Jawbreaker "Dear You" reissued

The original was fetching at least $50 on eBay for a while. possibly more.

(and how many people really cared. . . is pop-punk like this still even remotely a big deal?)

(sssssh, alex, it's called "emo" now)

(And I love the first Jets to Brazil album too -- and I DO mist up and get all emo in 'Sea Anenomae' when he says "now I'm making out the shapes / like the shower rod / can it take my weight?"

I do regret not seeing them earlier though. I agree that Unfun still remains their best.

Jason
aka.dampeil

Can you give a ranking of all the albums you've fully listened to, along with your personal notes and observations?

why listen to this band when you can listen to Green Day or blink-182? Serious question.

uh bc they're way better than both those bands

as a fan of all three

also they don't really resemble either so i don't get the question

the terrible new version of iTunes I upgraded to has built-in shitty artist metadata from the iTunes store that apes the old Allmusicguide categories ("Influenced by:" etc) and I did a thoughtful chin-scratch recently when Jawbreaker appeared as one of the precursors of....... At the Drive-In

... which I can kinda see someone making the case for musically, about Bivouac at least, and maybe even historically in terms of scenes; but the nonsense element in ATDI lyrics+worldview is so much stronger than the hyperliterate self-awareness of Jawbreaker lyrics (unless I'm just being unfair to ATDI? but I don't think they would disagree that they are using language differently in their songs.....)

...uuughh that sentence never really came together like I hoped it would; sorry if you were disappointed, too

Jawbreaker sounds like a less confident and less articulate Green Day. Weak melodies and a marble-mouthed lead singer. I can see the ATDI comparison in some of the chords they both use, but again, ATDI is just so much more powerful, lyrically and musically.

1. they're great lyrically. like peerless
2. idk have you heard "chesterfield king". that's a really gorgeously constructed song imo. every melody hits

less articulate Green Day

oh shiiii

like atdi IS a weird comparison bc blake is more kerouackian (in like a good way, in attention to detail and forward momentum) than burroughsian

i mean that sounds real pretentious but ykwim

Green Day would give several lungs to have written 24 Hour Revenge Therapy

I'm not buying that as a serious question unless your exposure to Jawbreaker was one song you half-assedly listened to one time.

Green Day would give several lungs to have written 24 Hour Revenge Therapy

otm

I'm not buying that as a serious question unless your exposure to Jawbreaker was one song you half-assedly listened to one time.

― circa1916, Monday, March 21, 2016 9:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my brother got me 24 Hour Revenge Therapy for Christmas and I've been listening to it a lot since then. I don't dislike it, it just sounds like a weaker version of Green Day circa Dookie/Insomniac. Muddy, indistinct guitar sound, lyrics don't stick for me, it's all sort of a wash. I checked out Dear You on YouTube, and yeah, Rob Cavallo's production helps a lot.

what's your take on the dickies in comparison to green day?

"I dunno, this Loveless thing is alright, I guess, but where's the clarity that can be heard in better bands like A Place To Bury Strangers?"

Shoegaze?? Apples and handbags.... Precision and clarity are exactly what I want in punk & rock music.

Not a Misfits fan, then, I take it?

what's your take on the dickies in comparison to green day?

― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, March 22, 2016 1:30 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They're alright, but again, why listen to the Dickies when you can listen to the Ramones? ...I think Billie Joe is an excellent lyricist, songwriter, and they have a fantastic guitar sound.

xp yeah I can't stand the Misfits

billie joe armstrong has always been a pretty weak lyricist imo, serviceable when he's writing songs about adolescence and body horror, but you can totally see how out of his depth he is when he's trying to absorb the kinks or dylan on warning or, later, attempting to sell a concept album.

i called jawbreaker lyrically peerless upthread not as some empty superlative but because i think they did something very distinct that no one really repeated, every image in blake's lyrics is explored and unraveled until he gets to a meaning at the heart of it, and it never feels as ponderous as that sounds (and it sort of miraculous that it functions so well as punk). also he's really funny ("i knew every drum fill")

Dookie & especially Insomniac are the high watermarks, obviously gets spotty after that, though I love Warning ("Waiting" is phenomenal and often overlooked) and a lot of American Idiot. Nimrod is ok - "Redundant" is a great song.

the dickies seem much closer sonically to green day (especially in the reedy, nigh-faux-british vocals) than the ramones if you were looking for dietary substitutes. i'm still baffled by the jawbreaker comparison.

bay area punk rock i guess

in that case wouldn't rancid be the bridge between jawbreaker and green day? also any bands also starting with the letter j like j.church?

bay area punk, also they were both victims of scene politics, Green Day came out of it very bitter but ultimately fine, while it ruined Jawbreaker's career.

is that narrative true? weren't both bands about to break up pre-major label anyway?

Green Day never came close to breaking up before they were signed to Reprise in 1993, Jawbreaker did, but that's beside the point. Both bands were rejected by their hometown and the underground community - Green Day became so popular it didn't matter professionally, it just left a bad taste in Billie Joe's mouth. Jawbreaker were caught in the middle, they didn't take off and their fanbase shunned them (that story about the Bay Area Dear You release show with half the crowd sitting down with their backs to the band during their set). Seems all so very stupid in retrospect.

what i mean is the counterfactual scenario of both bands staying off a major label doesn't seem like it would have gone anywhere, so this idea that they were victims of a scene turning its back on them (even if it did so literally!) feels a bit fishy. i do remember reading somewhere that part of green day's motivation for signing was that they were going to quit being a band otherwise.

'dear you' in particular doesn't sound like the kind of album a band might release that hadn't already come to terms with possibly alienating its former audience.

you know what band I (stupidly?) never thought of as in connection with Jawbreaker until tonight: Husker Du!!
specifically, there are a number of songs on Bivouac that put me in mind of New Day Rising -- some kind of gestalt effect of songwriting voice, singing style, + guitar tones + ??

condition flappy

Just saw them in LA after first seeing them open for the foo fighters in 1995. The circle is now complete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uxT0z-TDEk

would kill for a Juliaw Braker covers EP

Dear You anniversary tour tickets went on sale. Presale PW is JETBLACK.