Liberal Animation

Liberal Animation is the debut album from California punk band NOFX, released on 22 April 1988. The title is a spoonerism of "animal liberation", a joke the original cover artwork played on. Fat Mike's own label, Wassail Records, put it out, and Brett Gurewitz produced it. He even offered to release it on Epitaph, but the band chose to do it themselves. Epitaph did reissue it in 1991 with new artwork.

It's very much a starting point. Fat Mike wrote most of it on a guitar he bought from Lynn Strait of Snot, and he has often called it the weakest record in the NOFX catalogue. It's also the only full-length to feature Dave Casillas on guitar. Still, there's fun to be had: "Shut Up Already" tucks in a short cover of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog", and the band made rough, home-made style videos for that song and "Mr. Jones".