Forever Five: Bad//Dreems

Waxx Lyrical
Jul 25
2 min read

Updated: Oct 10

Ever wondered what albums sit atop your favourite artists’ turntables? Forever Five is a Waxx Lyrical series spotlighting the five records that shaped the artists we love most. No rankings, no essays — just the albums that live closest to their hearts. Come for the choices, stay for the typically remarkable playlist that follows — woven from their picks and their own catalogue — culminating in a fascinating little mini music lesson every time.

Bad//Dreems

🎸 Rock & roll lifers. Sharp tongues. Soft hearts.

💭 Pub-punk philosophers with something real to say.

🔥 Tough but tender, loud but literate — forever chasing the poetry in the noise.

💚 Ten years on from their debut, still proving that grit and grace can coexist.

Bad//Dreems were the first band we ever pressed exclusively at Waxx Lyrical, and for good reason—they’ve always stood apart. Not just for the power in their guitars or the bark in their delivery, but for their ability to carve out something deeply human beneath the grit. As they hit the road to celebrate 10 years of Dogs at Bay, it feels fitting to spotlight the records that helped shape their sound.

Each member has chosen one album for their Forever Five, revealing the breadth of influence behind the band’s literate, rough-edged identity. It’s a list as contradictory and compelling as their own music—tough but tender, classic yet curious, all grit with a deep emotional undertow.

Together, these choices sketch out a roadmap for the Bad//Dreems ethos: one foot in the pub, one hand on the pulse, and both eyes fixed on the uncomfortable truths of modern life.

LISTEN — BAD//DREEMS' FOREVER FIVE

A trio of tracks from each of the band's choices, plus an essential five tracks of their own.

The resulting playlist flows like a loud, sweaty, oddly beautiful history lesson.

Bad//Dreems’ Forever Five Albums

Rowland S. Howard – Teenage Snuff Film (1999) (Chosen by Alex) A raw elegy drenched in feedback and feeling. Howard’s solo debut captures the desolation and dark romance that haunt Australian rock’s underbelly — a touchstone for Bad//Dreems’ own poetic grit.
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (1979) (Chosen by Miles) Bleak, hypnotic, and transcendent. Its stark production and emotional intensity taught generations that vulnerability could sound defiant — something Bad//Dreems channel in spirit, if not sound.
Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire (1996) (Chosen by Ali)
Furious, funky, and politically electric. Evil Empire is precision anger, riff and rhetoric in perfect lockstep. You can feel its pulse in every clenched-fist groove Bad//Dreems have ever thrown down.
The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat (1968) (Chosen by Deon) Wild, unfiltered, and utterly uncompromising. The Velvets’ second album remains a manifesto for noise and nerve — proof that chaos can be its own form of beauty.
HTRK – Marry Me Tonight (2009) (Chosen by Ben)
Ethereal, seductive, and unsettling. HTRK’s darkwave dreamscapes shimmer with tension and desire, a reminder that atmosphere can hit just as hard as distortion.