Asleep at the wheel (but who are you judging?)

I've mentioned Suicidal Tendencies before, and this particular song is maybe the best I've heard from the era that is unfortunately termed "Hair Metal".

Some people I've met say Suicidal is a "ska-punk" not a "metal" band. Well who cares? This sounds good to me! Frankly, I've not really heard any other band sound quite as...accomplished as this one. It's too bad they never hit the big time; with lyrics like this:

Confused understanding, with a slip for the hold
Squeeze past the pressure, you're asleep at the wheel

I mean, look at the structure of that! "With a slip for the hold" is the sort of turn of phrase that should be written down and set in stone. Instead it only sells 20,000 copies. Imperfect market, you bet!

Well, anyway, if I start going on about what's wrong with the business of music it'd never stop. And also, I'd like to talk about this band a bit.

It appears that Metallica's current bass player is from this band. Hmm. I wonder if that has anything to do with the better-than-poo songs off of Metallica's latest album. From where I'm coming from, that's a real compliment. I can't think of enough dirty words to heap on the nonsense that that band heaped on an unsuspecting public post the Black Album. And would you believe it, our state of rock music is such that this is the reason Metallica go on to win a grammy.

Woo hoo, off track again. Maybe my brain follows non-linearities. I read about this theory once about how human beings are unable to comprehend exponential distributions/series because our brains evolved in the plains of Africa, which calls - for some reason - for linear decision making. I'm not really sure how one defines a term like "linear decision making", but I'm going to assume it means that we can comprehend that 2+2 = 4 but e raised to the power of 2 draws the equivalent of "eh?".

In this respect, therefore, I am the next step of mankind. I am the missing link of the future!

You must really, really, listen to the chord sequence at 2:00 minutes into the song; which combines with about 3 vocal harmonies and a bass line that's so groovy it's out of sight. If an acid trip met up with Syd Barett era Pink Floyd, grew up a bit, quit moaning about how awful life is, and like that guy in The Fall (the book, not the movie) started to talk back to society instead of hiding behind a wall, this is what it would sound like.

Actually, this sounds better. That spoken word intro full of nonsense lays down the whole feel of the track which is equal parts trippy, bitter and sweet. Kind of like a tequila shot mixed with acid. I've never taken acid so I could be accused of not knowing what I'm talking about.

Well, that never stopped me before.

But, more seriously, criminally underrated band folks! Nirvana is the most important band of the 90s? Well this just proves that the generation I'm growing up with is fairly screwed up. After all, every generation deserves the art it gets. Or make that, every generation deserves the art it buys. What a bunch of people make of the art that is available is after all up to them. Judging by what has happened, I cannot help but conclude we're pretty much a wasteful generation (art-wise).

So, who are you judging? After all I thought you were different. A blank stare and a whisper, was it too much of a good thing? All you had was a slip for a hold.