There are very few bands who stand the test of time long enough to stay on your playlist for months, let alone years– or in the case of the Vandals, decades. That’s right, I have been listening to the Vandals since 1990, or 20 years (*gulp*), and I still love them– maybe more than ever, actually. The Vandals were popular well into the 00′s, but I feel like youngsters these days might not know about them, so that brings us to the latest installment of BANDS U MAY HAVE SLEPT ON.
Sick Vandals flier from 1983, featuring fellow 80s hardcore legends JFA This has nothing to do with The Vandals, I just wanted to post my favorite JFA song, “Preppy.” Great band!!!
The original punk rock lolfactory
Initially I got into The Vandals because they have a lot of dumb, funny songs where they make a dumb, funny joke that’s so dumb and funny that it amused me at 12 years old. That’s about half of their catalog– here are some of my favorites from that category:
LOL @ punx
Wikipedia says that The Vandals “are well-known for their use of humor, preferring to use their music as a vehicle for entertainment and sarcasm rather than as a platform for more ‘serious’ issues,” but I disagree. In fact, the reason I love this band so much is because they’re one of the few punk bands (especially of that vintage) who consistently make smart, sophisticated commentary. I guess to simple/stupid ppl your band is only making a valid comment if you say it in the most obvious, annoying way possible [via Rage Against The Machine], but us grownups know that things are rarely that simple. As much as I enjoy their silly songs, my favorite Vandals songs are the ones that are essentially the guys in the band loling at young ppl for being naive, foolish and immature
IMO this is their best album, and I’ll never stop LOLing at the part that says “punk lettering”
I’m pom-pom head
and I wrote one good song
But that was almost 20 years ago
I tried and I tried to follow it up
But you know how those sophomore jinxes go
So I became quite bitter
as sales dropped like flies
No one likes these dumb songs
of racing cars and spies
Maybe it’s my ape drape
or hippies in my band
But now we only tour in Arizona
or Japan
So after much thought
and a panel of experts
I came up with a brilliant little plan
I’ll take out my frustrations
on one of these ungrateful new punk rock bands
Cuz I invented socks
and I invented gravy
I made up the cotton gin
but no one ever paid me
Why beat a dead horse
with a career that is cursed?
I’ll just sue for royalties
on things I thought of first
Back in Ancient Egypt
many Pharaohs went to jail
for misappropriation
of my Phrygian scale
I said listen to Tutankhamen
you’re driving me insane
it’s obvious those bellies
are all dancing to Bloodstains
I figured out you owe me
and please try not to laugh
but every time I hear it
I get one more golden calf
So I’ve bitten off
a sizable chunk
of the hands of the people
with the food
Now I’m confined to the pages of Flipside
a graveyard of punk rock-studded 45 year old dudes
When The Offspring made a ton of cash off of “Come Out And Play,” the fossilcore band Agent Orange tried to sue them for supposedly stealing the main riff (which, as the song points out, is basically just a Phrygian scale). Nothing makes oldz like me giggle like a Flipside joke!!
I guess this song is about Johnny Two Bags from US Bombs/Social Distortion, but it could be about any of the millions of dumb, privileged teenagers who are angsty for no reason [via Bring Me The Horizon/epic screamo bands]
The punchline to all of these songs is that The Vandals are all grown-ass men who are very successful, which makes it that much funnier when they mock dumb, poor losers. Joe Escalante owns Kung Fu Records and was an attorney at CBS for quite a while, Warren Fitzgerald was in Oingo Boingo and Tenacious D, has written songs for No Doubt and the movie School of Rock, and a ton of other shit like Team America. Josh Freese, as many of you know, is one of the most successful drummers of his generation, having played with Nine Inch Nails, Devo, A Perfect Circle, Guns N Roses, and playing as a session musicians on literally hundreds of other records, often for lolfactory bands like Puddle of Mudd and Daughtry. Impressive resumes like that make rebuttals to their caustic attacks much more difficult, and there are few things funnier than a rich lawyer and the drummer for Guns N Roses making fun of stupid teenage punk rockers.
Joe’s radio show about entertainment law
Kung Fu Records
Vandals official site
Bands U May Have Slept On: DFL
Not the result you were looking for but this post prompted me to go buy an original Crass – Christ The Album LP box set off of ebay. Been meaning to track one down anyway.
I saw them on the Warped Tour way back when. I vaguely recall thinking they were a lot better than the other stuff there. Mainly I spent my time wondering what I was doing at a Warped Tour.
this is what it think of, when i think of west coast aZns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsuO3Gz7FJk
Demie, YES, exactly!!! I haven't heard that song in years haha
Shit, thanks for reminding me how much Crass sucked. Ughhh.
"Hitler Bad, Vandals Good" is probably the best album title of all time, just sayin'.
Me in high school:
http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1jf4bjHmk1qachjco1_500.jpg
love em' – first had "sweatin to the oldies" (had stuff from "fear of a punk planet") and I have all the releases before that except for "slippery when ill" I sure do remember that X-Files episode.
I saw the Vandals two years ago playing an outdoor festival and it was just awful screeching- but I bought a Peace Through Vandalism t-shirt for ten bucks, so grateful for that
Anyone who can quote The Vandals is alright by me.
And you've succeeded in making me feel either older or younger than I actually am haha. I've been listening to The Vandals since I was in middle school.
Actually, CallPastorJerkface says…
I now see that your claim of hatred of classic punk rock was both a sham and a lie. And to this I say: Well done my good sir!
Thanks for letting me know that The Vandals kick ass in more ways than I could have hoped or imagined. My initial knowledge of them came from hearing and loving "Ape Drape" and, as well, my buddy Jeffen's use of the lyrics to "Anarchy Burger" whenever a suitable Propagandhi-ish moment arose.
Now is there any chance of a scene approved "No, I'M the leader of the anarchist movement!" t-shirt appearing anytime soon?
Also, where's the IKEACORE post?
im 17 i love classic punk, i love the vandals, also luv brokencyde and tmills :B
I saw The Vandals play at a small coffee shop in '89. Before they set up one of them, who was sharply dressed (in an a rockerish way) unlike the scruffy hardcore crowd, asked me and my buddy if this was indeed the right place; I guess he couldn't believe that they had been booked at such a nothing venue. Babes In Toyland opened for them. I got headbutted in the stomach during The Vandals' set.
I'm now a tired, boring 40 year old man, but I still listen to punk, metal, and related genres rather than more 'mature sensibility' genres like worldbeat and Americana.
I'm now a tired, boring 40 year old man, but I still listen to punk, metal, and related genres rather than more 'mature sensibility' genres like worldbeat and Americana.
WELL FUCKING SAID, my friend
Pingback: ATTN BUSINESS DORKS: Barely Legal Radio (ft Joe of The Vandals) | STUFF YOU WILL HATE
Pingback: Let’s talk about NOFX [via punks making fun of punk] | STUFF YOU WILL HATE
Pingback: Do u remember MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK? [via powerpop for fucked up drugs addicts going through a divorce] | STUFF YOU WILL HATE