For those of you who were fortunate enough not to know, Pete Wentz recently put together a new band called Black Cards. For those of you fortunate enough not to know who Pete Wentz is, he helped propel Fallout Boy to fame with his emo lyrics, lack of musical ability, and douchebag smile.
Not long ago Fallout Boy decided to go on indefinite hiatus, with Pete Wentz citing that he needed to spend more time with his family (you know, that "actress" he's married to, Ashlee Simpson, and their little bundle of joy, Bronx Mowgli, from the jungle book), and tantalizingly enough added that he thought the world "needed a little less of Pete Wentz."
It looks like Pete has since decided that not only does he not need to spend more time with his family, but that the world needs MORE Pete Wentz. His new project, Black Cards, are meant to be his solution to both, I guess. Apparently the band is meant to be "experimental reggae", but if you ask me the idea of Pete Wentz playing experimental reggae sounds about as successful as Sean William Scott trying to play Rain Man.
Anyway, I don't know what the fuck this is meant to be, but this video was posted on the Black Cards Youtube page yesterday. If anyone has any clue, seriously fill me in. It's a trailer, and I don't know why bands or music videos or retarded bass players need trailers, but there ya go.
Well it's official, you're fucked. If you pre-ordered the Bad Religion records I posted last week, then your wallet is probably suffering a near death experience, with Tom Waits about to cast the finishing blow.
Anti Records announced today that they are repressing the first four releases from Tom Waits' Aslyum years (the beginning of his career) on limited edition 180-gram red vinyl, with each record being limited to 1000 copies. Records included in this repressing are Closing Time, The Heart Of Saturday Night, Small Change, and Nighthawks At The Diner. Each record is going for $26.99, except for Nighthawks At The Diner, which is going for $37.99. Now I'm too braindead to do the math, but superior guesstimation skills tell me that ordering all these records comes to a grand total of like, a billion dollars. The only one of these albums I actually own is Small Change, and I have to say it's pretty damn cool. Tom Waits has this great way of timelessly making you feel like an old tin can sailor at the end of his rope, dying in a gutter somewhere. Whilst the jazzier numbers are fun to listen to, it's the slow piano songs that really make this album for me. It's the kind of album you don't mind listening to on an introspective Friday night by yourself with a bottle of wine. I remember the first time I heard "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)", I was in a tiny bar with a friend of mine, without any real place to go or people to meet. We were sitting there when the song came on, and we both just started cracking up. There's something hauntingly sad about some of these songs, but at the same time they aren't without humor. Tom Waits manages to sound like a raving drunk singing about how the menus are all freezing, the piano tuner needs a hearing aid, the telephone is out of cigarettes, etc, all while capturing some shared human emotion that anyone who has been there (or even heard the song) feels. "Tom Traubert's Blues" follows a similar vein, with Waits saying of his inspiration for the song "I went down to skid row ... I bought a pint of rye. In a brown paper bag... Hunkered down, drank the pint of rye, went home, threw up, and wrote 'Tom Traubert's Blues'". I can't vouch for the awesomeness of the other albums, but if they're as good as Small Change, you can bet they're worth picking up. Anyway, if you've never heard it, here's Tom Waits performing "Tom Trauberts Blues", as well as "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)" on various television shows from the 70's. The first video definitely captures the sad aspect of his music much more, while the second one captures his humor. The second video also includes one of my favorite interviews with him.
EDIT:
Records can be purchased from the Tom Waits official webstore:
In continuing Bad Religion news, the band recently announced this 30th anniversary box set, featuring every album they've ever released on limited edition red vinyl, including the first pressing of Generator in 12 years, and the first pressing of the super rare/hilarious album Into The Unknown in 27 years. The box set is limited to 3000 copies, and fetches for a whopping price of $200 until the end of today, and then goes up to $224.99.
Yeah, it's balls expensive, but for anyone getting into vinyl or any fan of Bad Religion, this is a staple to your collection. I could write an entire dissertation on why each Bad Religion album is amazing, but I think I'll save that for another day. You know what someone should do though? Someone should write a blog or a book about every single Bad Religion song. Then they should give me credit for it, cause lord knows I need the money/approval of others (especially after spending two hundred bones on this box set).
I smartly/foolishly ordered a copy of this box set, and I couldn't be more stoked to receive it in the mail. Hell, I even have seven out of the fifteen albums on vinyl already, but half of those are on loan from a buddy, and the rest I will probably just sell or hock from crack cocaine, which I hear is the right thing to do when you're as homeless as I am.
Anyways, go here and give Bad Religion your money:
Howdy folks! Been a while since I've posted on the ol' blog here-- Been far too busy fucking and sucking my way through the day. That's all about to change though, since I'm no longer working regular hours (read: homeless), and as a result of which I've decided to spend more time writing on this thing.
As some of you may have intuited from the title of this post, Bad Religion is going to be heavily featured on this blog all week long. There's a lot going on in the utopian world of Bad Religion (including multiple shows/orgasms in NYC), so I figure each day I will focus on a different story about the band.
Note: If you haven't figured it out by now Bad Religion is a pretty big theme on this blog. (So is "get me payed", but unfortunately Google remains unimpressed by my five followers. ) If you have no idea who Bad Religion is, then I suggest you go to your local ravine and throw yourself into it, because you're a fuckin' idiot.
Right, so for those of you who were unaware, Bad Religion recently decided to play three shows at Irving Plaza in NYC to celebrate their thirty years as a band. The idea is that the set of each show would consist of songs from each of the albums released during each decade of their career-- The first show being songs from their 80's albums, the second show being songs from their 90's albums, the third show being songs from their 00's albums.
The first of three shows took place in the middle of last week, and needless to say, I was in attendance amongst the the sea of concert-goers. The show was sold out, and there was much anticipation as to what kind of obscure songs would find their way into the setlist (namely, would they finally play something from their rare [and arguably terrible] prog rock album, Into The Unknown, which the band themselves have pretty much disowned entirely at this point?)
I've gone ahead and typed out the setlist by album (not by order that they played them in-- A couple tall boys of Bud into the show it became apparent that there way no way I could remember the order of songs, let alone my own date of birth) below:
How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
We're Only Gonna Die
Slaves
Latch Key Kids
Part III
Fuck Armageddon This Is Hell
Yesterday
Frogger
Along The Way
Into The Unknown
Billy Gnosis
Suffer
You Are The Government
How Much Is Enough?
Suffer
Delirium Of Disorder
Do What You Want
No Control
Big Bang
No Control
I Want To Conquer The World
Sanity
You
Against The Grain
21st Century Digital Boy
Recipe For Hate
American Jesus
Stranger Than Fiction
Infected
The Process Of Belief
Sorrow
The Empire Strikes First
Los Angeles Is Burning
New Maps Of Hell
New Dark Ages
The Dissent Of Man
Devil In Stitches
The Resist Stance
Wrong Way Kids
Avalon
Looking at this list, two things will probably become apparent, the first being that they played a decent amount of songs that occurred after 1989, particularly from their new album "The Dissent Of Man". I suppose the band wanted to promote the new album a little bit, as well as throw in a couple of fan favorites for those who would not be attending all three performances. As much as I enjoyed these songs, I kind of wish the band had just saved them for another night, in order to make space for some more of their lesser-played songs from the 80's era. "Latch Key Kids" and "Yesterday" sounded particularly awesome, but it was somewhat disappointing that the only real rare song that they played off "No Control" was "Big Bang". What, no "Henchman" or "Anxiety"? All in all the set was great though, and their songs from "How Could Hell Be Any Worse" sounded miles better than they do on the album. I was kind of hoping they would play their song "Bad Religion" as well, because even though it's not their best song, it is, uh, the name of the band, dude.
The second thing that should be instantly apparent from this list is that they played Billy Gnosis from Into The Unknown. Let me repeat this for emphasis: THEY PLAYED BILLY FUCKIN' GNOSIS. The result was... awkward. The song itself is by no means one of their best songs, but what made it exciting to see what the rarity of it. When Bad Religion gets up and plays "Generator", you know that they've played it at every show since 1991 (except this one), and whilst it is awesome every time, you know that the band themselves probably can't distinguish one performance of it from the thousands of other ones. That would be like asking someone "Hey man, you remember that time you checked your email that one day five years ago?" Uh, no.
What made this song (and by extension, the entire show) awesome was the shared experience of it all. You know Bad Religion will remember playing Billy Gnosis during their 80's era show in New York City in 2010 because as Greg Graffin said, they've never played it before. Jay then corrected him and said they played in once in 1983, but even that was long enough ago that I was -1 years old.
Overall the show was badass, and highlights included the crowd chanting "Ten more years!" instead of "One more song!" before the encore, and the most hilarious old man a row or two in front of me. This was a guy who looked like he was about in his 50's, bald on top with brownish grey hair on the sides, the type of guy who probably wears Polo Ralph Lauren with khakis on the weekends in his suburban home. Picture this, and then picture him wearing a faded blue denim jeans jacket with matching faded blue denim jeans-- The type of thing that was probably commonplace at a punk show back in 1983, but today really just makes you look dated and out of touch. I get the impression that this guy heard that a band he liked as a kid in the 80's were playing, and decided to go check it out for nostalgia. It was as if he literally dusted off his old jeans jacket from thirty years ago while his kids rolled their eyes in embarrassment. What made the entire thing so funny (and by funny I actually mean heartwarming) was that for any of the songs that were written after 1988 he pretty much just stood there looking motionless and confused, but for every song prior to '88 he had his fist in the air singing every word. It was like literally just stopped listening to them one day. It kind of gives hope for the rest of us that maybe when we're fifty years old we'll be able to do the same thing... which I think will make the members of Bad Religion about eighty.
Anyway, here's Bad Religion playing Billy Gnosis, for all the suckers who weren't there:
Let today be the day that I go on record as saying that Linkin Park are actually a decent band.
Linkin Park put the video for "Waiting For The End" on their YouTube profile a couple days ago, so I can only assume that this is their new song; I could be dead wrong of course, as I am somewhat out of touch with pop culture these days, and even more out of touch with how to be a participating member of society in general, but this is nonetheless a video worth watching.
Apparently it was done by the Joe Hahn (DJ in the band), who has presumably discovered, like most Nu Metal bands, that the role of DJ in a rock band is about as obsolete (and equally retarded) as flying a kite in a thunder storm to try to get electricity-- Yeah, it works technically, but why bother?
Thankfully, Linkin Park have grown out of their Nu Metal origins, and managed to sustain themselves as a decent rock band who can't really be classified as any specific genre. This is what, in my opinion, makes them stand apart from their peers, and has enabled them to endure the test of time. Had they simply been a good Nu Metal band, they would have gone back to the depths of obscurity, along with P.O.D., Puddle Of Mudd, Limp Bizkit, and Incubus.
Simply put, this is a cool song, and it has a damn cool constellation-themed video to accompany it. I recommend turning the lights down low and playing it at 1080i fullscreen on your computer-- It kind of looks like an iTunes visualizer that was made SPECIFICALLY for the song. This is a primary example of a song that is made BETTER by the video. While you're at it, I also recommend inviting your new lady friend over and telling her you have something special planned, and then switching the song to Puke On Cops by NOFX while she waits on the bed for you to further disappoint her.
In any case, here's the video. It's good even in spite of the fact that that Mike Shinoda fellow is doing his best impersonation of Sean Paul at various points throughout the song. Now ain't that a kick in the head?
Not a lot to say about this one. Avril Lavigne is on the cover of Maxim Magazine's November issue.
I realize that Avril Lavigne has about as much to do with punk music as a turd on the sidewalk has to do with international diplomacy, but she has to do with this blog in that I'm the one writing it, and I always figured at this point in my life she and I would be married, or at least cheating on our spouses with each other.
I don't know when the last time I actually heard an Avril Lavigne song was, or if she's meant to be coming out with a new album, but it looks like she has a new flat stomach to show off, which is all you need in order to stay culturally relevant these days. Throw on some eyeliner there, baby you got yourself a cover story. I mean, what kind of musician actually wants to put out music, anyway?
If anyone picks up this magazine, let me know what it contains. Due to some misguided notion of self worth, I consider myself above picking up this magazine at a magazine stand, but I'm not above reading about it on the Internet.
Alright, this blog has officially devolved into nonsense. Now ain't that a kick in the head?
Ugh. I don't even know where to begin with this one.
A few months ago, when Less Than Jake announced that they would be coming out with an EP comprised entirely of covers of TV jingles and theme songs for various shows, I was a little bit apprehensive to say the least. While the idea of a recorded EP made up of TV-covers sounds inherently fun in some way, there's also something about it that sounds inherently... terrible. Nonetheless, I decided to stave off any judgement until hearing the album-- That is, until their cover of the Animaniacs Theme Song surfaced. That's when I knew trouble was on the horizon.
To celebrate the release of the aptly titled "TV/EP", Less Than Jake put together a video stream of the entire album (see below), with all the original television intros synched up to their own covers of each song. You see folks, there is more to this album that meets the eye. Not only is it composed of television theme songs, but it is meant to SIMULATE the experience of flipping through television channels... Which is perhaps the most irritating idea for a concept album since Thrice decided to put out four CD's each themed around the different elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. However, where Thrice's quadruple EP was pretentious, Less Than Jake's new EP falls on the other side of the spectrum of awfullness: retarded.
Who in God's name would want to listen to an album that is meant to simulate the experience of an activity that is already irritating to begin with? I have no idea, but I decided to watch the video to try to gain some insight.
The first song came on, and I had no fuckin' clue what I was watching, but the cover that Less Than Jake were playing beneath it actually sounded okay, in spite of the Boy-Meets-World-wannabees prancing around my screen. Then the image changed to snow, and a split second later went to the Hungry Hungry Hippos commercial.
Are you freakin' kidding me? Less Than Jake have decided to cover COMMERCIALS on this thing too? That's when I knew this album was garbage. For the next 11 minutes, I watched various intros to shows interspersed with commercial jingles, and to be honest, the only reasons I did were a) because I wanted to blog about this, and b) because there was a time in my life when I considered Less Than Jake to be my favorite band.
However, it is difficult to say one really LIKES a band when they put out nonsense like this. I get it, ska is meant to be fun, light hearted music, that isn't meant to be taken seriously. However, ska as a genre is also flawed in that it is extremely repetitive, to the point where it is borderline irritating. What Less Than Jake have done with this album is taken a genre that already suffers from being annoyingly peppy at all times, and pushed it to the quintessence of this very flaw: television jingles.
Yes, these songs have catchy hooks, but that's because they are MEANT to get stuck in your head. And just because they get stuck in your head doesn't make them good. There's nothing awesome about having the Animaniacs sing "We're zany to the max, there's baloney in our slacks" going through your brain on repeat, especially when you're a grown ass man.
What this album reminds us is that it's even Less Than Awesome to be a grown ass man PLAYING ska songs, much less playing THESE ska songs. In case somewhere along the line of watching this, you forgot the absurdity of a 35-year old male singing these songs, Less Than Jake cut in footage of themselves singing along to the That 70's Show Theme Song. The result is frightening to say the least, and makes me want to never have children, just so that these guys never have the chance to go anywhere near them.
I didn't write this post to hate on Less Than Jake though. Like I said, they were once one of my favorite bands, and I'm still waiting for them to put out something equally as awesome as Hello Rockview. For the time being, I suppose I'll have to settle for something that should have been nothing more than a funny video on their website, or a few songs played live for shits and giggles. Certainly not an entire EP or album.
At least Less Than Jake wisely decided to cover one of those freecreditreport.com songs at the end. That shit is still awesome.
Here it is, ladies and gentlemen. Travis Barker drumming on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Consider your lives complete now.
I have no idea what the point of this video is, but I would imagine it's either to remind people that he's still mourning the death of DJ AM (as expressed by his T Shirt), or, equally as important, to remind people that he's still a better drummer than you'll ever be.
More likely it's to gain momentum for his solo album, which is set to come out later this month. If this video is any indication, we can expect lots of drums and... well, not much else. Maybe some seagulls somewhere in the background?
Seriously, was this really the best way to get people to watch him play? Why not record this somewhere a little more convenient, like say, a studio? Was it necessary to take him as far away from land as possible just record fifty seconds of him soloing?
What was the context here? It's as if his manager just places him in front of a drum set in random places and says "Here you go Travis, you can play now". Then again, maybe that's how Mark Hoppus got him to drum for Blink 182.
Travis Barker has always seemed like a cool guy by my book (hell, I even watched that MTV reality show/atrocity based upon his marriage to horrible actress/passable Playmate, Shanna Moakler) but this video illuminates exactly what TMZ and all of Twitter thrive on-- just how much pointless nonsense we will listen to, as long as it has to do with famous people. What's that you say? Kim Kardashian is having a sandwich?? We must alert the public immediately! Raise the threat level to code red!
Alright, Travis Barker drumming on water. There's no point to it, but somehow it still exudes awesome. That's all there is to it, really.
And yeah, I realize this post and the last one have little to do with vinyl, but it's a hell of a lot easier to write this shit than it is to tell you why you should listen to a band you either haven't heard before, or already listen to on a regular basis.
Every so often someone comes along and tries to ruin music for me. They create something that is not only somewhat unpleasant to listen to, but also insults something that I hold near and dear. They take something good, and twist it on itself so it becomes unrecognizable and vile. It's like when someone draws a mustache on a picture of your baby daughter, or you see a movie with a hot chick in it who starts turning into a demon and climbing on ceilings and twisting her head around 360 degrees and throwing up guts everywhere. That shit just isn't cool, man. And in this case, the uncool shit is Tegan and Sara covering "Suffer" by Bad Religion.
I don't want to hate on Tegan and Sara. I've given them plenty of chances, including purchasing two of their albums, and even listening to them to the point where they've made it into my Top 20 Most Listened To Artists on my lastfm.
Still, there is something about those gender-bending little hos that I just don't get. I don't get it, I really don't. I don't get why everyone seems to love them, from hipsters to punks like Tom Gabel and Matt Skiba. I don't get why NOFX have a song about them. I don't get why lesbians think they're hot.
I'll admit, they are creative, and do write some catchy songs. But that's just not enough for me. Their vocals sound similar to what I would imagine little Japanese girls singing about Hello Kitty would sound like, or like a young eastern European girls' choir encouraging other young women to hold on to their chastity. They have this bizarre accent that is just out of place-- Yes they are Canadian, but last I checked, a Canadian accent wasn't a borderline speech impediment.
I know what they're trying to do. They heard that I liked Bad Religion more than I like them, and now they're trying to ruin them with their shitty cover of Suffer, the same way that Kris Roe from the Ataris ruined the Bad Religion song "Heaven Is Falling" with his shitty cover.
Don't even get me started on that nonsense. He took a great Bad Religion song, brought it out of context, and recorded it with the sound quality of a wet paper towel. The Ataris ruined "Heaven Is Falling" like Britney Spears shaving her head ruined her vagina for me, or like how seeing Britney Spears' vagina ruined her vagina for me. I was done. I just didn't want to see it anymore, and no matter how much I tried to like it again, the magic was lost forever.
Well Tegan and Sara, I won't let you do this to Bad Religion. Not this time. You can have your own songs-- In fact, I'll even indulge in them from time to time. But let's leave Bad Religion out of this, mmkay?
For those of you who haven't heard the horribleness, check it out here:
In keeping up with the previous post on epic punk songs, here's Fucked Up with their latest 13-minute single, "Year Of The Ox". This single is their fourth one in the Chinese Zodiac series, and features and a string section performed by New Strings Old Puppets and guest vocals by Zola Jesus.
Fucked Up aren't a band that are known for doing things the traditional way-- Their obscenely large discography, their MTV appearance during which they performed in (and destroyed) the bathrooms, or the fact that they played a free twelve-hour show in NYC, are all evidence of this. Hell, even their name should be evidence of this.
It is for this reason that it should be no surprise to fans of the band that this song strays pretty far from their hardcore origins, save for the ballsiness of attempting such a whopper of a song, and the fact that Pink Eyes' vocals sound about as smooth as scraping your own knees across hot gravel. In this case his yell is actually catchy, and combined with the mid tempo pace of the song, and the guest string and vocal performances, this single is sure to attract more attention for this band.
I have to say, I have their second album, The Chemistry Of Common Life, and though I like certain tracks, the fact that there are psychadellic instrumental tracks interspersed with hardcore songs makes it difficult to listen to front to back.
"The Year Of The Ox," however, nicely ties together the band's ambitions to do things outside the box, their hardcore edge, and their musical creativity. I mean come on people, it's a thirteen minute punk song with screams, female vocals, and an orchestra section. I would recommend this not just to fans of the band, or of the genre for that matter, but anyone looking to hear something new and original.
If you don't believe me, you can stream the entire thing here or here.
Evidently, the B-Side is meant to be a "gothic vampire love tribute to Twighlight," whatever that means.
Look, point is buy the vinyl, or just stream it indefinitely. Either way, listen to it.
WHY IT'S AWESOME:
This is pretty much it, people. NOFX's magnum opus in one 18-minute-long song. If you're going to listen to NOFX, or even punk rock in general, you need this album because it just might be the best punk song ever written (there, I said it).
NOFX, in spite of being somewhat a joke of a band, are arguably the backbone of punk music. They've become rock stars without radio play (back when it mattered), MTV (back when it mattered), or ever being on a major label (back when it mattered). They are DIY incarnate-- They own almost all of their music, and release records on their own homegrown label, Fat Wreck Chords. Though the majority of their catalogue is worth listening to at least once (if not hundreds of times, like I have in the past few months), there is one album that stands miles above the rest: The Decline.
Although NOFX are known for having a few songs per record that clearly took zero effort and time to write, this album/song is exceptionally crafted from start to finish. Not a single second is wasted here, because, as the Fat Wreck Chords product description for this record reads: "NOFX are pissed off, and they want to tell you all about it."
NOFX accomplish precisely what they set out to do with this song: Tell you about the decline-- both societal and personal; And though the song starts out as bluntly as possible ("Where are all the stupid people from, and how'd they get to be so dumb?"), by the end Fat Mike is no longer just singing about the decline of western civilization, but about the personal and emotional decline that each individual member of civilization faces as a result of the society we've created: "Only moron and genius would fight a losing battle against the superego, when giving in is so damn comforting. And so we go, on with our lives, we know the truth, but prefer lies."
To drive the point home, this song intelligently and forcefully enunciates what punk rock was founded on: discontent. Indeed, NOFX are pissed, and not only do they want to tell us about it, they HAVE TO tell us about it. Fat Mike rails against everything that's wrong with us, from the religious and conservative right wing politicians, to the widespread apathy of a conditioned populace. There's a reason this song is a treat when you get to hear them play it live, and it's not just because of the music-- It's because of the emotion behind it that every NOFX or punk rock fan empathizes with.
So yeah, it looks like somehow I've once again managed to do exactly what I promised I wouldn't do in my first blog post: Compare Fat Mike to Michelangelo. Again. And I guess you could say that The Decline is like his Sistine Chapel. Godamnit.
- Frankie D
PS In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, listen to the first half here. Then go out and buy the whole thing. But good luck finding it on clear vinyl.
WHY IT'S AWESOME, AND THE NAME OF THE BLOG EXPLAINED:
Alright people, so this is my first actual post on a record. My ultimate aim here is to tell you about records that I think are cool, while providing some kind of information that is vaguely useful to anyone who is as interested in this narrow subject as I am.
The first record I've chosen to cover is Against The Grain by Bad Religion because 1) it's an awesome record, and 2) the name of this blog is lifted directly from it (more on this later).
Anyone whose ever listened to punk rock since the 80's will have heard of Bad Religion. Currently celebrating their thirty years together as a band, these guys are the the Godfathers of punk. Listening to punk and not listening to Bad Religion would be like watching films and not watching... well, The Godfather.
During their tenure as a band, they've for the most part released pretty amazing albums (I say "for the most part" because Into The Unknown and The New America arguably suck donkey dick), and of their amazing albums, this one is my favorite.
As far as I'm concerned, this is Bad Religion's best punk album. Not because it's the most innovative or creative (it's not, I'm going with Generator for that), but because I believe that this is where Bad Religion were at the pinnacle of writing good punk songs. This album has a whopping 17 songs on it, and in spite of the fact that they almost all have the same beat, structure, and overall sound, this album NEVER GETS BORING. Do you know how hard it is to find an album where all the songs sound the same without it being boring? Pennywise have tried this feat multiple occasions, and failed just about every single time.
This album rocks because it's Bad Religion at it's purest, most concise, and most aggressive. There is an urgency to these songs that I believe Bad Religion have tried to come back to on their last three albums, and while those last three albums were good, I don't think they'll ever regain their sense that "Hey, we have shit to say and we need to say it now!"
I could go on for hours on why this band rocks, and why this album is the best one, but I'm going to move on to the title of the blog, because I believe it all ties it together nicely: Anyone who has heard Against The Grain will recognize that the title of this blog is named after one of the songs on the album. On an album that is already incredibly concise (most songs are no longer than two and a half minutes), this one is one of the fastest, and shortest (roughly 50 seconds).
There's so much about this song that speaks to the purpose of the blog-- whether it's the correlation between negative thinking and punk music, the optimistic spin on something cynical, or the fact that the lyrics to this song can be interpreted to either be bassist Jay Bentley's lyrical crux for everything the band stands for or a mere stream of consciousness of a disenchanted lunatic-- all of these mean something to me, and why I choose to collect punk records. Plus, shit, it's the only song that Jay Bentley actually wrote on the album. When he said that shit, he meant it.
Do yourself a favor and add this to your record collection if you don't own it already. Then listen to this song on repeat and start your own blog:
Alright people, so here it is: a blog about punk records. I started this blog because I couldn't find any other good straightforward ones out there on collecting punk records-- and even if there are other ones out there, fuck you, I want a blog too. I'm by no means an expert on this subject, other than I spend way too long on eBay looking at rare overpriced NOFX records that were never that good to begin with, containing tracks that I can easily purchase on iTunes, or CD, or any other cheaper and more practical medium.
So why collect records, and why blog about them? To get overly (and perhaps irritatingly) philosophical, there's something alluring about having something tangible in a world where everything is going digital. When I first got into music, one of my favorite parts of the process was going to the CD store and looking through the albums. It was an EVENT. It was an experience where you would go out one afternoon with a friend, and arrive back home a few hours later with a handful of new albums, the remainder of the day to be spent listening to these albums track by track and looking through the liner notes of each accompanying booklet.
To this day, the friends that I went out and bought albums with as a teenager are still some of my best friends in the world, as if going out and buying albums were a sacred bonding experience akin to losing your virginity, or drinking your first can of beer in some back piss-stained alleyway with kids from school.
Yeah, I suppose there is a nostalgia factor involved in buying albums that will always be a part of me, but that's not WHY I collect records, and that's not why I mention buying albums as a kid. It's not because I think it necessarily sounds better either (because sometimes, it doesn't). It's because, simply put: it's fun.
It's fun buying an album that you always loved listening to front to back and, actually take time out of your busy day to pop it into a record player and give it its proper due. It's fun because when you have something on vinyl, every little choice the band or record label made seem completely intentional, from the cover art, to the little labels they stick on the records, to the very color of the vinyl, and the number of pressings of each each color. It were as if Fat Mike of NOFX were a regular Michelangelo, creating his own Sistine Chapel with his choice of colors to use for the vinyl pressing of Heavy Petting Zoo (which was aptly titled, "Eating Lamb").
I can't properly put into words why it's fun to collect records, but anyone else who has been bitten by the record bug knows all too well just how fun it is. And they know that this rabbit hole goes deeper than it looks.
So yeah, in summation, it's pretty simple. I'm just a regular-ass guy who likes to collect records. This will be one of the few times I write a blog post without any actual record details in it, cause it's mad boring for anyone to read who isn't me, and this will be the last time that I compare Fat Mike to Michelangelo (cause we all know he fuckin' isn't).
- Frankie D
Oh yeah I was going to write about the title of the blog and how it all related, but this shit is getting too long, so I'll save it for next time.
