Wednesday, December 14, 2011

TOP 5: Fucked Up Songs


The best thing that happened to me this year was hearing David Comes To Life and going from a casual fan of fucked up to someone that knows the lyrics to "police" just in case they play it live. With that obsession has come a lot of digging deeper into their discography. For this list I don't want it to be too redundant so it's only going to feature 1 song from any 1 Fucked Up release, I fear there would be too strong a showing from Hidden World otherwise.

5. "Police"
Released all the way back in 2003 a full 3 years before the release of Hidden World. I'm fairly certain the opening riff of "Police" is the single most energetic moment of a Fucked Up song. It's really a no-nonsense hardcore track that epitomized the early sound of the band. If you've seen Fucked Up play live... you know why this song is on the list. Lyrically it's fun in a live setting, because hardcore fans and hating cops pretty much go hand in hand. Think of it as their version of  "Fuck tha Police".


4. "Dream Come True"
Towering at a beefy 79 seconds, this song is like Fucked Up's version of a top 40 song. I can't help but adore it, the way Damian sings this chorus is simply adorable. I bet you didn't come into this post thinking you'd find a nice little summer ditty, but here it is. ~Dreams do come true!~


3. "Black Albino Bones"
A song about finding pleasure in life anywhere you can. The second verse is obviously about sex: "Squishing flesh together until the magic comes out". The third verse is about smoking weed: "Burning plants together until the magic comes out". The beautiful chorus sung by Dallas Green of alexisonfire is beautifully contradicted by Damian's screams in the verses.


2. "Serve Me Right"
Story heavy song from David Comes To Life in which Octavio tells David he deserves everything that happened to him. He claims to just be "reading the lines" but you later find out that Octavio had a larger role in the explosion that killed Veronica. David's response of "Maybe it was my fault and I deserve to be upset, maybe the price of being wrong is a lifetime of regret. So please tear up my memories into a thousand little parts and give them to somebody else so that they won't tear up my heart" is a beautiful sentiment. Damian Abraham just owns this song, his vocal performance makes it something special. I'd love to see if he could perform this song live without needing an oxygen tank afterwards.


1. "David Comes To Life"
David's a little boy that's trying to get into heaven before it's his time. I'm not sure how much sense this song actually makes sense, but that doesn't make it any less impressive for me. I love that the baseline here drives the song, too often in hardcore the bass is buried and muddy--- here it's vibrant and front and center in the mix. Under all of the machismo of Fucked Up songs are some strong melodies, and I feel this one is their strongest. It's because of the strong melody of this track throughout that it might be the most accessible Fucked Up song overall. There's a reason this song is played at every Fucked Up show, it's because everyone else loves it as much as I do. It might not even be my favorite song on Hidden World, but it's the only song that deserves to be here thanks to the experience of seeing it live.

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