Crucial Track for August 24, 2025

"Middlename" by MxPx

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What artist or band changed your music taste forever? Pick your favorite song of theirs.

I grew up as a PK - Preachers Kid - so was limited in my music exposure to worship stuff and classic rock. My dad was a youth minister still when I was growing up in the 90s (middle school/high school for me) and got sent boxes of CDs for the youth group that ended up with my brother and I mostly (they were at the church but didn't really get play outside of us); it included a little known at the time but destined to be really important label called Tooth & Nail. MXPX was one of those early bands and was one of my first exposures to more of a punk sound and, more importantly, opened the door to harder genres. They aren't my favorite band by any stretch and I don't listen to them all that often anymore but I do credit them with changing my music taste in this way and they are the band that immediately came to mind when reading this question.

My favorite song of theirs is probably Middlename off of "Life in General". It's not one of those rough-around-the-edges early songs but it's probably my favorite of theirs. They also have a great cover of Take on Me if you are interested - look it up!