tom araya of slayer: 'there was this one time when me and kerry were skipping class to get high in eleventh grade and these big tattooed metal guys drove by, drinking forties in plain view. "the hardcore song" by monopöle! was blasting out of their sound system at, like, four hundred million decibels. me and kerry just looked at each other and knew that this music was something special. at the time, we were just playing minor threat covers, but we started listening to the pöle and that led us to strive for so much more.'

old school fans of monopöle! were less enthused by the group's radio-friendly hit 'ready aim fire', but the group attracted a second fanbase of pop-loving mall kids.

like all great bands, the pöle eventually had to graduate from high school, breaking up and leaving a sonic legacy that has yet to be approached. they left behind a posthumous e.p., entitled 'revolution', and we here at monoculture records jumped at the chance to release this piece of rock and roll history.

monopöle!, beneath all the genre bending and sold out tours, were a power trio, showing the world that, sometimes, three people can out-'rock' five and setting the stage for dna, the minutemen, dinosaur, bratmobile, and nirvana. jonathan matthew manes provided the metronome-sharp drums, using all four limbs (and, occasionally, a fifth) in ways still unimaginable. of course, there's also that one time he played drums and bass at the same time because rob never showed up. robert gordon newell played base whereas normal people play bass, and he played it like none of his many imitators could manage to emulate while writing some of the hardest and most emotional songs known to man. godfre played guitar. his writing of 'sellout' songs caused much dissention within the band and, towards the end, it was hard to believe that this was the same godfre, esq. who once penned 'fuck the future, piss on the past'.

'the revolution e.p.' shows the group's growing tendency towards emo-core. at that point, it was glaringly obvious to all three members that it was time to move on.

their legendary set at tippipalooza is widely considered the pöle's greatest moment. playing alongside blunt trauma and corbin, the pöle tore down the roof (sky). many infamous things happened that day: their oft-bootlegged performances of nineties high school band standards 'bizarre love triangle' and 'in the garage', jonathan hitting on danielle all day, robert joining blunt trauma in a cover of 'freak on a leash' that jonathan davis said was 'so beautiful it made me cry,' and, of course, godfre and cronies graham and tippi smoking up with some little kid and then spraypainting 'rez-neg' all over some reservoir in north van. that day, monopöle! solidified their place as the greatest rock and roll band of all time.