Il punk è la musica ggiovane per eccellenza, unendo l'irruenza degli anni della giovinezza ad un approccio non ancora maturo con note e pentagrammi. L'hardcore negli anni 80 ha abbassato ulteriormente la soglia d'età media, portando con sé pro e contro. Moltissimi lavori, infatti, anche se con canzoni interessanti, risentono di tematiche trattate a sterili sloganismi, oppure in modo superficiale.
Pochi lavori, invece, insieme ad una musica irruente, offrono messaggi non infarciti di pregiudizi o inutili retoriche, ma profondamente onesti nelle tematiche che descrivono: Minor Threat, Black Flag, Germs, Descendents, tanto per citarne alcuni.
L'album "How Could The Hell Be Any Worse" dei Bad Religion appartiene al secondo gruppo, e quello che colpisce di più è che l'età media dei componenti si attesta sui 17-18, ad eccezion del chitarrista Brett Gurewitz. Insomma dei giovani piuttosto svegli, come il cantante Greg Graffin, che a 16 anni fonda la Epitaph, che anche il più brufoloso tra i punk da cameretta sa cos'è e capisce la sua importanza nel punk degli anni 90.
Allora osservate la copertina. Nessun compromesso: foto di una tranquilla città su uno sfondo rosso fuoco che meglio non lo potevano trovare, la scritta How Could The Hell Be Any Worse? (Come potrebbe l'Inferno Essere Peggio?) che campeggia nel cielo, nel retro incisione di Gustave Dorè dell'Inferno della Divina Commedia. Ragazzi, benvenuti nell'inferno. Non in luoghi in cui imperversano fame e tristezza, ma dove domina la più gretta opulenza e il sorriso di plastica. E non è un affermazione detta da dei teenagers viziati e annoiati, sotto sovra dosaggio ormonale, no, no, questo è veramente l'inferno. La ottusa mentalità conservatrice, l'inquinamento, quel cazzo di American Dream, l'ipocrisia, la natura arrogante ed autodistruttrice della razza umana, tutte conseguenze della religione, del dogma in cui il sobborgo crede ciecamente. La Cattiva Religione, quella del denaro, abilmente celata sotto quella cristiana.
Le 14 canzoni di quest'album sono ferite sanguinanti in questo desolato panorama. Tra di esse spiccano la iniziale "We're Only Gonna Die", "Latch Key Kids", "Fuck Armaggedon…", decisamente la migliore, "White Trash (2ndGeneration)", anche se sembra ingiusto fare distinzioni tra perle di eguale bellezza. I Bad Religion suonano come una via di mezzo tra gli apocalittici e nichilisti Black Flag e TSOL e gli irreventi casinari Circle Jerks il tutto infarcito di cambi di tempo e acceleratore schiacciato, come hardcore comanda, anche se non c'è ancora il "muro di chitarre" che caratterizza la produzione dall'88 in poi del gruppo. I testi inoltre sono qualcosa di veramente eccezionale, Graffin e, in minor parte, Gurewitz, scrivono brani di eccezionale qualità, privi di inutile retorica, infarcimenti politici, luoghi comuni e Fuck! distribuiti a destra e a manca, liriche da cui tutti i gruppi musicali dovrebbero trarre un'importante lezione.
Il gruppo dopo questo capolavoro (sbilanciamoci, cazzo, ci sta) perde un po' il tiro. A Graffin viene regalato un sintetizzatore e cerca di fare un lavoro diverso, ed esce due anni dopo "Into The Unknown", bello o brutto, decidete voi, fatto sta che il gruppo si vergogna di questo esperimento e fa di tutto per nascondere l'errore registrando due anni dopo l'EP "Back To The Known" che segna il ritorno alle origini ma anche la fine del primo periodo dei Bad Religion, che torneranno alle scene nel 1989 con l'LP "Suffer" e inaugurando il tipico sound Badreligionaro. Tutta sta pappardella inutile per dirvi che l'album è stato ristampato sottotitolo "80-85" contenente tutti le canzoni degli anni indicati eccetto ovviamente l'LP "Into The Unknown".
Elenco tracce e testi
01 We're Only Gonna Die (02:17)
Early man walked away
As modern man took control
Their minds weren't all the same
To conquer was his goal
So he built his great empire
And he slaughtered his own kind
Then he died a confused man
Killed himself with his own mind
Early man walked away
As modern man took control
Their minds weren't all the same
To conquer was his goal
So he built his great empire
And he slaughtered his own kind
Then he died a confused man
Killed himself with his own mind
Early man walked away
As modern man took control
Their minds weren't all the same
To conquer was his goal
So he built his great empire
And he slaughtered his own kind
Then he died a confused man
Killed himself with his own mind
We're only gonna die from our own arrogance
We're only gonna die from our own arrogance
We're only gonna die from our own arrogance
We're only gonna die from our own arrogance
02 Latch Key Kids (01:44)
In this world today there ain't nobody to thank
Just blame it on the kids and toss 'em into the tank
And if they yell for justice we'll hide them from the light
So that when they learn the truth they won't be scared of the night
Put the key in the hole when you get home from school
I'll be home by 8:30, your father will too
If you cause any trouble then I don't want to see
Cause you'll go straight to bed and you won't have no TV
03 Part III (01:54)
The final page is written in the books of history,
As man unleashed his deadly bombs and sent troops overseas
To fight a war which can't be won and kills the human race,
A show of greed and ignorance, man's quest for dominance.
They say when a mistake is made, a lesson can be learned.
But this time, there's no turning back, the hate engulfs the world.
A million lives are lost each day, a city slowly burns,
A mother holds her dying child, but no one is concerned!
04 Faith in God (01:54)
It's all right to have faith in God
But when you bend to their rules and their fucking lies
That's when I start to have pity on you
You're living on a mound of dirt
But you can't explain your reason for existence
So you blame it on God
There's so much hatred in this world
And you can't decide who's pulling the strings
So you figure it's God
Your whole life foreshadows death
And you finally realize you don't want to die alone
So you'll always have God
It's all right to have faith in God
But when you bend to their rules and their fucking lies
That's when I start to have pity on you
It's all right to have faith in God
But when you bend to their rules and their fucking lies
That's when I start to have pity on you
There's people in the world today
Who say they're jewish, christian and such
They're all ignorant fools
They'll tell you you can't have your own way
Unless you pay money and dedicate your life
Or you'll be damned in hell
Don't be feeble like all of them
You have your own brain full of thoughts and choices
So use it don't let them use you
It's all right to have faith in God
But when you bend to their rules and their fucking lies
That's when I start to have pity on you
05 Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell (02:55)
There's people out there that say I'm no good
'Cause I don't believe the things that I should
And when the final conflict comes, I'll be so sorry I did wrong
And hope and pray that our lord God will think I'm good
Countries manufacture bombs and guns
To kill your brother for something that he hasn't even done
Smog is ruining my lungs, but they aren't sorry they've done wrong
They hide behind their lies that they're helping everyone
In the end the good will go to heaven up above
The bad will perish in the depths of hell
How can hell be any worse when life alone is such a curse?
Fuck Armageddon, this is hell (x3)
We're living in the denoument of the battle's gripping awe
So what's the use of being good to satisfy them all?
How could hell be any worse? Life alone is such a curse!
Fuck Armageddon, this is hell (x5)
08 Damned to Be Free (02:03)
Death and the shadow that it casts on life scares me little or none
People tell me of a divine right and the happy chosen one
I'm a freak 'cause my morals clash with others in the world
I go home while they work hard, then they say I'm wrong
There's only one place to be, while living with tragedy
If their sins affected me, I gotta be damned to be free
Freedom is responsibility, pay more than it's worth
Instincts tells us not to die, hazy myth since birth
Learn their rules and play their game, deceive yourself in haste
Turn your own brain into dust, it's not theirs to waste
There's only one place to be, while living with tragedy
Extract the nectar, burn the tree, I gotta be damned to be free
Thinking this world it ain't so bad
Dying it's just another fad
Working eight hours, that's not for me
Dying it's just your destiny
09 White Trash (2nd Generation) (02:25)
Wasted children, fixed blank eyes
Blood and sweat, we socialize
Broken homes from which they come
Beer-stained dad, compliant mom
Fear and love, much despised
Replaced by comfortable lies
Teenage classic, more cliche
One step further on the edge of decay
White trash, 2nd generation (3x)
Don your crown and cleanse the nation
Are you ready to fight for your morality?
Right wing allies, white supremacy
Pretty fascist on the tube
Draped in red and white and blue
White trash, 2nd generation
Stupid foibles, indignation
Offspring of suburban fright
Pearl-white creatures of the night
White trash, 2nd generation (3x)
Don your crown and cleanse the nation
Stiff blue collar, coat and tie
Brand new breeds side by side
Christian ethic, right extremes
Shoved down our throat as the american dream
White trash, 2nd generation
Stupid foibles, indignation
Offspring of suburban fright
Pearl-white creatures of the night
White trash, 2nd generation (3x)
Don your crown and cleanse the nation
White trash, 2nd generation (3x)
Don your crown and cleanse the nation
11 Eat Your Dog (01:06)
Weak and sick, dying in the sand
No such thing as a promised land
Don't lose faith in a better life
Reincarnation, poor excuse
You're dying you assholes, your religion can't help you now
Dying and starving in the fields you used to plow
Rotting bones in your barren fields
Worshipped creature's supposed to heal
He won't save you and he won't save me
See what you want to see
Hindu religion in the mind of a working Joe
Starving and dying in the fields you used to know
You're tied and bound to a God's useless advice
Bloated stomachs from aching diseases hold back the fight
In the end you'll return once more to die again
Go on till you can't no more in non-eternal sin
13 Oligarchy (01:05)
Presidential election every four years
But neither man we can see or hear
Urgent cries for society
But he can't see the blood on me
Do you see?
Do you see too much for me?
Try that with our oligarchy (2x)
Oligarchy, oligarchy
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