The Sacred 6-Point Font:
Who Thanked Whom in the Underground
Before streaming algorithms and algorithmic recommendations, album inserts were our social graphs. Bands thanked the peers whose vans broke down next to theirs on I-80, the basements they slept in, and the records that gave them life. Every name was a personal recommendation.
Most Thanked Underground Bands
Ranked by the number of distinct peers citing them in official album liner notes
Fugazi
Bad Religion
Pennywise
Jawbreaker
NOFX
Descendents
Black Flag
Soundgarden
Samiam
Green Day
Minor Threat
Melvins
Mudhoney
Rancid
Complete Archival Inscription Ledger
Search all 196 documented band-to-band liner note inscriptions
"Inscribed in vinyl insert thank-you list: "Fugazi, Dischord, DC crews""
"East Bay family & Aaron Cometbus"
"East Bay heavy brothers & Gilman family"
"Matt Freeman, Tim Armstrong & Dave Mello connection"
"Matt Freeman bass roots"
"Gilman garbage crew & East Bay brotherhood"
"East Bay thrash core"
"Jason Beebout & Sergie Loobkoff"
"Blake Schwarzenbach & Bay Area punk peers"
"Ben Weasel & Chicago punk allies"
"Sacramento punk connection"
"Dr. Frank & early Lookout! Records roster"
"Primary sonic and lyrical inspiration"
"Where it all began: Jesse Michaels, Lint & Matt Freeman"
"Billie Joe, Mike & Tre - 924 Gilman forever"
"Brett Gurewitz, Greg Graffin & the Epitaph family"
"Fat Mike, El Hefe & tour brothers"
"Hermosa Beach South Bay brotherhood"
"2-Tone ska roots and inspiration"
"Foundational Jamaican ska masters"
"Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee & CJ Ramone"
"Roger Miret, Vinnie Stigma & NYHC connection"
"Boston street punk family & Hellcat Records ally"
"DC Hardcore foundation & Ian MacKaye roots"
"Guy Picciotto, Brendan Canty & Revolution Summer"
"Brian Baker & Dischord family"
"Tomas Squip & Fred Smith"
"Mike Watt & George Hurley"
"J. Robbins & Kim Coletta"
"Craig Wedren & Nathan Larson"
"Alexis Fleisig, Scott McCloud & Girls Against Boys roots"
"Ian Svenonius & James Canty"
"Calvin Johnson & K Records Olympia connection"
"Tim, Matt, Jesse, Dave - 924 Gilman family"
"Aaron Cometbus & Jeff Ott"
"Billie Joe Armstrong & Aaron Cometbus side project"
"Blake Schwarzenbach & Bay Area tourmates"
"Lookout! labelmates and 1994 tour openers"
"Kim Shattuck & Rob Cavallo sessions"
"Berkeley scene anchor & Gilman family"
"Ben Weasel & Mike Dirnt bass sessions"
"East Bay heavy peers"
"Kathleen Hanna & riot grrrl solidarity"
"Eugene Kelly & Frances McKee (Kurt: "my favorite songwriters in the whole world")"
"Black Francis & Kim Deal - primary loud/quiet structural influence"
"Thurston Moore & Kim Gordon for bringing us on tour (1991: The Year Punk Broke)"
"Buzz Osborne & Dale Crover - Montesano/Aberdeen mentors"
"Mark Arm, Steve Turner & early Sub Pop pioneers"
"Curt & Cris Kirkwood - SST heroes and MTV Unplugged guests"
"Ana da Silva & Gina Birch - liner essay by Kurt"
"Osaka pop-punk trio and 1991 UK tourmates"
"Greg Sage - Portland punk mastermind"
"Kim Deal & Kelley Deal - In Utero tour openers"
"Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, Patty Schemel"
"Tad Doyle - 1989 Sub Pop European tour vanmates"
"Milo, Bill Stevenson & the blueprint for melodic pop-punk"
"Joe Escalante, Warren Fitzgerald & Josh Freese"
"Fletcher Dragge & SoCal punk brothers"
"Fat Mike & Warped Tour family"
"Jim Adkins & 1998 arena tourmates"
"SoCal punk godfathers"
"Vinnie Fiorello & ska-punk tour brothers"
"San Diego / Poway local scene family"
"Ian MacKaye & Dischord straight edge inspiration"
"Greg Ginn, Chuck Dukowski & SST touring ethos"
"Keith Morris & Greg Hetson (who played in both bands)"
"Mike Ness & Orange County punk roots"
"Jack Grisham & true sounds of liberty"
"Bill Stevenson & Milo Aukerman"
"Jeffrey Lee Pierce - early LA scene hero"
"Fat Mike & early Epitaph roster brother"
"Jim Lindberg & South Bay melodic hardcore"
"Brett Gurewitz, Greg Graffin & Epitaph mentors"
"Tim Armstrong, Matt Freeman & BYO Split Series partners"
"East Bay homies & 1993 European tourmates"
"Fletcher Dragge & Hermosa crew"
"Joey Cape & Fat Wreck Chords flag bearers"
"Chris Hannah & Fat Wreck political hardcore"
"Tony Sly & San Jose family"
"Blake Schwarzenbach"
"Trever Keith & Victorville punk"
"Jason Cruz & metal-tinged skate punk"
"Inscribed in vinyl inner sleeve thank-you list: "Thanks to Fugazi, Ian MacKaye, Guy Picciotto""
"Jason Beebout & Sergie Loobkoff - Bay Area best friends"
"Aaron Cometbus & Berkeley Gilman roots"
"Jeremy Enigk & Sub Pop emotional rock"
"John Reis & Rick Froberg - San Diego noise guitar"
"My War Side 2 sludge inspiration"
"Chris Goss - producer, mentor, Godfather of Desert Rock"
"Gary Arce & Mario Lalli - generator parties in the desert"
"Mario & Larry Lalli - Palm Desert family"
"Chris Cornell & 1992 tourmates"
"Dave Wyndorf & New Jersey space rock brotherhood"
"Scott "Wino" Weinrich & Dave Chandler - SST doom metal kings"
"Buzz Osborne & Dale Crover - heavy riff architects"
"Josh Homme & Nick Oliveri genesis"
"Mark Lanegan - brother, guest vocalist, collaborator"
"Matt Cameron & Chris Cornell"
"Dave Grohl - drums on Songs for the Deaf"
"Dave Grohl & Taylor Hawkins"
"Chris Goss - co-producer & Deep Elm guru"
"Happy-Tom & Hank von Helvete - Turbojugend family"
"Gene & Dean Ween - Joshua Tree desert sessions"
"Brody Dalle"
"Bill Stevenson other band & SST Records studio mates"
"D. Boon & Mike Watt - San Pedro brothers and New Alliance founders"
"Joe Nolte - South Bay melodic punk godfathers"
"Stephen Egerton, Karl Alvarez, Chad Price"
"Mark, Tom, Travis - passing the melodic torch"
"South Bay surf/skate punk brothers"
"Billie Joe & Mike Dirnt"
"Greg, Pete, Bryan, George - East Coast tour family"
"HR, Dr. Know, Darryl, Earl - catalyst for DC Hardcore"
"Ian MacKaye & Jeff Nelson genesis; birth of Dischord"
"John Stabb & DC hardcore pioneers"
"Alec MacKaye & Michael Hampton"
"Sab Grey & DC Oi! skinhead sound"
"Kenny Inman & Artificial Peace roots"
"Peter & Franz Stahl, Skeeter Thompson, Dave Grohl (later)"
"Bubba Dupree & Columbia, MD chaotic thrash"
"David Thomas - avant-punk inspiration"
"Bob Mould & Grant Hart - melodic noise blueprint"
"Jim & William Reid - feedback & pop melody"
"Kristin Hersh & Tanya Donelly - 4AD Boston labelmates"
"J Mascis & Lou Barlow - Massachusetts indie noise kings"
"Gordon Gano - acoustic punk energy"
"J Mascis & Lou Barlow - tourmates and fuzz pedal brothers"
"Mike Watt & D. Boon - "Burned out and blue...""
"Curt & Cris Kirkwood - SST desert psych punk"
"Mark Arm & Steve Turner - Sub Pop Seattle sound"
"Rick Nielsen & Robin Zander - Illinois pop-rock royalty"
"Kevin Shields - Loveless guitar wall of sound"
"J Mascis - big muff fuzz and soaring solos"
"Buzz Osborne & Matt Lukin - PNW doom architects"
"Tad Doyle - Sub Pop lumberjack sludge"
"Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Eddie Vedder - Temple of the Dog brothers"
"Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell - Seattle metal brotherhood"
"Mark Lanegan, Gary Lee Conner - Ellensburg psych rock"
"Mark Arm & Steve Turner - Green River shared roots"
"Andrew Wood - eternal love & spirit"
"Jeff Ament & Stone Gossard roots with Mark Arm"
"Chris Cornell & Matt Cameron tribute alliance"
"Kim Thayil & Ben Shepherd - Seattle family"
"Inscribed in physical album booklet: "Thanks to Bad Religion, Greg Graffin, Brett Gurewitz""
"Inscribed in physical album booklet acknowledgments: "Special thanks to Fugazi & Ian MacKaye""
"Chris Cornell & Kim Thayil - Seattle brothers"
"Jeff, Stone, Mike, Eddie - Singles soundtrack family"
"Andrew Wood tribute"
"Tom Araya - guest vocals on Iron Gland & Clash of the Titans tourmates"
"Dimebag Darrell & Phil Anselmo - 1992 arena tourmates"
"Mark Lanegan - Mad Season connection"
"Covered "We're Only Gonna Die""
"South Bay punk family"
"Covered "Hope""
"Mike Watt - San Pedro bass hero"
"Covered "Leaving Babylon" & HR influence"
"Angelo Moore & Norwood Fisher - LA ska/funk/punk kings"
"Inscribed in album insert thanks: "Thanks to Fugazi and the Dischord family""
"Rick Froberg & John Reis - rhythmic complexity"
"Dennis Lyxzén - European tour partners"
"Spencer Moody & Sub Pop garage punk tourmates"
"Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos, Tony Hajjar offshoot"
"Cedric Bixler-Zavala & Omar Rodríguez-López next chapter"
"Ian Svenonius - "The party program" aesthetics and radical sound"
"Inscribed in album credits roll: "Thanks and inspiration: Fugazi, Nation of Ulysses, Born Against""
"Chris Simpson - Austin emo dynamic quiet/loud soundscapes"
"Davey von Bohlen - Midwest emo brothers and tourmates"
"Inscribed in CD booklet acknowledgments: "Thanks to Fugazi, Christie Front Drive, Sense Field""
"Blake Schwarzenbach - lyrical confessional influence"
"Jeremy Enigk & William Goldsmith"
"Craig Wedren - Dischord art-punk emotional phrasing"
"Inscribed in album insert thanks: "Thanks to Fugazi, Shudder to Think, Velocity Girl""
"Blake Schwarzenbach & Chris Bauermeister"
"Inscribed in vinyl liner notes: "Special thanks to Ian MacKaye, Fugazi & Inner Ear""
"Kurt Cobain & Olympia solidarity"
"Donna Dresch & Kaia Wilson - Chainsaw Records"
"Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail - Pacific Northwest riot grrrl core"
"Inscribed in album insert thank-you list: "Thanks to Fugazi, Team Dresch, Heavens to Betsy""
"Jody Bleyle, Donna Dresch - PNW punk community"
"Brett Gurewitz, Greg Graffin - Epitaph mentors"
"Milo & Bill Stevenson - South Bay melodic punk godfathers"
"Hermosa Beach SST roots"
"Keith Morris & Greg Hetson"
"Fat Mike & Epitaph tour family"
"Dexter Holland & Noodles - 1994-1995 explosion tourmates"
"Tim Armstrong & Matt Freeman"
"Covered "Minor Threat""
"Inscribed in album insert: "Thanks to Minor Threat, Fugazi, Bad Religion & Epitaph crew""
"Brett Gurewitz - produced Ignition and Smash"
"SoCal punk brothers & early tourmates"
"Fat Mike & Epitaph roster brothers"
"Tim Armstrong & Matt Freeman"
"Orange County punk roots"
"Tony Reflex & Steve Soto - OC hardcore sound"
"Mike Palm - surf punk guitar influence"
"Dexter Holland Nitro Records ally"