To say that there were plenty of reasons to look askance at PWEI thanks to their defiantly unserious approach to rock, punk and whatever else they were up to in the mid-to-late 80s makes sense, the more so because their seeming shift to hip-hop led to any number of Beastie Boys comparisons. But This Is the Day became that most unlikely of things: a success. Thanks to detailed production by Flood, a more comfortable ease with their unapologetic un-American accents and flow and a crazy amount of musical and lyrical deep cuts and references to UK and US pop culture, songs like “Defcon One” and “Wise Up! Sucker” actually landed hard, and well.

– Ned Raggett