Today I bring you the final Five and Alive. It's been a great couple of years with the column, and I want to thank everyone who has ever participated in this column's discussion. It was always meant to be fun from day one. Today, I bring you the first five albums that changed the way I looked at music since I was small child. Head here for my choices, and then head to the replies to share your own lists.

Happy 2012 to every staffer, user, industry folk, band and reader alike. We just came off quite a year for music. I'm still going over some "end of the year" lists from friends and networks and am discovering what I missed. In particular, five things really stuck out to me this past year. You can check out what I have to say here, and don't forget to scan over our EOTY lists one last time before we start rocking out into what I expect to...[read more]

This week's Five and Alive is quite special. 2011 has been a great year for music, and has really reminded me why I fell in love with music and live and breathe through my headphones. Unfortunately, I lost three great bands this year: RX Bandits, Thursday and Thrice. Those bands are greatly part of my musical roots. Head here to see what I learned about music over the last decade of having them be a part of my life.

I haven't done a Five and Alive in a while, so I wanted this one to be good. Considering the reunion and reaction to the American Nightmare (Give Up the Ghost) shows, I asked one of the men behind it, booking agent Matt Pike, to give me his five favorite American Nightmare songs. The reunion got me thinking about idols and elders and I wrote a piece read more]

This week's Five and Alive is dedicated to compilations. Run For Cover Records recently dropped Mixed Signals, the label's 50th release. I asked founder/owner Jeff Casazza to give me his five favorite compilation releases. You can see his list here. I want you to head to the replies and let us know what compilations you still dig up and spin from time to time. Is...[read more]

This week's Five and Alive is very special. Today I'm bringing you a list of tunes from when I was heavily discovering music before the future of iPods. Remember mix CDs? Well, a few of my friends found all of mine sitting in a box in my apartment, so we decided to spin the ones with the best titles written on them to see what they contained. There was a good bit of air guitar and laughs thereafter. So today I encourage you to dust off...[read more]

This week's Five and Alive is brought to you by "Theeee Siiimpsoooons...do do do dodo do do..." and includes commentary from Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos. If you love the show and want to read some thoughts about satire on the music industry written in 1996, I highly recommend that you check this one out.

I can't remember when the last Five and Alive happened, but for some reason I have a ton of half-written ideas on my desktop. After the release of this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest line-up and our Absolute Classics column, I decided to go with this one. It's been a great year for music, but there's always time to discover or even rediscover what you missed out on in the past. Here are five albums I've been rocking hardcore this past year in...[read more]

This week I'm bringing you an early edition of Five and Alive. The staff will be revealing our Mid-Year Top Ten lists later this week, but we still have six more months of music. While it's been positively overwhelming this year, I'm still waiting for quite a few spins from quite a few bands, and I'm sure you all are too. Head here to see my five choices and hit the replies to let us know what you're still waiting for to close out an...[read more]

There's a forum running here on "Top Five Album Closers" started by Coop Dawg. Great topic and a lot of great choices. I'm going to give his forum the honors this week. Head to it and keep the list growing.

For this week's Five and Alive, Gregory Dunn of Moving Mountains talks about five albums that had a lot of influence on the band's new album Waves. Head here to check out his choices, and you can stream the album here while reading up on its influences.

This week's Five and Alive is in honor of Thursday's incredible new album No Devolución. This week I'm bringing you five songs from the band's back catalog that have sort of foreshadowed the sound on their new album. You can also read Drew's review of the record read more]

This week's Five and Alive is brought to you by the users of AP.net. I'm not much of a forum guy - you guys can be pretty cutthroat sometimes - but I found this topic in our feed and thought it was pretty rad. So rad in fact, it took me an entire month to think of my choice. Head here to check out five albums that a few users and I think are a bit front-loaded, meaning the front half of the album soars above the second second half. Hit...[read more]

This week's Five and Alive is dedicated to all the wax I cannot afford to buy. Head here to check out five more albums that need to get pressed ASAP, and hit the replies for your choices as well.

I hope you guys are having some great discussions each week with AbsolutePunk's Five and Alive column. This week, I'm giving the power over to you - the users of this fine site. Head to this discussion and post about one album and why you think it's "front-loaded." Since evilandgood was the original poster on this one, he gets one spot...there's four more left - so get writing.

This week's Five and Alive is in honor of all the "album" tours as of late and over the past few years. Head here to read up on five albums I'd love to see performed live, and hit the replies with your choices. There's only one rule this week: they couldn't have been done before. Also, head here for a review of Underoath's current...[read more]

This week's Five and Alive is about revisiting some of last year's albums that some of us staff members might have slept on. Head here to see our choices, and hit the replies to discuss more.

Merry Christmas ladies and gentlemen. We have a special Five and Alive for you on this special day. Patrick Stump has given us his top five favorite holiday songs. Head here to check them out, and let us know what you've been jamming for the past few weeks to prepare you for this day.

This week's Five and Alive contains my top five favorite shows of 2010. Hit the replies and let us know who blew you away this year. Was it the farewell gigs, the nostalgia from the past or just an intimate hometown show? Discuss, and more importantly, keep supporting your favorite local and touring bands.

This week's Five and Alive is a double dose from The Saddest Landscape. Head here to read up on five tips about getting your tunes waxed. Keep scrolling down for the band's top five favorite vinyl releases this year as well. Hit the replies and let us know which releases you were stoked on getting this year. If you've just started...[read more]

This week's Five and Alive goes out to the sharing of two sides of wax by great bands. The first vinyl I ever owned was the Thursday/Thrice split, and I've been a fan of the 7" artists' friendships ever since. This week, No Sleep Records' Chris Hansen gives us his top five favorite splits. Head here to check them out, and hit the replies with your choices.

For this week's Five and Alive, Adam asked me to post my five most anticipated albums for 2011. You can check my five out at my blog, or in the replies. Feel free to post your most anticipated albums for the upcoming new year.

This week's Five and Alive is about getting up and having a blast this Halloween weekend. Here are five albums that always get my juices flowing. What gets albums get you pumped before the party? Have fun, be safe and remember, if the sign says take one piece of candy, don't ruin it for the others - especially Quasimodo.

This week's Five and Alive is quite delicious, as Soupy of The Wonder Years gives us his five favorite places to eat while out on tour. Where should bands eat when they hit your town? Let them know in the replies.

This week's Five and Alive is brought to you by my coverage of Austin City Limits this weekend. Don't worry, you'll all be able to participate. Head here and post your choices in the replies. Have a great weekend and be sure to follow my adventures here.

This week's Five and Alive is dedicated to those leaves changing color. Check it out here and let's make an awesome autumn playlist in the replies.

Greg Karlowitsch of The Great Explainer wants you to bang your head at his Five and Alive today. Check it out here. Discuss in the replies. Let those metal horns rock this weekend.

This week's Five and Alive is brought to you by music video director Robby Starbuck. He's laying out five things you shouldn't do in music videos. He'd like to know your thoughts on the video world as well. Check out his list here and hit the replies to discuss it.

This week's Five and Alive goes out to those incoming, continuing and finally escaping the upcoming college year. I encourage you guys to share the best stories/memories of your college days - and the music that made them - in the replies. Have an awesome weekend.

This week's Five and Alive is brought to you by Max Richter. Richter broke the rules and wrote about ten of his most influential post/punk albums. Since he took the time, I went ahead and made this week's column an EP of sorts. Hit the replies to check out his picks and you can still check out his new album over at his profile here.