I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BAD RELIGION-The Empire Strikes First (2004).

I’ve been a fan of Bad Religion for ages. And then a few years back they reissued all of their old CDs, and I got BR overload. I didn’t listen to them for a while. Then recently, I decided to check out their newest CD, and was delighted to find that I’d only missed this one in the interim.

So, Bad Religion writes eloquent, fast punk songs. They are typically political, anti-religion, anti-war, anti-Republican. And main lyricist Greg Graffin has a PhD in what is essentially evolutionary biology. So, basically, Graffin is well-read (the lyrics have footnotes!) and knows big words. All of this in a two minute punk song.

And it’s the poppiness that surprises. BR have always given credit to the “oozin ah’s” on the records, and there are always lots of ooh’s and ah’s in the background. The choruses are catchy as all get out. And the songs are over in under three minutes. Actually, it’s when the songs go past 3 minutes that they tend to get into trouble. Fortunately that doesn’t happen too often. I’m not sure why, but the record seems to be lined up almost in order from short to long songs. So you get suckered into these great under two minute songs and then they pile up the long ones at the end. But that’s okay too, as some of the longer ones do add nice complexities to their arrangements.

There’s not a lot one can say about Bad Religion albums from one to another. Either you like the style or you don’t. However, for a bunch of old men, they rock pretty hard and they rock pretty well. And yet for all of their aggression (“Social Suicide” “Atheist Peace” “Sinister Rouge”) they are often uplifting and get you to sing along (“Live Again”). With a little less guitar these might even be chart toppers (perish the thought!).

[READ: June 30, 2008] “Antiheroes”

I recently flew to California. I brought all of the back issues of magazines that have been piling up in my house. For some magazines it was four or five months! I didn’t finish them all but I knocked a good three or four pounds off of my carry on luggage by the time I arrived.

I had read In Persuasion Nation some time ago. I liked it enough to want to read more of Saunders’ essays. This piece is from the Shouts & Murmurs section which can be hit or miss. This was a good one though. In Saunders’ typically dry style, he pitches a TV show in which everyone THINKS they have superpowers but, in fact, they don’t. He cites example after example, some very funny, some moderately funny. A typical one: “Her superpower is: can cause the front door to open using only her mind. He hears her head slam into the closed door, as usual. Then, as usual, she swears under her breath, goes for the keys.”

There’s a slight twist at the end, including a very funny meta-fiction conclusion. The length is ideal for this piece. You wouldn’t want it to go on much longer. But he does pack quite a lot of jokes into the two pages.

It’s a good commentary on TV, reality TV and daily disillusionment.