User Submitted Album

My Brain Hurts

Screeching Weasel

1991

2.98

Rating

148

Votes

Distribution

Punk

Album Summary

My Brain Hurts is the third studio album by the Chicago-based punk rock band Screeching Weasel. The album was originally released on CD, vinyl and cassette in September 1991 through Lookout Records. It was the group's first album on Lookout as well as the only release with bassist Dave Naked and the first with drummer Dan Panic, the latter of which would go on to appear on several of the band's albums. The album marked a very distinct stylistic shift for the group, fully moving toward a Ramones-inspired sound and completely abandoning their previous hardcore punk influences as a condition made by vocalist Ben Weasel when reforming the band after a brief break-up. After the release of My Brain Hurts, the band grew increasingly popular within the punk community and began drawing bigger crowds at their shows, which Weasel later admitted put pressure on him when recording the follow-up album Wiggle the next year. The album is regarded as one of the group's best releases by critics, fans and the band members themselves. It is one of the band's best-selling releases and is often cited as influential to many later pop punk bands. In 2005, the band removed their catalog from Lookout due to unpaid royalties, alongside many other artists, and re-released the album on CD in remastered form though Asian Man Records later that year. A vinyl edition with different cover art was also issued by Recess Records in 2009.

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Reviews

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May 20 2025 Author

Punk rock, pop punk. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

May 20 2025 Author

Well, everyone would be biting on this snot nosed Buddy Holly style of pop punk by the end of the decade. So this is forward thinking. It's also bloody great fun.

Jul 22 2025 Author

Any punk album with less than 30 minutes deserves 5 stars, even if nothing is great!

May 21 2025 Author

I've listened to these guys a few times over the years. They're alright, nowhere near the level of bad religion or NOFX though. And the main dude is some kind of psycho - can't hold a lineup together, no original members left. In like 2015 he punched out a couple of chicks at a gig and the rest of the band quit, label dropped them, rest of tour cancelled. Was big drama in punk circles at the time. Pretty catchy album though. This is when original members were still in the band, and it goes for the golden 29min. 4/5.

May 22 2025 Author

Good solid punk. Hadn't heard of them before. 4 stars.

Aug 08 2025 Author

Like being kicked in the balls (complimentary).

May 21 2025 Author

Sounds like every Tony Hawk song (aka, great!)

May 23 2025 Author

Amusing punkrock album. Not too special, but entertaining. Nice cover version of “I Can See Clearly”.

Jul 14 2025 Author

I was clawing at my ears trying to find a single point of U2's career that had something worth listening too, gave up and landed on this. Energetic, raw, punk rock with short burst songs that have enough variety to draw you in without feeling you've had enough. I was going to go with a 4, but they saved me from U2 and their "About the artist" post on Spotify is "Went to a Ramones show. Started a band. Pissed a lot of people off.", which warrants a 5.

Nov 28 2025 Author

This is my submission. My thinking is that the user albums are a place to fill the gaps in the original list, and pop punk is one of the genres that really isn't that well represented. Okay, there's a decent number of 70s stuff (though I doubt it was included as a deliberate attempt to represent pop punk), but after that, there's Dookie, and that's it? I mean, that's probably as much as you can expect from a list like this, pop punk is certainly not a genre the creators consider worthy of it. But I like pop punk and I want to represent it better. And what better album to choose for that than the one that pretty much set the blueprint for all (real) pop punk that came after it? I know that term has been used to mean 10 different things that have nothing to do with each other, but this is the true pop punk sound. To the point, high energy, and hooks after hooks after hooks. Those leads are everywhere for a reason. Apart from its massive influence, My Brain Hurts is also the album that got me into pop punk. Sure, I had heard the Ramones and (early) Green Day before, and they're great, but it was this album that made me think, yes, this is it. This is what I wanna listen to for the rest of my life. This made me dive in and discover hundreds of bands this sound inspired, or that led up to it.

May 21 2025 Author

As another reviewer put; sounds like every Tony Hawk skateboarding song. Amazed I didn't know of this album in the 90's as this would have been 100% my jam.

May 22 2025 Author

Cool short album

May 23 2025 Author

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Making you cry, Guest list, Veronica hates me, The science of myth, Don’t turn out the lights, Fathead

Jun 05 2025 Author

Pretty much prototypical example of pop punk. Nothing really to complain about here and you know what you're getting. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Jul 09 2025 Author

Great punk rock record, never heard before but teenage me would have loved this.

Aug 08 2025 Author

14 punk songs in about 30 minutes? Please and yes. Fun, energetic and fast.

Aug 23 2025 Author

Punk music for me is usually very hit or miss, however I really enjoyed this one!

Aug 27 2025 Author

Punk rock, pop punk. Divertido. Me ha gustado. Un 4

Aug 27 2025 Author

Punk rock, pop punk. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Sep 12 2025 Author

Early pop punk. Slightly Ramones-ish, which isn't usually my type of punk, but I surprisingly really enjoyed it.

Sep 28 2025 Author

I really liked My Brain Hurts, absolutely up my street and sounded incredibly like early Less Than Jake without the horns. That makes sense because Screeching Weasel are one of Chris DeMakes' influences and it's incredibly clear that this from 1991 influenced their work not many years later. First half of the album a lot better than the second, which runs out of creativity a bit, but a 4 for sure, gonna listen to this a bit more.

Nov 23 2025 Author

Enjoyed that.

May 20 2025 Author

Heard a lot of this kind of thing (including this band) during time spent with a roommate and good friend who was a skateboarder and freestyle bike rider. I don't dislike it, and this is top tier product for the genre, but I do feel like it's a pretty limited sound. But as usual it kept things very snappy and gave a nice nostalgia hit.

May 20 2025 Author

I can't knock this. I've got vague memories of freshman year with someone in my homeroom having a patch on their backpack. Never listened to them. Not sure why.

May 20 2025 Author

Solid punk, fun to hear the I Can See Clearly cover.

May 20 2025 Author

I’ve never considered myself a punk enthusiast, but this album genuinely surprised me. It’s refreshingly unpretentious—just 14 raw, energetic tracks packed into under 30 minutes. Think of it as the McDrive version of going out for dinner: fast, and unapologetically straightforward. Continuing that analogy, the album feels like it was assembled with the same effortless speed as a McDonald’s employee cranking out a stack of Big Macs. There’s a certain charm in its simplicity. That said, I won’t be revisiting this album any time soon. Much like when I crave a burger, I rarely end up at McDonald’s.

May 21 2025 Author

This is the kind of punk album I can enjoy. Not inaudible messes of songs. This is still angsty enough to be punk without falling into a hole of rage. This felt like a similar style to the Green Day punk which obviously Green Day is the more successful band but these guys were still good. Maybe they just didn’t get as lucky as Green Day. 6.5/10

May 21 2025 Author

More poppy punk

May 21 2025 Author

This was a pretty fun listen, energetic and properly snotty. There are much better, more memorable bands in this vein, but it's perfectly likeable stuff. Fave Songs: My Brain Hurts, Making You Cry, Veronica Hates Me, Guest List

May 21 2025 Author

Pretty straight forward punk

May 21 2025 Author

One of the less exciting pop punk entries in the user list. Nothing super unique about it to me tbh

May 21 2025 Author

Didn't hate it, but it didn't especially stand out

May 22 2025 Author

I like my punk music a little more on the poppy side and this had those leanings - a pretty early version of this too. It wasn’t a complete hit for me… still, half a bonus star for the cover of I Can See Clearly Now.

May 23 2025 Author

Fun LP that pulls no punches and wastes no time getting into some solid punk. Not the most memorable album in the world to me, but it was an enjoyable listen and solid throughout.

May 25 2025 Author

A standard of early 90s punk

Jun 07 2025 Author

Sounds like Ramones. Ok.

Jul 24 2025 Author

Reminded me of going to punk shows in the 90’s, I remember of few of these songs from those days. A nostalgic 3.

Jul 26 2025 Author

Shouty but fun

Aug 08 2025 Author

14 tracks for a total runtime of less than half an hour is my kind of stuff. My Brain Hurts sounds exactly like you would expect, dabbling a bit too much into pop-punk waters for my taste. That being said, the whole thing is catchy and Screeching Weasel do what they set out to do effortlessly.

Aug 26 2025 Author

We love the 90s American punk

Sep 06 2025 Author

I have to say they nail the Punk sentiment even for 1991 and are quite impressive in energy, delivery and production. I normally dismiss wannabees but this is a good album worth listening to.

Nov 13 2025 Author

Is it word that Screeching Weasel want in the book? They aren't my favorite, but they are culturally relevant. They should be in there

Sep 09 2025 Author

I get really strong Ramones vibes from this but with a bit more heart and less snark. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that it’s as catchy. I did enjoy getting my bpms up by running to it, though.

Sep 09 2025 Author

It’s a no from me

Oct 22 2025 Author

What a great band name. The music was like mono-Greenday.

Nov 14 2025 Author

I hate punk rock with a passion.

Nov 24 2025 Author

A long time ago as a teen, I would’ve liked a couple of these. But it’s just noise now.

May 23 2025 Author

No more punk please 1

Aug 28 2025 Author

Bog fucking standard pop punk