The Quickening
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For other uses, see The Quickening (disambiguation).
| The Quickening | ||
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| Studio album by The Vandals | ||
| Released | July 15, 1996 | |
| Recorded | 1996 | |
| Genre | Punk Rock | |
| Length | ~28:36 | |
| Label | Nitro Records | |
| Producer(s) | Warren Fitzgerald | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| The Vandals chronology | ||
| Live Fast, Diarrhea (1995) |
The Quickening (1996) |
Oi to the World!: Christmas With the Vandals (1996) |
The Quickening is a punk rock album by the southern California band The Vandals, released in 1996 by Nitro Records. It was the band's fifth full-length studio album and their second to be released on Nitro, a label started and co-owned by Dexter Holland and Greg Kriesel of The Offspring. Much of the album is characterized by themes of nihilism and anarchism, but presented with the tongue-in-cheek humor for which the band is known.
Both the band and the album garnered increased attention that same year for their involvement with the movie Glory Daze, which starred Ben Affleck, Alyssa Milano and French Stewart. The Vandals recorded several songs for the movie's soundtrack, including the main theme, and the soundtrack album was released on their own Kung Fu Records label that was started by guitarist Warren Fitzgerald and bassist Joe Escalante that same year. An independent video was filmed for the song "It's a Fact" and two versions were released: one with clips from the movie and one without. Because regular drummer Josh Freese was not available due to other commitments, regular substitute Brooks Wackerman appears in the video as the band's drummer.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Stop Smiling"
- "It's a Fact"
- "Marry Me"
- "Allah"
- "Tastes Like Chicken"
- "(But Then) She Spoke"
- "How (Did This Loser Get This Job?)"
- "Hungry for You"
- "Failure is the Best Revenge"
- "Aging Orange"
- "Canine Euthanasia"
- "Moving Up"
- "(I'll Make You) Love Me"
- "Choosing Your Masters"
- "I Believe"
[edit] Performers
- Dave Quackenbush - vocals
- Warren Fitzgerald - guitar, vocals on "Hungry for You"
- Joe Escalante - bass, backing vocals
- Josh Freese - drums
- Chris Lagerborg - backing vocals on "Allah"
[edit] Album information
- Record label: Nitro Records
- Recorded during winter of 1996 at Front Page Studios, Paramount Studios, Formula 1 Studios in La Habra, California, and Planet of the Tapes Studios.
- All songs copyright and published 1996 by Puppety Frenchman Music, BMI.
- Engineered by Warren Fitzgerald and Mon Agronot.
- Mastered at Futuredisc by Tom Baker.
- Produced by Warren Fitzgerald
- Tracks 1, 2, 6, 9, 11, 12 & 13 written by Warren Fitzgerald. Track 3 written by Josh Freese and Dave Quackenbush. Tracks 4, 5 & 15 written by Warren Fitzgerald and Dave Quackenbush. Tracks 7 & 10 written by Warren Fitzgerald and Joe Escalante. Track 8 written by Dave Quackenbush and Chris Lagerborg. Track 14 written by Joe Escalante.
- Graphics by Mackie Osborne.
- Cover photo by Joe Escalante.
[edit] Song information
- All information listed here is derived from song lyrics, album liner notes, and band member interviews and commentary (particularly those in the Vandals DVD Live at the House of Blues).
Stop Smiling (Warren Fitzgerald)
This song is a tirade against groups of people who believe that everything in life is positive and uplifting. Specifically mentioned in the song are hippies and the extremely religious.
It's a Fact (Warren Fitzgerald)
A nihilistic song that claims that if something can possibly go wrong, it will, therefore it is better to simply not try to accomplish anything. After all, there is bound to be someone else that can do it better than you, and in the end we all die anyway and the sun will eventually explode, annihilating everyone and everything on earth.
Marry Me (Josh Freese & Dave Quackenbush)
The song rails against the institution of marriage and warns listeners not to get married.
Allah (Warren Fitzgerald & Dave Quackenbush)
This song deals with the subject of Islamic fundamentalism. The singer is a fundamentalist that believes his is the true path to heaven and that he can get there by martyring himself in a jihad, and that in the afterlife he will be proven right.
Tastes Like Chicken (Warren Fitzgerald & Dave Quackenbush)
The song states that eating chicken is immoral because a single chicken produces only enough meat for a single meal. The song does not promote vegetarianism, but rather says that vegetables are filthy and that meat makes one strong. Instead it focuses on the fact that taking a chicken's life to produce only one meal is wrong, whereas killing a cow that produces 50 or more servings of meat is much more efficient and therefore less immoral.
(But Then) She Spoke (Warren Fitzgerald)
This song describes a girl that the singer finds very attractive, but upon speaking to her he finds her to be vapid and very distasteful.
How (Did This Loser Get This Job?) (Warren Fitzgerald & Joe Escalante)
This song rants against bad teachers who have their job only so they can get off of work at 3:00 and molest the children under their care.
Hungry for You (Dave Quackenbush & Chris Lagerborg)
A love song that takes a metaphor of comparing the girlfriend to good food to an extreme. Apparently the singer has no job and is dependent on his girlfriend to buy him food.
Failure is the Best Revenge (Warren Fitzgerald)
A play on the saying "living well is the best revenge." In this song it is the failures who will have their revenge, as one day all the people who are popular, successful and athletic will eventually fail and it will be the downtrodden losers who will rise in their place. It also calls for all failures and losers to band together.
Aging Orange (Warren Fitzgerald & Joe Escalante)
Thi song is a jab at the Fullerton, California punk band Agent Orange, who had a hit on local rock radio in the early 1980s with the song "Bloodstains." Although the band is still together, they have not had a significant hit since that song. "Aging Orange" parodies band leader Mike Palm, who was quite outspoken during the 1990s punk rock revival in claiming that Agent Orange had inspired many of the new bands becoming popular at the time, and that he should be paid royalties for guitar parts and other musical pieces that seemed to be based on or lifted from Agent Orange songs. "Aging Orange" specifically references the main riff of "Bloodstains," which bears some similarity to the main riff in the 1994 hit "Come Out and Play" by the Offspring. In ""Aging Orange" the Vandals break into this riff, which in this song sounds more like the Offspring version than the Agent Orange one. The song's chorus mocks Palm's claims, making him sound like a whining child crying "I invented socks/and I invented gravy/I made up the cotton gin/but no one ever paid me." It goes on to call him names such as "palm palm/ape drape/poodle head."
Canine Euthanasia (Warren Fitzgerald)
An ode to a beloved pet that had to be put down, dedicated "to Arfy R.I.P.".
Moving Up (Warren Fitzgerald)
The story of a young man who gets kicked out of his parents' house and gets a minimum-wage job at a fast food franchise and lives in a run-down squat, but believes he is doing well and rubs his "success" in his parents' faces.
(I'll Make You) Love Me (Warren Fitzgerald)
In this song, the singer is infatuated with a girl and becomes so obsessed with her that he begins to stalk her and threatens that he will do bad things to her unless she agrees to love him in return.
Choosing Your Masters (Joe Escalante)
This song is directed againt the MTV "Rock the Vote" campaign of the mid-1990s that was designed to encourage youths to vote. The song claims that artists on MTV and their audiences are unintelligent losers and should not be allowed to vote.
I Believe (Warren Fitzgerald & Dave Quackenbush)
A sarcastic song against people who blindly believe in clichéd ideas such as "the chilren are the future," "miracles and dreams can come true" and that the written word is always true.
