Song: "The Hanging Garden"
Artist: AFI
Album: "A Fire Inside" EP
Year: 1998
Place Of Origin: Ukiah, California
Years Active: 1991 - present
WHAT I THINK THE SONG IS ABOUT:
There's a book that came out in 1980 by David Wagoner called "The Hanging Garden". It's about a patch of ground where someone has been making a practice of hanging every sort of animal, from dogs to spiders. After reading the lyrics to "The Hanging Garden", I get the sense that the Wagoner novel may in fact have influenced the lyrics to this song. "The Hanging Garden" was written by Robert Smith and released on his band, The Cure's 1982 album "Pornography". The version of the song I chose for my song of the week is a cover by the band AFI and was released on their 1998 EP "A Fire Inside".
AFI DISCOGRAPHY (Full length albums only):
1995 - Answer That And Stay Fashionable (Wingnut Records)
1996 - Very Proud Of Ya (Nitro Records)
1997 - Shut Your Mouth And Open Your Eyes (Nitro Records)
1999 - Black Sails In The Sunset (Nitro Records)
2000 - The Art Of Drowning (Nitro Records)
2003 - Sing The Sorrow (DreamWorks Records)
2006 - Decemberunderground (Interscope Records)
2007 - I Heard A Voice - Live From Long Beach Arena (Interscope Records)
2009 - Crash Love (Interscope Records)
2013 - Burials (Republic Records)
2017 - AFI (Concord Records)
CURRENT STATUS OF AFI:
AFI formed as a band when the members were all in high school in 1991, solidified itself when those members moved on to college and by the time their debut full length album, 1995's "Answer That And Stay Fashionable", was released, AFI had already released a slew of 7" vinyl singles. The band spent the rest of the 90's pumping out a full length album nearly every year, all of which were released through Nitro Records which was owned by Offspring frontman Dexter Holland. In 2000, AFI's fifth album, "The Art Of Drowning", proved to be the band's first album to crack the Billboard 200 charts, peaking at #174. At this point, AFI began getting offers from major labels. In 2003, the band signed on with DreamWorks and released "Sing The Sorrow". Enter success!! This album hit #5 on the Billboard 200 charts and remained on the charts for 51 consecutive weeks. The album spawned three hit singles, "Girls Not Grey", "The Leaving Song Pt. II" and "Silver And Cold" and to date has been certified 2X platinum. AFI continued to ride the wave of success with the 2006 release "Decemberunderground". This album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, featured megahits "Miss Murder" and "Love Like Winter" and has also been certified 2X platinum. This would mark the height of success for AFI as a band. Though their next three releases still charted well, 2009's "Crash Love" at #12, 2013's "Burials" at #9 and the band's most recent release, 2017's "AFI" at #5, the record sales would never touch that "Sing The Sorrow"/"Decemberunderground" era of the band. AFI is set to release a brand new EP called "The Missing Man" in December of 2018. AFI is a band that had to work for it's success and really paid it's dues for more than 10 years until their hard work paid off. Perhaps it's for that very reason that they are well respected in punk rock circles. A product of the east bay hardcore scene, AFI's music crossed many different styles which all melded together to form their sound. Parts hardcore, parts horror punk, parts pop punk and parts skate punk, if you could put bands like the Misfits, Green Day and The Cure and mix them in a pot, you may get something that sounds like AFI. Some contemporaries that are similar to AFI in style and sound would be bands like Alkaline Trio, Anti-Flag, Aiden, The Offspring and Rise Against. There's a handful of punk bands that are leaders and a whole lot more bands who fall into the followers category. AFI is definitely a leader and one of the more successful punk acts on the scene.
TEN AFI SONGS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:
1. Love Like Winter
2. The Leaving Song Pt. II
3. Totalimmortal
4. Girl's Not Grey
5. Miss Murder
6. The Days Of The Phoenix
7. Medicate
8. 17 Crimes
9. White Offerings
10. Third Season
No comments:
Post a Comment