"Salvation"

Rancid
(Epitaph, 1994)

After this single, from the Bay Area punks' second (not first) album, hit the airwaves, Tim (no relation to Billie Joe) Armstrong would never again have to go rooting through other people's trash to furnish his pad. But having lived it, he sure knew how to sing it. And having studied the Clash, he'd already internalized the notion that populist punk should be popular, that good intentions are nothing without a rousing chorus, and that, well, some truths are known only by guttersnipes. "Salvation" opens with one helluva rousing chorus replete with divebombing guitars, and it keeps coming back with a tenacity and singleminded determination that's hard to deny.

-- Matt Ashare