threw them back at us (along with other objects). I loved every minute of it! TF rocked it good and hard that night (we even did a Steppenwolf cover but rewrote the lyrics as “Born to Be Jewish” in honor of Rosen) and I remember hanging out with lots of girls after the show and feeling like a rock star (I guess the girls liked what they saw on stage). Meanwhile, Rosen was traumatized by the whole experience and quit the band (he left his drum kit behind at the party and just disappeared). Oh, no! Where was TF going to find a new drummer? Here are some of the bands and songs that influenced Twinkie Force. Enjoy!

Dedicated to Adam Yauch and Brian Rosen

Sex Pistols

01. Descendents – “Coolidge” (1987)
02. Descendents – “Clean Sheets” (1987)
03. Wire – “Ex Lion Tamer” (1977)
04. Green Day – “2000 Light Years Away” (1991)
05. The Replacements – “Within Your Reach” (1983)
06. The Dead Milkmen – “Dean’s Dream” (1985)
07. Social Distortion – “Ring of Fire” (1990)
08. Social Distortion- “Story of My Life” (1990)
09. Beastie Boys – “Egg Man” (1989)
10. The Replacements – “Androgynous” (1984)
11. Social Distortion – “Prison Bound” (1988)
12. Screeching Weasel – “My Brain Hurts” (1991)
13. Beastie Boys – “Hey Ladies” (1989)
14. Generation X – “Your Generation” (1977)
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Good Time Boys” (1989)
16. Murphy’s Law – “Panty Raid” (1989)
17. The Vibrators – “Baby, Baby”  (1977)
18. Fugazi – “Suggestion” (1988)
19. Operation Ivy – “The Crowd” (1989)
20. Green Day – “No One Knows” (1991
21. Lou Reed – “Dirty Blvd.” (1989)
22. Ramones – “Rockaway Beach” (1977)
23. Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacant” (1977)
24. The Replacements – “Color Me Impressed” (1983)
25. Screeching Weasel – “What We Hate” (1991)

The Jean

Toast

Listen to the playlist on Spotify...