Song Of The Week: 4/28/19

Song: "1,000 More Fools"

Artist: Bad Religion

Album: "Tested"

Year: 1997

Place Of Origin: Los Angeles, California

Years Active: 1980 - present



WHAT I THINK THE SONG IS ABOUT:

So, I was reading about "1,000 More Fools" on a site called songmeanings.net, and I couldn't explain this song any better than WorldInferno67 said it on there. Here's his quote, "This song is not restricted to any specific setting or area, but to all Christians everywhere who have forgotten (or never knew) how to use their minds, or think for themselves and come up with their own reasons for why they believe in God. Rather, they use Christianity as a crutch and leave their mind crippled, trapped inside a box, until they grow up and get married and have children and pass their beliefs and mindlessness onto them, giving birth to more and more and more brainwashed fools to pervert the minds of more and more people without knowing WHY. Of course, they do not need justification of argument, because they have the ultimate reason for why their God is real: the Bible says so, and that in itself is enough for them. Think beyond this, and then you're doubting your religion and going to go to Hell." The version of "1,000 More Fools" that I chose for my song of the week is a live version that can be found on Bad Religion's "Tested" album. The original can be found on their 1988 album "Suffer".

BAD RELIGION DISCOGRAPHY (Full length albums only):

1982 - How Could Hell Be Any Worse (Epitaph Records)
1983 - Into The Unknown (Epitaph Records)
1988 - Suffer (Epitaph Records)
1989 - No Control (Epitaph Records)
1990 - Against The Grain (Epitaph Records)
1992 - Generator (Epitaph Records)
1993 - Recipe For Hate (Epitaph Records)
1994 - Stranger Than Fiction (Atlantic Records)
1996 - The Gray Race (Atlantic Records)
1997 - Tested (Epitaph Records)
1998 - No Substance (Atlantic Records)
2000 - The New America (Atlantic Records)
2002 - The Process Of Belief (Epitaph Records)
2004 - The Empire Strikes First (Epitaph Records)
2007 - New Maps Of Hell (Epitaph Records)
2010 - The Dissent Of Man (Epitaph Records)
2010 - 30 Years Live (Epitaph Records)
2013 - True North (Epitaph Records)
2019 - Age Of Unreason (Epitaph Records)

CURRENT STATUS OF BAD RELIGION:

Bad Religion formed as a band back in 1980. Hailing from Los Angeles, California, the band established their roots in hardcore punk. Bandmember Brett Gurewitz had formed a record label called Epitaph which would distribute all of Bad Religion's albums except for a 6 year stretch that they spent on major label Atlantic Records. After the band's debut album, "How Could Hell Be Any Worse", the band had a major hiccup with their follow up, 1983's "Into The Unknown". The band went from hardcore to prog rock! Not a good move. Things were so bad that the band basically dissolved. Luckily for everyone who loves punk rock music, the guys decided to get back together and what came out of that was one of the most important and iconic punk rock albums of all time, 1988's "Suffer". As a musical shift in the landscape was happening up in Seattle, Bad Religon soldiered on with more great albums. "No Control" in '89. "Against The Grain" in '90. Their first album to sell over 100,000 copies. "Generator" in '92. Their first album to have a music video, "Atomic Garden". And, 1993's "Recipe For Hate" which spawned the singles "American Jesus" and "Struck A Nerve" and peaked at #14 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Now it's 1994 and there's a full on punk rock revival going on. Bands like Green Day, Offspring and Rancid are selling more records than any punk bands ever have and Bad Religion was right there on that train as well. Like many other bands, Bad Religion signed a deal with a major label, Atlantic Records, and released "Stranger Than Fiction" which would become gold certified. With things getting crazy at Epitaph because of the success of The Offspring and Rancid, Brett Gurewitz decided to depart the band to focus on his record label, leaving lead singer Greg Graffin to handle all of the songwriting duties. To close out the 90's, Bad Religion released "The Gray Race", "No Substance" and "The New America" to complete their deal with Atlantic. The band returned to Epitaph in 2002 for the release of "The Process Of Belief". This also saw the return of Gurewitz and the return of a faster, more aggressive style that harkened back to their early Epitaph days. From 2004 to 2013, Bad Religion released four more great albums. "The Empire Strikes First". "New Maps Of Hell" which reached #35 of the Billboard 200 charts. "The Dissent Of Man" which reached #6 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart. And "True North", which peaked at #18 on the Billboard 200 charts, Bad Religion's only album to hit the top 20! Most recently, Bad Religion's new album, "Age Of Unreason", is set for release on May 3, 2019. This marks the longest time between releases for the band. What can you say about Bad Religion? This band is iconic. Arguably, the greatest punk rock band of all time. I'd take it even further. They are one of the greatest bands of any genre of rock music. They are that damn good. Their influence spreads all over punk rock circles. Bands like NOFX, Pennywise, Rancid, Offspring, No Use For A Name and Good Riddance all hold Bad Religion in the highest regards. The whole "skate punk" style could easily be traced back to the music of Bad Religion. Lyrically, Bad Religion is not shy about shining a light on government corruption, religious hypocracy or human behavior towards each other. The band has been together for almost 40 years and they are still totally relevant and their voice is still as strong as it's ever been when speaking of the ills of society. Iconic and legendary are the two words that come to my mind right off the bat about Bad Religion but just those two words alone don't do enough justice to what Bad Religion is as a band.

TEN BAD RELIGION SONGS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:

1. Generator
2. American Jesus
3. Sorrow
4. The Devil In Stitches
5. Punk Rock Song
6. 21st Century (Digital Boy)
7. Infected
8. Do What You Want
9. Los Angeles Is Burning
10. Fuck You

Song Of The Week: 4/21/19

Song: "Breathless"

Artist: Aiden

Album: "Nightmare Anatomy"

Year: 2005

Place Of Origin: Seattle, Washington

Years Active: 2003 - 2016



WHAT I THINK THE SONG IS ABOUT:

Somewhere on the internet I read that Aiden vocalist William Francis said that this song is about someone going off to war and the girl he leaves behind is pretty much the only thing that is helping him get through this ordeal. I can't confirm that this story was true, but I'm gonna roll with it because after reading the lyrics, I can definitely see merit in this story. One part of the lyrics says "the necklace and those things you made will go with me everywhere I go". I can see this as things that she gave him before he left for war as little things to remind him of her and he holds them closely. When things are bad and getting worse, and war is the closest thing to hell on earth, it's those keepsakes that give him hope. That one day this will end and he'll wake up and be back with her. She is his hope in a situation that seems hopeless.

AIDEN DISCOGRAPHY (Full length albums only):

2004 - Our Gangs Dark Oath (Dead Teenager Records)
2005 - Nightmare Anatomy (Victory Records)
2007 - Conviction (Victory Records)
2009 - Knives (Victory Records)
2009 - From Hell...With Love (Victory Records)
2011 - Disguises (Victory Records)
2011 - Some Kind Of Hate (Victory Records)
2015 - Aiden (Self-released)

CURRENT STATUS OF AIDEN:

Seattle, Washington's Aiden formed as a band back in 2003 when some of the members were still in high school. They released their debut album in 2004 called "Our Gangs Dark Oath". The buzz generated from this release led the band to ink a long term deal with Victory Records that spanned from 2005 until 2011. Aiden's first release through Victory would prove to be the band's high point of their musical career. 2005's "Nightmare Anatomy" spawned three hit singles, "The Last Sunrise", "Die Romantic" and "Knife Blood Nightmare" which helped the album chart at #196 on the Billboard 200 and #9 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. When the band followed that album up with "Conviction" in 2007, fans noticed a bit of a shift in the band's sound to a more lighter and melodic feel. Still, "Conviction" reached #54 on the Billboard 200 so the band was still gaining momentum. 2009's "Knives" would be Aiden's last album to chart, peaking at #95 on the Billboard 200. In 2011, Aiden did the unordinary and kind of unprecedented thing to do in this day and age, and released two full length studio albums in a single year, "Disguises" and "Some Kind Of Hate". The band went on a bit of a hiatus for a few years and lead singer William Francis announced that there would be one final Aiden album that would be self-released. At this point, Francis was the only original member of the band left but in 2015, the band self-released the self-titled album "Aiden". The band's final live performance occurred on January 31, 2016 and that pretty much closed the book on Aiden as a band. Aiden could be considered goth punk, post-hardcore and emo, definitely a mix of all those genres. Their sound was definitely influenced by bands like The Damned, The Misfits, Joy Division and NOFX. They've shared the stage with bands such as 30 Seconds To Mars, Taking Back Sunday, The Used, Senses Fail, Anti-Flag and Siverstein. As for contemporaries or similar sounding acts? I would say if you enjoy the music of bands like AFI, Hawthorne Heights, From First To Last, I Am Ghost or My Chemical Romance, then you would most likely enjoy the music of Aiden. I would call them a poor man's AFI or My Chemical Romance. I don't mean that as disrespect, but I just think those two band's songs are just better than Aiden's. Maybe that style of music was just dying out as Aiden and MCR have both disbanded. Thankfully, AFI is still going strong!

TEN AIDEN SONGS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:

1. Knife Blood Nightmare
2. We Sleep Forever
3. Die Romantic
4. Scavengers Of The Damned
5. Broken Bones
6. Cry Little Sister (Gerard McMahon cover)
7. I Set My Friends On Fire
8. One Love
9. Hysteria
10. Crawling Up From Hell

Song Of The Week: 4/14/19

Song: "Narrative Of Soul Against Soul"

Artist: AFI

Album: "Black Sails In The Sunset"

Year: 1999

Place Of Origin: Ukiah, California

Years Active: 1991 - present



WHAT I THINK THE SONG IS ABOUT:

"Narrative Of Soul Against Soul" appears to be about a conversation between the vocalist and someone who is possibly contemplating suicide. The vocalist is trying to tell this person that there is someone out there who can help him and guide him and perhaps make him feel that his life has some worth. This person, however, does not see the good in these people and believes that he's been deceived by people and their lies his whole life. It's a case of one person who would give up everything to live. And another person who would throw everything away to die.

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

Song Of The Week: 4/7/19

Song: "Slip Away"

Artist: Mad Season

Album: "Above" Deluxe Edition

Year: 2013

Place Of Origin: Seattle, Washington

Years Active: 1994 - 1999



WHAT I THINK THE SONG IS ABOUT:

Here's what the song's writer, Mike McCready, had to say about "Slip Away". "Slip Away,' which I wrote, was kind of my feeling at the time how [Mad Season] was slipping away. The guitar solo at the end of that, you can hear the pain that's in that. That's my pain of how this whole thing was all falling apart when Baker and Layne were dying... Mark [Lanegan] put lyrics to that and they mean something different now... but I'm getting a little deep in to what the lead is. You'll listen to it and you'll hear pain." Life is hard. Especially when you lose people that were close to you along the way.

MAD SEASON DISCOGRAPHY (Full length albums only):

1995 - Above (Columbia Records)

CURRENT STATUS OF MAD SEASON:

After Pearl Jam was finishing up the touches on their "Vitalogy" album, their guitarist Mike McCready entered an alcohol and drug rehab in Minnesota where he met bassist John Baker Saunders. After they cleaned up, the two returned to Seattle intent to work on new music with each other. They recruited Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin and began working on songs. McCready reached out to Layne Staley of Alice In Chains to be the band's lead singer. The band actually booked a live show before they even had any songs! One of the jams from that night eventually became their song "Artificial Red". Initially, the band called themselves The Gacy Bunch, a play on the Brady Bunch and the serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Soon the band renamed themselves Mad Season and released their debut album "Above" through Columbia Records. "Above" was released in March of 1995 and by June of that year had already been certified gold! The album peaked at #24 on the Billboard 200 charts. The album had two singles, "River Of Deceit" which reached #2 on the Mainstream Rock charts, while "I Don't Know Anything" peaked at #20. Mad Season also contributed the song "I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier" to the John Lennon tribute album "Working Class Hero". The band's April 29, 1995 show at Seattle's Moore Theatre was recorded and released as a DVD called "Live At The Moore". Eventually, the band members all went back to their main gigs. McCready with Pearl Jam, Staley with Alice In Chains, Martin with the Screaming Trees and Saunders joined The Walkabouts. In 1997, McCready and Martin tried to revive Mad Season but Saunders and Staley were both delving deeper into addiction. Mark Lanegan, lead singer of the Sreaming Trees, contributed some vocals to the "Above" album and with Staley's blessing, was asked to join Mad Season as their new lead singer. The band had actually began working on new tracks but were going to change their name to Disinformation. In January of 1999, John Baker Saunders died of a drug overdose essentially ending Mad Season. In April of 2002, Layne Staley had passed away from a drug overdose as well. In May of 2012, McCready and Martin performed some Mad Season songs at the Showbox Theatre in Seattle with Jeff Rouse of Loaded on vocals and Rick Friel of The Rockfords on bass. McCready and Martin also worked on a Deluxe Edition of Mad Season's only album "Above". The package included the album "Above", a cd of "Live At The Moore" plus several unreleased live tracks as well as three unreleased Mad Season songs which Mark Lanegan laid down vocals for. Those tracks were "Locomotive", "Black Book Of Fear" and "Slip Away". On January 30, 2015, McCready and Martin were joined by Guns N Roses' Duff McKagan on bass and Soundgarden's Chris Cornell on vocals at a show called "Sonic Evolution". The band performed live, backed by the Seattle Orchestra at Seattle's Benaroya Hall. In 2016, McCready, McKagan and Martin announced that they were working on some new material. This resulted in three new songs. "Freedom Song" and "Tears For The West", which featured vocals by Jaz Coleman and "All Things Fade Away" with vocals by Ayron Jones. While Mad Season's roots were in grunge, the band also infused some blues and jazz elements into their sound. The band essentially died in 1999 when Saunders died. And, even though there were some partial reunions after Staley passed away, I think the guys have retired the Mad Season moniker out of respect. Even the new project with McCready, Martin and McKagan is under the name The Levee Walkers. When McCready created Mad Season he had hoped that playing with guys that were sober would help everyone clean up. Unfortunately, there was no help for Saunders and Staley. The Mad Season album "Above" definitely left a mark however. And "River Of Deceit" is arguably one of the best songs to come out of the 90's era of music. In my mind, it stands up in any era of music. It's that damn good! If you grew up loving Alice In Chains, Temple Of The Dog, Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden and Candlebox, then Mad Season should definitely occupy space in your cd rack! Or Iphone, it is 2019 after all!!

TEN MAD SEASON SONGS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:

1. River Of Deceit
2. Wake Up
3. I Don't Know Anything
4. Lifeless Dead
5. Black Book Of Fear
6. Slip Away
7. I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier (John Lennon cover)
8. I'm Above
9. Artificial Red
10. Locomotive