Sunday, August 16, 2015

The Vandals - Hitler Bad, Vandals Good





            It's so easy for me to fall into a pretentious mindset when discussing music, but when I'm being honest, there are few things I enjoy more than a goofy tune that refuses to be taken seriously. While many artists will occasionally shrug off the serious looks long enough to record a silly song or two, very few are as bold as The Vandals, a punk act that continuously composes entire records of humorous music.
            Since I first heard them in my teen years, their lack of gravity provided a wonderful alternative to the hundreds of stuffy and semi-political punk anthems of their peers, and the fact that their songs were popping up in all my favorite video games at the time only drew me in further. When I finally had a chance to pick up Hitler Bad, Vandals Good at age fifteen, I immediately connected with the humor and hectic energy, and though I’m certainly older and allegedly more serious, the lighthearted hilarity still hits just as hard.
            Unlike most records, the very first part of Hitler Bad, Vandals Good that grips my attention is not the musicianship, but rather the record’s inane lyrical content. All four band members share writing duties,[1] yet not one among them seems to take writing seriously, which is a ridiculously refreshing change. While there is an almost universal theme of romantic (and often unrequited) love through the record, each relationship is cast in a unique situation: “Fucked Up Girl” expresses love for a “legally insane” woman who is “losing all [her] faculties,”[2] while “I Know, Huh?” analyzes the awkward intricacies of being in an interracial couple. And while their ideas aren’t always that original (they’ve openly stated how big of an inspiration TV is in their writing)[3], such silliness is guaranteed to bring a smile to even the most grumpy listener’s face.


            The Vandals’ humor on Hitler Bad, Vandals Good strays into darker territory as well. “Too Much Drama,” co-written by The Offspring’s Dexter Holland,[4] humorously tackles the topic of absent parents, while “People That Are Going to Hell” very casually references scumbags who “beat their wives / or pull out a knife and stab a person or two or three.”[5] Even love takes a dark turn in “My Girlfriend’s Dead,” a song characterized by a broken-hearted man who avoids discussing how he was dumped, instead “tell[ing] them all she’s dead” because he “likes the sympathy” it garners.[6] Without shying from the inherent depravity of their material, The Vandals manage to spin even the darkest parts of humanity into carefree song.
            Hitler Bad, Vandals Good is a laugh from start to finish, but for me, no song is more ridiculous than “I’ve Got An Ape Drape,” the band’s infamous ode to an awful haircut. With a frenzied chord progression that hugs the melody and a gang-vocal chorus, this tune celebrates all that is wrong about the mullet. With almost childlike innocence, Dave Quackenbash demands that his hairdresser “make it short in front and long in back” like “that dude I saw last night on Jerry Springer,” before ultimately requesting that his son get the same horrid haircut, a decision that apparently qualifies as “bonding with your dad.” The song even includes an off-hand reference to Billy Ray Cyrus, whom the band holds responsible for perpetuating what they have coined “Achey Breaky Hair.”[7] With its repetitive chorus and triumphant satire, “I’ve Got An Ape-Drape” presents a sidesplitting homage to a horrible idea that is far from disappearing, and worst of all, “they’re giving them to anyone, and that means you!”[8]


            In sharp contrast to the amusing and off-hand lyrics, the musicianship on Hitler Bad, Vandals Good is both tightly-knit and complex, perhaps because the band felt that room to “musically…stretch out a bit” on this record.[9] Drummer Josh Freese rips through slash-beats in virtually every song, yet somehow manages to squeeze effortless fills and rolls among his madness. In a similar vein, bassist Joe Escalante and guitar wizard Warren Fitzgerald compose effortless and interwoven rhythmic parts which maintain intricacy even at 190 bpm. Add on top of that impeccable Beatles-esque harmonies and a punked-up cover of “So Long, Farewell” from the Sound of Music, and The Vandals have handed us a pile of lightning-fast tunes that guarantee laughter as much as they do moshing.


            Because punk rock has a more rigid sound structure (super fast and super loud) than other genres, all too often a punk record will be composed of songs so similar in tempo and energy that they simply bleed together. While Hitler Bad, Vandals Good is no exception, featuring more than a few songs loaded with power chords and cliché progressions, The Vandals do make some valiant strides towards breaking up any monotony. The band layers various instruments into their songs, such as a bongos in "If the Gov't Could Read My Mind" and a tuba in "I Know, Huh?" But rather than just squeeze those new instruments in, The Vandals choose to arrange their own parts to complement the new textures, thus justifying the added horn section in "Fucked Up Girl" by moving into a full-out blues.
            Some songs off of the record even go so far as to acknowledge the limitations of the genre of punk. Both "I've Got an Ape Drape" and "Money's Not an Issue" repeat certain riffs or sections ad nauseum; this deliberate application of the extreme simplicity that a lot of punk acts embrace proves The Vandals to be a very self-aware act. And just as often as they embody their punk ethics, so too do they shun them: "Euro-Barge"  features a fantastically un-punk time signature change, alternating between measures of 7/16 and 4/4, while "People That Are Going to Hell" relies on a very strange melody built to defy the downbeat. Hitler Bad, Vandals Good might be a punk record, but The Vandals work hard to bring more to the table than slash-beats and simple shouting. 


            Although neither the most exciting or enlightening record, Hitler Bad, Vandals Good is still and excellent example of how music can resonate without being stuffy. The Vandals know exactly who they are and what they want from this endeavor: to play fast punk and to make people laugh. There is not a drop of doubt or indecision at any point on this record, and such honest identity makes for a pretty fantastic listening experience. Even a decade after I first heard them, many of the songs on Hitler Bad, Vandals Good keep me cracking up, and remind me that a serious song can be just as heartfelt as a nonsensical one.  

Tunes to Check Out:
2) I've Got an Ape Drape
3) So Long, Farewell


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