I love it when people are inconsistent. Not necessarily hypocritical, but inconsistent. A conservative who favors lower taxes for the top rates, reduced spending on welfare, is pro-life and against gay marriage, but opposes the death penalty. A heavy metal rocker with tattoos and torn T-shirts with a weakness for Beethoven’s symphonies. A librarian who shushes any whisper made, who glares sternly at anyone returning a book late, who gets drunk on St. Paddy’s day and jumps up on a float in the parade.
One of the biggest Everclear fans I knew at the time “So Much For The Afterglow” came out was the vicar at our church. In my church, a vicar is essential a student teacher of pastoring. He spends a year at a church, learning from the pastor, giving sermons, and interacting with the congregation. At my church, this often meant leading the youth group. So we high schoolers got to know our vicars pretty well. By all accounts, this vicar Tim (I’ll omit the last name) was one of the more button-down, prim-and-proper vicars we had. He was very strict in his interpretation of the Bible and very conservative in his theology. However, he had a fondness for rock music. And by rock music, I do not mean “rock music of the Christian persuasion.” The closest I ever saw him come to that was Creed. However, I think Everclear was his favorite. I remember liking that. It humanized him, to have some part of him not fully conformed to the quite constricting image of Christianity put forth by the Religious Right. To be fair, I’m equally pleased when someone from a liberal community has an opinion or a taste that doesn’t fit in there. We’re all individuals, and no one organization is going to fit us perfectly.
What stood out about Tim liking Everclear, though, was the fact that “So Much For The Afterglow” has a song on it called, “Why I Don’t Believe In God.” Which would seem hard for a pastor-in-training to defend. It made me focus on the song all the more. But more on that when we get there.
(Preview Songs)
“So Much For The Afterglow” - I think this is the first album I’m reviewing that has the title track be the first song on the album. Kudos for getting right into it. Also, that a cappella intro is sweet. The album gets off to a swinging start, just plain fun rock. Sunnier than anything I’ve covered so far, even when the subject matter is dark or serious. I love that the “Na Na”s and clapping continue throughout. And I always had a soft spot for that line, “Well I guess we need the drama.” No triumph lasts forever, and happiness is often fleeting. We seem to be designed to seek conflict, to focus on problems. So much for the afterglow, indeed. That said, Art Alexis seems happy to sing about it.
“Everything To Everyone” - Pretty sure this was the first single, though “I Will Buy You A New Life” is the song I remember hearing the most. I can get behind the idea that it is exhausting and self-destructive to try to be everything to everyone, although the music on this track isn’t my favorite. There is something a little piercing or caustic about whatever it is that makes the “wahooh” sound in the chorus. It’s hard to put into words, but the music is slightly grating to me.
“Ataraxia (Media Intro)” - This a (fake) advertisement for an antidepressant / anti-anxiety medication. It is amusingly retro and over-the-top, but mainly it just serves as an intro for:
“Normal Like You” - Hence lines like “the prozac doesn’t do it for me anymore.” I like the grunge guitar underlying everything, and the baseball synthesizer piano sound in the verses. It keeps the song bouncing along as Art talks about getting closer to normal - via apathy and complacency. (Hint: normal is not necessarily a good thing.) This song is a great anthem to the idea that contentment may come at the cost of integrity.
“I Will Buy You A New Life” - I liked this song right out of the gate, and then a girl I had a little crush on was wearing an Everclear T-shirt, and it was over for me. I ran out and got the CD. There’s been some discussion about the line in this song: “I hate those people who try to tell you / money is the root of all that kills.” Is this another biblical contradiction that I would have expected to trouble my vicar? Nope. Because Art leaves out “love of” in front of money. Anyhow, it is sweet that he dreams of how he could make his girl happy, though I think it is fair to say he is a little too focused on material things. Musically, I love the bridge part of the song, right before it gets quiet. The guitars are strumming hard, and there is some singing and echoed lines. The song feels intense, but yet in a chill kind of way.
“Father of Mine” - I’ll just assume this one is autobiographical. It really feels that way, and along with several other Everclear songs (the aforementioned “Why I Don’t Believe In God,” and “Wonderful”) seem to suggest a troubled childhood. I can’t really identify with his absentee father, but I can imagine how painful that would be. Especially the line repeated in the chorus, “Daddy gave me a name - then he walked away.” It would be so hard to have your very name be a burden you carry around, reminding you of the father that abandoned you. The song still has that happy/muddy sound to it, but by the end Art has built some legitimate anger and pain in his voice. “I will never be safe, I will never be sane; I will always be weird inside, I will always be lame.” The of this song kind of reminds me of Third Eye Blind. Probably it’s just that they both share that upbeat, stripped down late 90’s rock style.
“One Hit Wonder” - A moniker which does not rightly apply to Everclear. The song is about someone trying to make it though, presumably after one bit success. I love the line, “Says he wants to live the kind of life that would make the folks back home all bitch and whine.” It’s kind of similar to “One Angry Dwarf and Two Hundred Solemn Faces,” that idea of sticking it to everyone back home by leaving and being really successful. Or, as they say, “Living well is the best revenge.” And after all that rambling, I don’t have much to say about the song. They crank the sunny rock up to about 1000. Normally songs about one-hit wonders and striving for fame are not so optimistic: “They can not hurt you unless you let them.” Then again, “they” are trying to hurt you.
“El Distorto De Melodica” - Boo. I didn’t like this song back in high school, don’t care for it now. Instrumentals don’t really do it for me, and this sounds a pop rock band’s version of what they think a hard rock band is. ‘Nuff said.
“Amphetamine” - This song is so fast it’s almost punk. Of course, a speedy tempo would tend to go with the song title. I think I love this song just for being so fast and furious. Also, I like the social commentary of, “She is perfect in that f’ed up way that all the magazines seem to want to glorify these days.” Popular culture definitely elevates certain characteristics that no healthy person should have, exhibitionism being the most obvious example. They go to half time later on in the song, something I always appreciate. Perhaps it is me being a drummer, but anytime you play with the tempo, I’m there. Then the ending turns a little more maudlin, but not excessively so. I’d say this is one of the highlights on the CD.
“White Men in the Black Suits” - This is another one of those songs with a lyric that worms its way into my brain and won’t leave. In this case, “All you want is just a slow f*** in the afternoon.” Perhaps it was just my sex-obsessed teenage self, or maybe that a seventeen year virgin boy is thoroughly incapable of adding the adjective “slow” to anything sexual, even in his thoughts. I think this song is about how those in power oppress those who don’t have it, although frankly the title in and of itself strongly suggests this. Either way, I’d say the song is mediocre, despite the lyric seared into my brain. But at least it goes down fairly smooth. It is pretty unoriginal rock, but somehow less obnoxious to me for being so than The Wallflowers.
“Sunflowers” - I’m not too crazy about this song either. It sounds like a rehash of other songs on the album. In fact, it would be fair to charge this album with being a little static. But it is a breezy, fun static, and it is over before you get sick of it. So I definitely still enjoy giving it a listen from time to time. “Sunflowers” has some lyrics that bug me, though, notably, “When you were a child, you were happy and free / You were my reason to live, I would die when you smiled at me.” I don’t know why, I guess it just seems syrupy and saccharine. However, he almost redeems it with “I see you runnin’ round in circles, I see you diggin’ your own hole / I see you fight the fights you just can’t win, I see you losing self control.” Why does that line work for me? Maybe it is the tone of the voice, or the cadence of the rhythm. I don’t think the lyrics are all that more well-written.
“Why I Don’t Believe In God” - The most stripped down album on the CD. It starts with the sounds of children laughing, and then the guitar (or is it a banjo?) comes in. I’m not the biggest fan of the lyrics, or the melody, but I’ll focus on the lyrics that have to do with faith. The background seems to be that his mother, who was into some hippie and or weird spirituality, but had a nervous breakdown. His response: “Wish I believed like you do, yeah you; in the myth of a merciful God, in the myth of a heaven and hell.” Even before I would have admitted to any sympathy for Christian Universalism, I had to note how odd it was to pair belief in a merciful God with belief in hell. Belief in hell is hardly the comforting part about believing in God. At least, it shouldn’t be. Anyhow, I wondered if this came from Art himself or one of his bandmates, or maybe a third source. But it feels like it came from someone’s real experience. Then again, years later I heard him say, “God bless America,” on The Tonight Show. Which may have been just something to say ironically, but who knows? The song here deals with some real emotions, and how watching a parent’s broken life can have a definite impact on how you receive - or don’t receive - their faith. So for that level of honesty, I give the band kudos.
“California King” - Probably my favorite song on the album. I dig the sneering anger directed at people who think they are more special than anyone else. I have to wonder, how would Charlie Sheen take this song? “What makes you think you are so special?” Tiger blood and Adonis DNA, apparently. The instruments on this song are very intense and driving, until they drop out for his long bridge declaring all the ways he will take down his adversary, and it is great fun for all its indignation. “I see you fall, and I get happy. I will watch you burn like fire. I will watch you burn like a California king.”
“I Will Be Hating You For Christmas” - The hidden track. The second most fun Christmas song that bemoans a broken relationship. (“Fairytale of New York” is the winner, by the way.) Anyway, it was a clever stroke to frame a song around the reaction to getting a Christmas card from an ex. If you aren’t over them yet, I can’t imagine anything less likely to put you in the holiday mood. So instead he reminisces over the relationship, and declares that his gift this year will basically be as close to coal as he can give. It makes me laugh, in a way. I’ve definitely been in that bitter place from time to time, and honestly, anger is probably a better response than sorrow. Neither are places you want to stay too long, though.
“So Much For The Afterglow” faded from my listening selection long ago, but I had enough fun revisiting it that I would definitely put it on the list of albums to make sure I listen to once or twice a year. It will never be a favorite, but it has quite a bit more “afterglow” than I would have imagined.
One other thing about Everclear: once I had a dream where their drummer was taken out of commission at a concert, and they pulled me on stage and asked me to fill in. It was pretty stressful, although at the same time their drum parts tend to be fairly simple. I remember being very worried that I was going to make a mistake and that people would be angry, though you think people would be more forgiving under those circumstances. I woke up very relieved that it was just a dream.
Next up, we dive into Oldies territory, with one of the few bands I’ve seen live (well, it was really the “reunion” band): 3 Dog Night.
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