Punk-O-Rama

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Punk-O-Rama is the title given to a series of ten compilation albums published by Epitaph Records. The first volume was released in 1994,^[1] the second in 1996, and the rest annually from 1998 to 2005. The albums included artists from Epitaph's roster as well as from its subsidiary label ANTI- and its partnership labels Hellcat Records and Burning Heart Records. In total the series included 257 songs contributed by 88 different artists.

Rancid and Pennywise are the only bands to appear on all 10 volumes. Scott Radinsky appears on all 10, 1 with Ten Foot Pole and 9 with Pulley.

As its title implied, the series featured mostly punk rock and various punk subgenres such as garage punk, hardcore punk, pop punk, post-hardcore, ska punk, skate punk, and street punk. However, as the series went on and the labels' rosters diversified, the music of the Punk-O-Rama compilations grew to include additional styles of music such as alternative hip hop, alternative rock, digital hardcore, emo, experimental music, garage rock, indie rock, metalcore, psychobilly, and screamo.

Artwork for the series was inconsistent over the first four installments, with cover art and layout provided by varying artists and designers. C. Martin provided artwork and layout for both the fifth and sixth volumes, though they had differing styles and themes. Nick Pritchard of Metrosea.com provided artwork and layout for the final four volumes of the series, which adopted a similar look and style.

Epitaph also organized several Punk-O-Rama tours featuring bands that had contributed to the compilations, such as Agnostic Front, All, The Distillers, Guttermouth, Millencolin, Straight Faced, and the Voodoo Glow Skulls. Occasionally these would be accompanied by special Punk-O-Rama tour sampler CDs that differed from the main. series of compilation albums. In 2003 the label published the DVD Punk-O-Rama: The Videos, Volume 1, including 22 music videos and "The Epitaph Story", a short film relating the history of the label. Though a second volume was never published, the subsequent ninth and tenth albums in the compilation series included DVDs of music videos as well.

In 2006 Epitaph announced the retirement of the Punk-O-Rama brand in favor of a new series titled Unsound,^[2][3] the less genre-specific title being more conducive to the label's expanding roster of musical styles. However, only one compilation was published under the Unsound banner before that series was also discontinued.