Beer and punk.

These two things pretty much go together, and when you get 16 punk bands together and ask them each to make a video, well, you got one hell of a punk video compilation. Released by Hopeless Records, "Cinema Beer Goggles" brings together 16 punk bands, new as well as a couple of old punk bands who have reunited for a really exciting hour of punk madness.

This video starts out by having Mark Adkins, lead singer for Guttermouth, give an FBI warning. He tells everybody that back in 1979 he was at a party where someone brought over a video tape that was illegally dubbed. To his surprise, as well as the other people at the party, there was an FBI agent there and everyone was arrested on the spot. He goes on to say that he got a $50,000 fine and was forced to spend five years in San Quentin where he met a nice man named Bubba. Mark doesn't want this to happen to anyone in Punk Land, and that is why he is informing everyone not to participate in such criminal behavior. After this hilarious intro the videos begin with a bang.

The compilation starts out with the punkest video I have ever seen, Guttermouth's "End on Nine." This video has the most mohawks I have seen in one area at one time, and the video itself is insane. It is shot live, and everyone in the crowd is going nuts, running around in that circle pit thing that many Westerners call slamming (I don't). Out of the remaining 15 videos on this compilation, there are 10 that stand out to me as classics. These videos show Face to Face working in a burger joint, Blink 182 cruisin' around San Diego and showing up a day early to its own gig, and a racing video by 10 Foot Pole.

Besides these classics, there are other great bands that have pretty good videos, but not ones that are great in my opinion€NOFX, 88 Fingers Louie, The Bollweevils (which doesn't even appear in its video), and the punk-rock warriors, Jughead's Revenge.

The compilation also includes two videos by bands that are trying to make a comeback in the punk rock biz. The Vandals, which in my opinion have made a successful comeback, give us their version of the Adolescents' song "I Have a Date." The second band, which I think should have stayed defunct, is the Circle Jerks, whose video is called "I Wanna Destroy You." These guys had their glory back in the '70s and '80s, but this video and song are well below average. Also, besides this they even had Debbie Gibson sing back-up vocals on this song. They said it would help increase their mall sales. Well, it looks like it didn't because they recently broke up again due to lack of albums sold.

Another video I can't stand is "American Dream" by White Kaps. It seems fitting that these guys are on the Hopeless roster, for they aren't that good. Not to put down the label, for they have some good stuff, it's just that I don't see why they would release such crap. All throughout the video, the lead singer keeps whining "whatever happened to my good old American dream" and in the background you hear the rest of the band chanting "90210, 90210." One word can be used to describe this video and song: PATHETIC! But, overall, this is a reall exciting, fun punk video that should be seen by the masses. This video will have you punking it up for days.