Refused Is One Small Letter From Being Trash

Refused
Album: The Shape Of Punk To Come
Song: Refused Are Fucking Dead

So I'm sitting here listening to last.fm and playing WoW with Tyler and Kris.  Determined to write about the next tune that hits the speaker.  Dave Brubeck, "Take Five".  Excellent.  But I've done so much jazz and soul recently.  Okay, next song.  Still waiting.  Electric fan blowing, in Tyler's terms, our "man scent" into the bright summer afternoon.  Kris nom-noming the Nibs like a starving man attacking a steak.  The great thing about "Take Five" apart from the obvious cool melody and 2+2+2+3 rhythm, is the little musical journey on which  Bruback takes his listener.  Classical here, bebop there, big band all over, all cool.  Hmmmm.  New song.  Refused, "Refused Are Fucking Dead".  Okie-doke.

Immediate impressions of the song: System of a Down-esque rhythmic guitar hooks.  Bass not quite as present.  Not as defined, musically, as System of a Down.  Main guitar hook is uninspired.  Bridge boring as hell.  Bass boring as hell.  Octave guitar and bass near end meant to provide sense of growth?  Not good.  Production a bit heavy handed.  Random electronic blurps a sad attempt at hipster cool.  Or a sad attempt to be creative?  Bombastic end section.  Typical growled mock-yelled vocals.  Yech.

Okay so that sucked.  But if you want to listen to it, here it is:

I dunno if that tune is typical for Refused, which was a big part of the 90s hardcore/punk scene, but if so then perhaps the band just ain't all that interesting.  At least musically.  Having done a little online reading, however, I can tell you that they certainly had interesting ideas.  Their final message to their fans, to the press, and to the corporate musical establishment can be read here.  Did you know that Refused wasn't really a band, but rather an attempt to destroy mainstream music altogether?  Yeah, me neither.  Their manifesto reads to me like the worst sort of high-minded but tragically middle-brow nonsense: on the one hand begging for philosophical legitimacy (Baudrillard my ass) while on the other hand claiming to speak on behalf of the oppressed.  If that ain't the bourgeois calling the bourgeois bourgeois, I don't know what is.

Having said that, and having forced myself to read Refused's manifesto for a second time, it must be noted that their motives are good.  I mean, most of us go through a period of philosophical introspection in which we believe that we have seen deeper into the reality of existence than any other sentient being.  Ever.  In the immortal words of Vizzini from The Princess Bride: "Ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?  Morons." So I guess I should cut them some slack.

But I still don't like that song.