Curious what notable personalities in the scene think was great this year? So is TGEFM! So we reached out to some of our favorite luminaries ranging from musicians, label personnel, and more for their “Best of 2025” lists. Now, listen: TGEFM is not a taskmistress. Contributors can write these out however they want. So if it doesn’t actually look or read like a list… and sometimes it really is just a list with no other observations! Who cares?
Nashville rock duo Her Leather Jacket have been making waves in the pop-emo scene. Their 2024 LP, The House that Chaos Built introduced the world to their “fuck you era” which continued through this year’s single, “Fun.” Today, HLJ’s vocalist Manny Blu opens up about what made 2025 special.
Films:
Happy Gilmore 2
TV Series:
The Girlfriends
White Lotus (Season 3)
Video Games:
College Football 26
Madden 26
Live Performances:
Mod Sun at Warped Tour DC
Taylor Acorn at WWWY
Albums:
An album that came out this that I keep coming back to is My Apologies to The Chef from Winona Fighter
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/