The Sheck
08 Oct 2003, 10:06 PM
"I like everything about his career...except the music." So says my friend Jim when talking about Dave Matthews. I couldn't agree more with him. Likewise, the same could be said for most of the emo/screamo bands today. I like how they've built their careers on endless touring, and I like how most allow downloading, at least of live material (sometimes even on their sites). I just wish the music was better or at least worthy of the things that made them unique. Too often, emo reeks of false emotion, first-day-of-poetry-workshop-at-a-community-college lyrics, and an inability to 'rock'. When will they learn that playing fast and screaming loud doesn't have anything to do with rock and roll when the music isn't there?
Case in point: Thursday. A year and a half ago I caught them on the second stage of some flavor-of-the-month extreme sport/music festival. "What a bunch of corporate wannabe hacks." I thought to myself as I saw a BMX biker wow the crowd with another 360 degree flip. "How unoriginal and uninspiring." When I received a copy of their latest CD 'War All The Time' in the mail, I cursed the heavens for making me review what would undoubetedly be time sucked away from my life, in slow 3-minute increments.
Over the course of the next 40 minutes (the approximate length of the record), I found myself thinking "Well, there's some tuneful moments on here." I played it a second time. I started to notice some not-so-obvious things about the songs, so I played it a third time with those in mind.
By the end of the third play, I had done a complete 180 on this record. Why? Here goes...
-Musically speaking, this is an album heavily influenced by early 90's Alterna-Rock. The verse-chorus-verse formula that Pixies started and Nirvana made famous is evident here. It's just made louder and heavier. The music is still as tuneful as those bands were, it's just that it will take three listens or so to pick them out.
-Lyrically, Thursday does something very unique and original. They have written a record about living in New York during the events of Sept. 11th, but have used the metaphor of failed relationships to mask them. Relationships with friends, significant others, and the Muslim Community. These are the not-so-obvious things I refer to a few paragraphs above. For example on the song 'For The Workforce, Drowning' they describe what it could have been like for people who jumped from the Twin Towers..."Falling from the top floor/your lungs fill like parachutes/windows go rushing by/the people inside/they're dressed for the funeral/in black and white" Also, on 'Division Street' the anti-Arab sentiments present after the attacks make themselves clear. "Lights out on Division St./and all the hate that rises through the cracks in the pavement/as the temperature falls."
The double meaning of the lyrics allow Thursday to bear their souls emotionally w/o making the words seem hokey and contrived. You can't doubt their sincerity on record anymore. 'War All The Time' makes 'The Rising' seem like a N'Sync record.
In every genre, one band surfaces above the dreck to put out a record that is a bold, artistic statement worthy of listen by people of all ages and musical interests. For emo, Thursday is that band. 'War All The Time' is that record. Don't dismiss them as 'corporate wannabe hacks' completely until you gave this album a listen. ; )
Case in point: Thursday. A year and a half ago I caught them on the second stage of some flavor-of-the-month extreme sport/music festival. "What a bunch of corporate wannabe hacks." I thought to myself as I saw a BMX biker wow the crowd with another 360 degree flip. "How unoriginal and uninspiring." When I received a copy of their latest CD 'War All The Time' in the mail, I cursed the heavens for making me review what would undoubetedly be time sucked away from my life, in slow 3-minute increments.
Over the course of the next 40 minutes (the approximate length of the record), I found myself thinking "Well, there's some tuneful moments on here." I played it a second time. I started to notice some not-so-obvious things about the songs, so I played it a third time with those in mind.
By the end of the third play, I had done a complete 180 on this record. Why? Here goes...
-Musically speaking, this is an album heavily influenced by early 90's Alterna-Rock. The verse-chorus-verse formula that Pixies started and Nirvana made famous is evident here. It's just made louder and heavier. The music is still as tuneful as those bands were, it's just that it will take three listens or so to pick them out.
-Lyrically, Thursday does something very unique and original. They have written a record about living in New York during the events of Sept. 11th, but have used the metaphor of failed relationships to mask them. Relationships with friends, significant others, and the Muslim Community. These are the not-so-obvious things I refer to a few paragraphs above. For example on the song 'For The Workforce, Drowning' they describe what it could have been like for people who jumped from the Twin Towers..."Falling from the top floor/your lungs fill like parachutes/windows go rushing by/the people inside/they're dressed for the funeral/in black and white" Also, on 'Division Street' the anti-Arab sentiments present after the attacks make themselves clear. "Lights out on Division St./and all the hate that rises through the cracks in the pavement/as the temperature falls."
The double meaning of the lyrics allow Thursday to bear their souls emotionally w/o making the words seem hokey and contrived. You can't doubt their sincerity on record anymore. 'War All The Time' makes 'The Rising' seem like a N'Sync record.
In every genre, one band surfaces above the dreck to put out a record that is a bold, artistic statement worthy of listen by people of all ages and musical interests. For emo, Thursday is that band. 'War All The Time' is that record. Don't dismiss them as 'corporate wannabe hacks' completely until you gave this album a listen. ; )