"Time Bomb" is a song by the American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band Rancid. It was released as the second single from their third album, '' ...And Out Come the Wolves''. The song reached number 8 on ''Billboard'' Modern Rock Tracks, marking the highest initial charting single in Rancid's career.

Composition

"Time Bomb" is a

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

, ska rock and

reggae rock Reggae rock is a subgenre of reggae fusion and rock music that primarily uses the genres reggae, rock, and ska. Typical lyrics of reggae rock songs incorporate love, personal awareness, and life challenges while incorporating music and beat ...

song, similar to the sound of

Operation Ivy Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after '' Tumbler-Snapper'' and before '' Upshot–Knothole''. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall I ...

, in which

Tim Armstrong Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid (band), Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup T ...

and Matt Freeman used to play before Rancid. The lyrics for the first verse of the song were sampled from an earlier song, "Motorcycle Ride", which appeared on the band's previous album, '' Let's Go''. This song is about Eric Hogan (a good friend of the band, particularly Tim Armstrong) who used to own American Graffiti Tattoo. He was murdered by Hells Angels (supposedly) for sleeping with one of the gang members wives.

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by

Marcus Raboy Marcus Raboy (born November 30, 1965) is an American film director, film and music video director. Since the early 1990s, Raboy has amassed a large number music video credits directing music videos for Mary J. Blige, Dixie Chicks, Rihanna, Lu ...

. It was partially filmed at 155 Rivington in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

; the building later became the headquarters of

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

Reception

Reception to the song was widely positive. Loudersound ranked ''Time Bomb'' as Rancid's second best song. '' Consequence'' ranked the song as the band's 5th best song, and the 44th best punk song of all time. Diffuser listed it as their 10th best song.

Track listing

#"Time Bomb" - 2:24 #"The Wars End" - 1:53 #"Blast 'Em" - 2:29

In popular culture

* Time Bomb was featured in the 2000 ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...

'' episode Cinnamon's Wake. Lane's band also performed a cover of "Time Bomb" in the Season 4 ''Gilmore Girls'' episode "Afterboom". * It was used in the 2005 movie '' Fun with Dick and Jane''. * It was used in the 2016 movie '' Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2''. * It was used in the 2018 Netflix show '' Everything Sucks!''. * It was used in the 2018 movie

Peter Rabbit Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter. A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subseq ...

. * Along with " Ruby Soho" and " Last One to Die", "Time Bomb" was released in the Rancid 01 track pack on July 21, 2009, for ''

Rock Band 2 ''Rock Band 2'' is a 2008 rhythm game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to ''Rock Band (video game), Rock Band'' (2007) and the second installment in the Rock Band, ''Rock Band ' ...

''. * UFC fighter Antonio Banuelos uses the song as he makes his entrance to the Octagon.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1995 songs 1995 singles Rancid (band) songs Music videos directed by Marcus Raboy Songs written by Tim Armstrong Songs written by Lars Frederiksen Songs written by Matt Freeman Epitaph Records singles Reggae rock songs