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But are we truly free? Do we have the sacred right to get pissed off? Apparently yes... But we are still victims of rites of chance and titles to respect... And then here is this album "endure, bear, suffer" Suffer in a word, which tells the life of the streets but here it’s not made of prostitutes, pushers, and gangsters but of tranquil streets and boring suburbs, all identical to each other, the green lawn, the kid throwing the newspaper and maybe the American flag near the porch. Even here suffering pulses, among the kids who are searching for their own identity.
Freedom can be expressed in 1000 or more ways, like the fools born every day. Or for example in the '60s with the rise of youth movements among teenagers, there grew a desire to demonstrate that, unlike past generations, they were free. And so while The Who sang that famous phrase, Syd Barrett embarked on his famous trips, the young "dissidents" emancipated themselves with hits of LSD to open their doors of perception and were wildly making love after centuries of imposed Christian chastity. Did anything really change? No, unfortunately, The Who saw the number of their members halve and Syd Barrett now rests in his home in Cambridge, he has become a myth but has forgotten what that word means. On a lesser global level, the youths of that time did not benefit at all; for the most part, they fried their brains. This is to explain that what was once considered a way to escape over time turned into a ritual (sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll) of great and unattainable rock stars repeated and performed by small fans just to resemble their poster idols a little more, conformism.
Nonconformity, a significant characteristic of this Band that in the trumpeted ‘80s contributes, along with other bands, to build the philosophy and sound of hardcore from which grunge will descend. Nonconformists because, while groups like Guns’n’Roses reigned, they made no apology for drugs and gave no importance to image, and they told you about the "Land Of Competition" where kids head towards Southern California to imitate the plastic idiots.
"Tell me what you need to make you happy? Really, is it out of your reach?" Good question, it would be interesting to ask many people we reserve the right to judge different but who, in the end, have nothing different from others, discovering this reality is very disappointing. With "Do What You Want", it reaches a kind of "Do The Evolution" of Bad Religion; the words are different, but the subject is the same. And with the guitar progressions of the opener "You Are (The Government)" they explain how things are that everything depends solely on us. Bad Religion shows us their way to freedom while breaking the fundamental beliefs of rock.
In short, uncompromising, raw, and socially engaged. In this album dated 1988, the features of hardcore appear for the first time, guitars at full blast, and choirs. The rhythms are very tight; no frills are allowed, much less arid virtuosity à la Jimmy Page, so to speak, resulting in a hard but not edgy sound, instead fluid, flowing colorful like a lava flow. Sure, someone might argue that the songs all sound the same, but who cares? Here, the importance is given to the lyrics, the message, the substance over form. This is enough for me to give a solid 5. Personally, I believe the best song on the album is "Give You Nothing". Excuse me if I’ve been nauseatingly pseudo-intellectual. Bye
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 You Are (The Government) (01:21)
Hey sit down and listen and they'll tell you when you're wrong
Eradicate but vindicate as "progress" creeps along
Puritan work ethic maintains its subconscious edge
As Old Glory maintains your consciousness
There's a loser in the house, and a puppet on the stool
And a crowded way of life, and a black reflecting pool
And as the people bend, the moral fabric dies
The country can't pretend to ignore its people's cries
You are the government
You are jurisprudence
You are the volition
You are jurisdiction
And I make a difference too
05 Give You Nothing (02:02)
Hey, everybody's looking but they never can see
All the angst, corruption and the dishonesty
Think about the times and places you've never known
You're a man-swarm atom and yet you're alone
So I give you me, I give you nothing!
I give you me, I give you nothing!
So you got a place that you can call all your own
But you make a habit of carrying the stone
Look around and ask someone if you are alive
You're a sidewalk cipher speaking prionic jive
So I give you me, I give you nothing!
I give you me, I give you nothing!
Respectable, despicable, it seems all the same
Now we realize that we have nothing to say
If your reserve is weak, audacity complete
Ask yourself again, "Do I deserve much from them?" No!
Hey, everybody's looking but they never can see
All the angst, corruption and the dishonesty
Look around and ask someone if you are alive
You're a sidewalk cipher speaking prionic jive
So I give you me, I give you nothing!
I said I give you me, I give you nothing!
07 Forbidden Beat (01:57)
There was a boy who had too many toys and an ache inside of his bones
He sought extrication through chemical vocation and now he answers to Jones
It's deadly and alluring, the sound of pounding heat
Enslaving all who dare succumb to the temptations of the forbidden beat
Thinking today of what I want to say, thinking of inhibition and vice
What they call straight I do relegate as I cautiously saltate along
It's deadly and alluring, the sound of pounding heat
Enslaving all who dare succumb to the temptations of the forbidden beat
It thunders away at first light of each day and the simpleton lifestyle evolves
But soon enters dusk as the last surrey rusts and a new day upon us results
It's deadly and alluring, the sound of pounding heat
Enslaving all who dare succumb to the temptations of the forbidden beat
Forbidden Beat...
08 Best for You (01:55)
Above us lay the burdens, below us lay the truth
We're somewhere in the middle, and we're all discontent too
Is someone watching over you?
Inside they know what's best for you
Judgment's not tomorrow, its today (yes now it's here)
But no it isn't Jesus, take a look at all your peers
They're all looking down on you
Inside they know what's best for you
Everybody knows what's best for you...
09 Suffer (01:47)
Did you ever see the concrete stares of everyday?
The lunatic, the hypocrite, are all lost in the fray
Can't you see their lives are just like yours?
An unturned stone, an undiscovered
Door leading to, the gift of hope renewed, eternity for you
The masses of humanity have always had to suffer
The businessman whose master plan controls the world each day
Is blind to indications of his species' slow decay
Can't you see his life is just like yours?
An unturned stone, an undiscovered
Door leading to, the gift of hope renewed, eternity for you
The masses of humanity have always had to suffer
People blow their minds (they choose to resign)
This deformed society is part of the design
It'll never go away (it's in the cards that way)
The masses of humanity have always, always had to suffer!
A door leading to, the gift of hope renewed, eternity for you
The masses of humanity, still clinging to their dignity
The masses of humanity will always, always have to suffer
Always have to suffer
10 Delirium of Disorder (01:39)
Delirium of Disorder (x2)
Life is the sieve through which my anarchy strains,
Resolving itself into works.
Chaos is the score upon which reality is written,
The timeless, swirling gyroscopic horde.
Delirium
Delirium of disorder
Yeah! I am just an atom in an ectoplasmic sea
Without direction or a reason to exist.
The anechoic nebula rotating in my brain
Is persuading me, contritely, to persist.
Delirium of disorder (x8)
15 Pessimistic Lines (01:07)
So here we are again to experience the bitter, scalding end
And we're the only ones who can perceive it
But others sing of beauty and the story that's unfolded
As one that deserves praise and ritual
My pessimistic lines
Your superstitious lives
And the modern age's lies won't absolve you
And the professorial truth
And the dear clairvoyant youth
And of course the nightly news will deceive you
(Watch out!)
My pessimistic lines
Your superstitious lives
And the modern age's lies won't absolve you
And the professorial truth
And the dear clairvoyant youth
And of course the nightly news will deceive you
(Let's go!)
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