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Rating: Personally, I've always described the 3 Doors Down as a band without too many pretensions. If you look through their discography for complex riffs, virtuosic solos, or similar things, you won't find them. I define them as a group that makes music just for fun, for taste, for pleasure. And you can feel it clearly already in their debut.
"The Better Life", marked 2000, is an album without particular pretenses. It starts with "Kryptonite", a song that goes "If I go crazy then will you still call me Superman". Oh, if only I didn't have a visceral hatred for the old man with the diaper (and by the way, there's a funny old man with a diaper in the song's video) I would like it more. It continues with Loser, one of my favorites from the album. "Duck And Run" starts off hard, with powerful guitar riffs, then flows into a catchy and enjoyable chorus, while "Not Enough" shows good ideas and fitting vocal lines put together with concepts not always well exploited.
Then we reach "Be Like That", a song hyper-commercialized by American Pie and friends, but don't dare call it a bad song. "Life Of My Own" is a somewhat static piece, requiring multiple listens to appreciate. The title track has a different style compared to what we've heard so far, with Hard Rock riffs and the gritty voice of Brad Arnold making it one of my favorites. "Down Poison" I classify (personally) as a monotonous filler. The worst of the album. "By My Side" has some good ideas not fully exploited, making it an understated song compared to the previous ones (except "Down Poison"). It concludes with the pseudo-punkish "Smack" and the beautiful "So I Need You".
In short, "The Better Life" - belonging to the much-despised post-grunge trend by music purists - is great for those looking for catchy and free rock, but if you look beyond this, you won't find much.
Be kind in the comments, it's my first review... xD
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Kryptonite (03:53)
Well, I took a walk around the world
To ease my troubled mind
I left my body lying somewhere
In the sands of time
Well, I watched the world float to
The dark side of the moon
I feel there's nothin' I can do
Yeah.
I watched the world float to
The dark side of the moon
After all, I knew it had to be somethin'
To do with you
I really don't mind what happens now and then
As long as you'll be my friend at the end
If I go crazy
Then will you still call me "Superman"
If I'm alive and well
Will you be there a-holdin' my hand
I'll keep you by my side with
My superhuman might
Kryptonite
You called me strong you called me weak
But still your secrets I will keep
You took for granted all the times
I never let you down
You stumbled in and bumped your head
If not for me, then you'd be dead
I picked you up and put you
Back on solid ground
If I go crazy
Then will you still call me "Superman"
If I'm alive and well
Will you be there a-holdin' my hand
I'll keep you by my side with
My superhuman might
Kryptonite
If I go crazy
Then will you still call me "Superman"
If I'm alive and well
Will you be there
Holdin' my hand
I'll keep you by my side with
My superhuman might
Kryptonite
Yeah
If I go crazy,
Then will you still call me "Superman"
If I'm alive and well,
Will you be there a-holdin' my hand
I'll keep you by my side with
My superhuman might
Kryptonite
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa, whoa
Whoa, whoa, whoa
02 Loser (04:24)
Breathe in right away, nothing seems
to fill this place
I need this every time, take your
lies get off my case
Some day I will find, a love that flows
Through me like this
This will fall away, this will fall away
You’re getting closer, to pushing me
Off of life’s little edge
Cause I’m a loser and sooner or later
You know I’ll be dead
You’re getting closer, you’re holding the
Rope and I'm taking the fall
Cause I’m a loser, I’m a loser, yeah
This is getting old, I can’t break these
Chains that I hold
My body’s growing cold, there’s nothin
Left of this mind or my soul
Addiction needs a pacifier, the buzz of
This poison is taking me higher
This will fall away, this will fall away
You’re getting closer, to pushing me
Off of life’s little edge
Cause I’m a loser and sooner or later
You know I’ll be dead
You’re getting closer, you’re holding
the rope and I’m taking the fall
Cause I’m a loser, I'm a loser!
You’re getting closer, to pushing me
Off of life’s little edge
Cause I’m a loser and sooner or later
You know I’ll be dead
You’re getting closer, you’re holding
the rope and I’m taking the fall
Cause I’m a loser!
You’re getting closer, to pushing me
Off of life’s little edge
Cause I’m a loser and sooner or later
You know I’ll be dead
You’re getting closer, you’re holding
the rope and I’m taking the fall
Cause I’m a loser!
03 Duck and Run (03:50)
To this world I am unimportant
Just because I have nothing to give
So you call this your free country
Tell me why it costs so much to live
Tell me why
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away, oh no
I won't turn around
All my work and endless measures
Never seen to get me very far
Walk a mile just to move an inch now
Even though I'm trying so damn hard
I'm trying so hard
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away
And I won't duck and run
Cause I'm not built that way
When everything is gone there is nothing left to fear
The world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here, oh no
I am already here
Down on my knees
I am already here
Oh, no, I am already here
I must have told you a thousand times I am not running away
I won't duck and run
I won't duck and run
I won't duck and run
No I pass away
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away
And I won't duck and run
Cause I'm not built that way
When everything it gone
There is nothing left to fear
This world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here
This world can turn me down
But I won't turn away
And I won't duck and run
Cause I'm not built that way
When everything is gone
There is nothing left to fear
This world cannot bring me down
No cause I am already here
07 The Better Life (03:07)
I’m about to be on the floor again,
Surely you’re gonna find me here
I’m about to sleep until the end of time,
Drug I take gonna wake
My fear right now
I’m passing away on to the
Better life
I’m passing away on
To the better
I’m about to see just how far I can fly,
Surely your gonna break my fall
I’m about to run as fast as I can,
Head long into that wall
This time I’m passing away on to the
Better life
I’m passing away on
To the better
On to the better life
On to the better
I’m about to be on the floor again,
Surely you’re gonna find me here
I’m about to sleep until the
End of time, drug I take
gonna wake my
fear right now
I’m passing away on to the
Better life
I’m passing away on
To the better
I’m passing away on to the
Better life
I’m passing away on
To the better
10 Smack (02:29)
Rubber headed motor junky
Run me down and try to stomp me
Throw my life away and I'll be worthless just like you
Somewhere now a baby's crying
Down the road his mother's dying
Shot a line and blew her mind and now she's turnin' blue
Don't you throw your life away
Just wait until another day
Don't you throw your life away
Cause baby I can feel it
Don't you ever compromise it
Don't you even realize it
Don't you throw your life away cause baby I can feel it now
Trip and fall
I'm sure you all can tell me
What is on the wall
Behind the liquor store where you get smacked up all the time
Perfect little life you wasted, overdosed and that death you tasted
Scared you back into yourself, and now you walk the line
Don't you throw your life away
Just wait until another day
Don't you throw your life away
Cause baby I can feel it
Don't you ever compromise it
Don't you even realize it
Don't you throw your life away cause baby I can feel it now
Life away
Life away
Life away
11 So I Need You (03:47)
If you could step into my head
Tell me would you still know me
If you woke up in my bed
Tell me then would you hold me
Or would you simply let it lie
Leaving me to wonder why
I can't get you out of this head
I call mine
And I will say
Oh no I can't let you go my little girl
Because you're holding up my world
So I need you.
Your imitation of my walk
And the perfect way you talk
Are just a couple of the million things that I love about you
So I need you
So I need you
So I need you
So I need you
And if I jumped of the Brooklyn Bridge
Tell me would you still follow me
And if I made you mad today
Tell me would you love me tomorrow
Please. or would you say that you don't care
And then leave me standing here
Like the fool who is drowning in despair and screamin'
Oh no I can't let you go my little girl
Because you're holding up my world
So I need you.
Your imitation of my walk
And the perfect way you talk
Are just a couple of the million things that I love about you
So I need you
So I need you
So I need you
So I need you
I'm on my own
I'm on my own
I'm on my own
Oh no I can't let you go my little girl
Because your holding up my world,
so I need you.
Your imitation of my walk and the perfect way you talk
It's just a couple of the million things that I love about you.
So I need you
So I need you
So I need you
So I need you
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Other reviews
By Francesc
"Kryptonite is a crescendo of melodic energy."
"3 Doors Down did not bring anything new to rock but well applied the teachings of the post-grunge era with heart and technique."
