Because it was the last NOFX album to feature the original lineup, Ribbed can be considered the end of the band’s early career or the start of its golden age. Group leader Fat Mike later said it was “the first NOFX album people actually liked.” It’s easy to see why. The playing is stronger and heavier than on the band’s early releases, and Mike's formerly sputtering vocals are transformed into a new strain of melodic, urgent punk singing. NOFX is still making fun of everything and everyone in sight—“El Lay” and “New Boobs” are barbs directed at the trendiness and superficiality the band saw in its hometown of Los Angeles. But there are new ideas in “Nowhere,” the first in what would turn out to be a long string of political songs. NOFX was goofy and insolent in a way that was destined to inspire adolescent boys, but the feeling of alienation in “Brain Constipation” is realistic and deeply felt. Under all the agitated jesting, NOFX was starting to realize that it didn’t hurt to show a little heart.