Song Facts

Deftones 'Knife Party'

This is about going to a shooting gallery - a place where people go to inject themselves with drugs. In the first line they say "My knife is sharp and chrome." A chrome knife is another name for a syringe used for injecting drugs into your bloodstream. "Come see inside my bones" is probably talking about injecting himself. "I can float here forever" is describing getting high. The other lines in the song all work with the same theme as well. The album title is a reference to high grade cocaine.

UnderOath 'Writing On The Wall'

This song is about a family that is broken apart (step dad, dad, mom, son and step sister). The step dad is abusive and the real dad tries to stop him from abusing the daughter. The step dad and dad get in a fight and the step dad ends up killing the dad.

Rise Agaisnt 'Ready to Fall'

This song deals with pollution and its effects on the environment. The video shows how animals suffer from the actions of man. Rise Against is active with PETA, and are all vegans.

Story of the Year 'Swallow the Knife'

This song about cutting yourself and how much it bleeds. They said that it's mostly about someone who is depressed and feels like that person wants to killed himself or how much it bleeds.

Nirvana 'Pennyroyal Tea'

This song is about making a tough decision, the difficult choices around it, and the guilt following it. The reference to laxatives and cherry-flavored antacids implies the song is about heroin addiction. Many junkies have laxatives around to combat the chronic constipation that opiates bring. The lyrics could be Kurt thinking he's a lazy, weak figurehead who is depressed and sad and wants a new life. Some lyric analysis:"I'm on my time with everyone" - He was usually late for interviews."I have very bad posture" - Childhood Scoliosis made him appear hunched over."Sit and drink pennyroyal tea" - This could be a drug he took to calm his stomach pains, but it is also a play on words with penny royalty, meaning a cheap figure head."Distill the life that's inside of me" - He wants to cleanse his life and start fresh. The line, "I'm on warm milk and laxatives." could be about Cobain's dependence on DXM, scientifically known as dextromethorphan, which is available in most drug stores. As a result of consuming so much DXM (in the form of Robotussin), he developed stomach pains. One of the long term affects from this is the deterioration of the kidney and liver. The pain that you get from this physically addicting drug is unimaginable. It drove him to do heroine, which didn't last long so he used other remedies to cure his stomach pain.

Thursday 'Autumn Leaves Revisited'

This song is about a young boy or girl who loses their father in the war. The line, "Did you hear the trumpets play the day your father died?" suggests a military funeral; "Did the drums in the street make the people dance, or fall to their knees as the sound" compares it to a leaf falling from a tree in the summer (tree = family tree). The child wishes it could be summer forever: "there must be somewhere... and the leaves don't abandon their trees to the light where the skies are clear and the summer never ends" because if summer didn't end no one would fall from life as leaves. However, the father will still be there when the child dies, the message being, don't fear death.

Bad Religion 'American Jesus'

This was written in response to US President George H. W. Bush's comment that the US would win the Gulf War (the first one) because God is on their side. It's pretty much a satirical view on the general American thought that the United States is the most powerful nation in the world because it is "One nation under God."

John Lennon 'I Found Out'

In this angry and bitter song Lennon attacks a number of falsehoods such as the idolatry of the Beatles and how he is the focus for many of those involved in the peace movement. This song includes the line: "The freaks on the phone won't leave me alone, so don't give me that brother, brother." Lennon explained the lyric to the January edition of Rolling Stone. He said: "I'm sick of all these aggressive hippies or whatever they are, the "Now Generation," being very up-tight with me. Either on the street or anywhere, or on the phone, demanding my attention, as if I owed them something." Ringo Starr played drums on this track. After the break-up of the Beatles, Lennon continued to have a good relationship with Ringo. He explained why to Rolling Stone: "In spite of all the things, the Beatles could really play music together when they weren't uptight, and if I get a thing going, Ringo knows where to go, just like that, and he does well. We've played together so long, that it fits. That's the only thing I sometimes miss is just being able to sort of blink or make a certain noise and I know they'll all know where we are going on an ad lib thing. But I don't miss it that much."

Gaslight Anthem 'The '59 Sound'

The line "I hope we don't hear Marley's Chains we forged in life" is a reference to the ghost of Jacob Marley from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This is one of many quotes and references from novels, films and songs on The '59 Sound. Singer guitarist Brian Fallon explained to Jam! Music: "I look at our music as a soundtrack and I look at the lyrics like a movie script. And I try and write them so that people are watching the images go by in their head as they're hearing the lyrics. And when I reference another song it's because it's playing during a scene in that movie. At least, that's how I see it in my head."

Taking Back Sunday 'You Know How I do'

This is a song about a guy and his girlfriend who both lead a life of partying, drinking and drugs. The guy says he's had enough of it, but his girlfriend hasn't so it's either give it up or he's going to dump her. The song title came from the movie Made starring Vince Vaughn and Jon Faverau. Vaughn's character, Ricky Slade, says, "You know how I do" throughout the film.

Defining the music

'Timberwolves at New Jersey' Taking Back Sunday
This song is about a guy who is great with girls, while another guy is hopeless with them. The first verse is all the advice the first guy is giving to the other about getting a certain girl. The rest of the song is him telling the guy to give up, he wants to give up with the girl the hopeless guy is chasing. In Taking Back Sunday tradition, the title has nothing to do with the song and doesn't appear in the lyrics.

'Cute Without The E (Cut from the team)' Taking Back Sunday
This song talks about a boy who finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him. He tells her that he already knows and will kill himself for her. The guy knows he's supposed to hate her but he doesn't. The album title comes from a line in the chorus of this song: "And will you tell all your friends, you've got your gun to my head. This all was only wishful thinking."

'The Small Print' Muse
Originally titled 'Action Faust' after the story of a man who sold his sold to the devil. There are many references to the devil such as "The priest God never paid" and "slave to the grave".

'Gold Teeth on a Bum' Dillinger Escape Plan
According to Wilson this song is about: "Keeping your priorities in order during an age when taking care of the luxuries and letting the necessities take care of themselves is often the default mode of thinking ourselves into proverbial corner".

'Counting 5,4,3,2,1' Thursday
In a letter sent to fans, it explained, "Geoff Rickly (lead singer, Thursday) lived in a small village for the start of his life and it was extremely boring, so he made a pact with a friend to leave someday for the big city. All his life he lived in this same house, surrounded by this same white fence. He swore he would get out, but his friend died on the train tracks (ties in with "Running From The Rain") in the town. He never left and this if Rickly's grief.

'Steps Ascending' Thursday
Lead singer Geoff Rickly told fans at a concert before he sang this song that it was about how he and his best friend at the time got into a fistfight and didn't speak for years. His best friend was shot in the head and killed while playing with a gun on vacation and Geoff never got a chance to apologize. He said he always had dreams of his friend running down the stairs of his attic where they used to hang out, hence the name "Steps Ascending."

'Change (In The House Of Flies) Deftones
Moreno: "It's a metaphorical song. You could take it in the literal sense of me watching someone turn into a fly and taking them home with me and pulling of their wings and laughing. It spawns from me being a complete a--hole and getting the complete repercussion for it by having my life taken away."

'Beware' Deftones
Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno told Kerrang! that this song is "a warning against the temptation of women, drugs, alcohol or any other vice. It's quite dark." Moreno was doing a lot of cocaine during the recording of their 2000 album White Pony (hence the title), and ended up on speed while they were making Saturday Night Wrist. Said Moreno: "I could work insane hours when I was on it. I could be in the studio for days coming up with great ideas, but when I went back to it none of it made any sense." After a year recording Saturday Night Wrist with producer Bob Ezrin, Chino Moreno got frustrated and left to work on his side project, Team Sleep. "Beware" was the first song the band wrote when he returned. In Ezrin's place, Shaun Lopez picked up production of the album.

'Hole in the Earth' Deftones
Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno explained that this song is a reference to the turmoil they went through making the Saturday Night Wrist album. About a year into recording, Moreno felt it wasn't up to standard and started putting his efforts into his ambient music side project, Team Sleep. Moreno was also going through a divorce and doing a lot of speed, which didn't help. "Hole in the Earth" was Moreno's way of addressing that challenges he and his bandmates faced to make the record. Chino says he didn't explain his lyrics to the band until after the album was recorded. This was the first single released from Saturday Night Wrist. The album title is a reference to a medical condition one of Moreno's friends suffered called Saturday Night Palsy, which is caused by sleeping with your arm over a chair or with someone lying on it - typically the person has passed out drunk when this happens. A notable victim of this condition is Dave Mustaine from Megadeth.

'Manic Depression' Jimi Hendrix
The song's name, "Manic Depression," is an old name for bipolar disorder, a mental health disorder. There is no evidence the Hendrix ever suffered from bipolar disorder himself. Hendrix was doing a press conference in London and his manager at the time, Chas Chandler, told him that he sounded like a manic depressive. So the next day Hendrix wrote this tune. In this song, Hendrix sings of despair and confusion, and wonders just what kind of world this is anyway. His protective haven from the chaos is "music, sweet music." This is one of the more unusual songs performed in 3/4 Waltz time.


Devon M

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEOFF RICKLY! Thursday's Greatest Hits: Vol 1

On your birthday you feel the love, coming from everywhere.Thank you to all the people who love me all year round. xo
— Geoffrey Rickly (@GeoffRickly) March 8, 2013

Felipe M

We love the band Thursday around these parts.  We're still sad that they have broken up/on hiatus and won't be making new music or touring any time soon.  Although lead singer, Geoff Rickly did release new solo work for free download.  I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate his birthday than to look back at the band's body of work and countdown their greatest songs of all time.

It's a lot of songs to go through and it was extremely difficult to give the songs the respect they deserve so I decided to do this in three parts:

• Vol I will deal with the band's earlier work and countdown that era's top 15 songs
• Vol II will deal with with the band's later work and countdown that era's top 15 songs
• Vol III will put both collections together to make the ultimate Thursday list.  

But first a bit of a background.

The first Thursday song that caught my attention was "Cross Out the Eyes."  It was available on one of the Warped Tour Compilation CDs.  I must have bought this in the fall of 2002 or summer of 2003.  At first, I really was not enamored with this song, but eventually, after a lot of listens, it grew on me. 

One day, I was listening to my car's radio and they station I was listening to announced that they were going to premiere a new song by the band Thursday.  I got excited!  "I know that band!  They're on that comp CD I bought not too long ago. What was the name of the song again?" were the thoughts that were racing through my head.  The new song that would premiere on radio was "Signals Over the Air." That song got me hooked to the band and immediately went out and bought the album. I immediately fell in love with War All the Time.

Afterwards, I realized that the local college radio stations would play more Thursday songs that I did not recognize.  One song, in particular, was extremely catchy and memorable.  I thought it was a new song.  One local show (All Ages Radio out of Naperville, IL), would play other Thursday songs that I simply didn't recognize.  I still thought that they must have been new songs because they seemed to have sounded better than some of the songs from War All the Time.  I would eventually find out the name of the track that I absolutely loved and would crank up my car's stereo every time one of the college stations would play it.  That song was called "Understanding in a Car Crash."

And then they would play other songs: "Jet Black New Year," "Paris in Flames," "Standing on the Edge of Summer," "Wind-Up," "Streaks in the Sky," and "This Side of Brightness."  After listening to all of these great songs, I had to get Full Collapse.  I was disappointed that "Jet Black" was not on the album, but it quickly became my favorite CD of all time.  You're talking to a guy who was listening to, but tired of, Korn, Limp Bizkit, System of a Down and the rest of the Nu-Metal sound.  I quickly fell in love with this band.

It was only much, much later that I eventually downloaded Waiting on i-Tunes and that turned out to be an amazing album as well.  The problem is that Thursday went on to release two, benchmark albums that would redefined the hardcore/punk/post-hardcore genres and many people either forget or dislike Waiting for many reasons (mainly, Geoff's clean vocals and annoying screams.  I like them, but many people were turned off by them).  So with that being said, here are the Top 15 songs from the 1st half of Thursday's career:

15. "Dying in New Brunswick"-- One of the sadder songs by the band you will ever hear.  It was written about Geoff's girlfriend who was raped in the New Jersey town.  You could feel the despair and anguish in Geoff's voice.  Even the soft croons throughout the song have a sound of desperation in his voice.  Meanwhile, the complementing screams add the hate, anger, and frustration over the tragic ordeal.

QUOTE: "You stripped away the street signs and shot out all the stop lights.  If you smashed away all the buildings, what would you have left?"

14. "Jet Black New Year"-- The first time I saw this band perform live was in the fall of 2007.  Before Geoff played this song, he explained that "this song is about a fucked up New Year's Eve party."  Enough said.

QUOTE: "There's music playing, but we dance to the beat of our own black hearts."
"The air is cut with cyanide in honor of the New Year."

13. "Paris in Flames"-- The first few times I listened to this song, without being aware of the lyrics, I don't know why, but I always thought it had something to do with gay issues.  I know that when I was in college in 2004-'05, we were studying about the Stonewall Riots so perhaps this song somehow tapped deep into my subconscious.  Later on, I did read an article that this song is indeed about the incident, but unfortunately, I couldn't retrieve it.  

QUOTE: "We all sing the songs of separation, and we watch our lives bleed out through our hands."

12. "Autobiography of a Nation"-- The first time I heard this song was when I bought the album.  The part that sticks out is the introduction as it builds up until it finally comes to a climax with Geoff screaming out, "WRITE THESE WORDS BACK DOWN, inside!"  I just remember repeating the track numerous times the first time I heard it and began to rock out and scream along with the lyrics.  Good times!  I always thought this song was about the evils of imperialism.  If it's not, I apologize, but it makes sense to me.

QUOTE: "Everything they say, we stole.  All the dreams they had, we killed."
"We erased all their images and replaced them with borders and flags."

11. "Tomorrow I'll Be You"-- This song always had a science fiction feel to it.  And the few times I've seen this band perform live, this is usually the most requested song from the audience.  They've never played it the three times I've seen them live, however.  I can try and bore you as to what I think the meaning of this song is, but I think I'll let the birthday boy explain.

Another inclination I had about this song was that it lyrically sounded like "Jet Black New Year."  Once again, I urge you to click on the link to let Geoff explain the real story behind the song.

QUOTE: "As the language dissolves, and the sentence fits...since I replaced the 'I' in "Live" with an 'O,' I can't remember who you are."

10. "Standing on the Edge of Summer"--Song about Geoff's dying grandmother.  This song is full of great lines.  I'll try to limit them:

QUOTE: "We're betting on our own lives, making up for all the time we lost."
"In this house of cards, we're all holding hearts and spades."
"Driving in your car, missed a stop sign, fall in love, just to get knocked out."
"Pulled like a punch, burnt like a cigarette."

9. "Asleep in the Chapel"-- I fell in love with this song as soon as I heard the part about "the choir girls sing, 'oh lord, can you save us? Oh lord, sing HALLELUJAH!"  Geoff explains that this is a song of hope for those who have lost their religious faith.

QUOTE: "We woke up this morning to a sky with no air in it.  And all of the streets are filled with a thousand burning crosses.  And what we thought was the sunrise, was just passing headlights."

8. "This Song Brought to You By a Falling Bomb"--Although the band has stated that this album was never intended to have a political theme, as a college student, during that time, I always thought that there were more political overtones that the band refused to acknowledge.  This song is a prime example as it put me, the listener, in the shoes of a person experiencing a bomb falling on top of his house; a home that he has used as defense against the outside, chaotic world, only to be destroyed by probably the one thing that can penetrate the once-perceived safety of his home.  Geoff explains better than I ever can, here.

QUOTE: "Shut the window, love.  Keep the world outside.  I don't want to think about anyone."

7. "For the Workforce, Drowning"--Geoff explains here.  For all those people who love their jobs and consider their lives to be 'fulfilled,' this song is not for you.

QUOTE: "Dressed for the funeral in black and white.  These ties strangle our necks."
"Don't let me drown before the workday ends."
"Everyday: it's like the last"

6. "Introduction/Streaks in the Sky"--I refuse to play "Streaks" without having to listen to the "Introduction" track that precedes it.  Many fans think that it might be Geoff retelling the story how he left his parents to pursue his own life, finding out that it was a lot more difficult than anticipated, and returned home like the "prodigal son."  Again, that seems to be the general consensus.

QUOTE: "There's a peak we have to climb over, so get a running a start."

5. "This Side of Brightness"--I can easily flip-flop "Brightness" with "Streaks."  I gave the former the higher rank because of the violin that plays throughout the song.

QUOTE: "The heartbreak that comes with just living through one day, the good times that passed, and all the friends we lose in a lifetime on our way."

4. "War All the Time"--Again, when this album was released, the U.S. was in a war with Iraq and many thought (including me) that this album was a political, anti-war album and this song would be personify it.  However, the band has dismissed that notion countless times before explaining that it's more connected to the every day struggle that is life and love.  Geoff explains a lot better than I can.

QUOTE: "So we park these cars in our parents' garage to listen to the lullaby of carbon monoxide."
"They burn on and on like an oil field."

3. "A Hole in the World"--Simply a beautiful song full of imagery.  You can hear the despair, frustration, and hope in Geoff's voice throughout the song.  Mixed reports from fans indicate that the song may either be about an abusive relationship or a friend that committed suicide; this friend was into photography, hence the reference near the end about the subject matter.  Needs to be listened to along with the acoustic version of the song.  Also near the end of the song, and the reason why it's ranked so high, is the well-complemented piano portion. 

QUOTE: "In this blackout, inertia will hold our thoughts."

"The exit sign offers no light to see by."

"Can we cast our shadows alone in the dark?"

"These notes will fold themselves."

"Standing on the margin's end...you can find compassion here, but the page turns too fast."

"We fell in this hole that opened up; giving up on hope, living without love."

"Love is Love."

"There is no such thing as whole.  There is a hole in the world."

2. Signals Over the Air"-- Probably the song that got a lot of people into Thursday, especially if they were never familiar with Full Collapse.  As previously mentioned, this track received a lot of commercial airplay.  Check out the song's wikipedia page for more detail.  You can also listen to Geoff explain the track, here. 

QUOTE: ""Is this how it feels when you don't even fit into your own skin?  Its getting tighter; everyday I'm getting smaller.  If I keep holding my breath, I'm going to disappear."

"They stole the love from our lives to put the sex on the radio."

1. "Understanding in a Car Crash"--Without a doubt, the band's most popular song.  They've played this track at every Thursday show I've been to.  This song is the reason why a lot of people became fans of this band.  

QUOTE: "These broken windows, open locks, reminders of the youth we lost."

"Time to let this pass; time runs through our veins; we don't stand a chance in this threadbare time."

"Staring at the setting sun, no reason to come back again; the twilight world in blue and white."

"The broken watch you gave me turns into a compass.  Its two hands still point to the same time; 12:03"

"So push the seats back a little further; roll the windows down and take a breath."

"I can see the headlights coming; they paint the world in red and broken glass."

"The spinning hubcaps set the tempo for the music of the broken window."

"And it's over in a flash and I will never, ever understand!"

On that note, we would like to wish Geoff Rickly a happy birthday and a big "thank you" to him and Thursday for putting out great music.  One final request; please come back soon!

All Ages Highlights II: Mike Herrera of MxPx (May/2011)

We went to a wedding and a "Punk Rawk Show" broke out!
Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Herrera of MxPx.
(Personal Collection)

Felipe M

The following is part of a series of music shows and events that I attended in the last year and half or so.  

May 27-30, 2011: Mike Herrera of MxPx Private Show--Lake Geneva, WI.

Spending three out of four weekends in May in the state of Wisconsin leaves me with a sickening feeling.  Nevertheless, it's worth going up there when I can't see some of these bands live in Chicago. In this instance, on Memorial Day Weekend of 2011, my buddy Jesse was getting married and I was part of his wedding.  The following is a quick chronicle of the Private Punk Rawk Show that broke out at his wedding. 

Jesse (left) on guitar;
Mike (right) on bass.
(Personal Collection)

Mike Herrera, lead vocalist/bassist of the band MxPx flew down from Bremerton, WA to perform during the "Happy Hour" portion of my friend's Jesse's wedding--except that Jesse didn't know anything about Herrera's arrival.  It was his wedding surprise, all planned out by his wife-to-be.

He thought he was getting an acoustic guitar from Herrera's folk music project, Tumbledown. As much as Jesse was content with the guitar, the look on his face when Herrera came out to greet his is simply, for lack of a better term, priceless.

From what I remember, Mike had flown into Chicago and was being driven to the small town resort of Lake Geneva, WI. He looked fatigued and hungry. None of us knew what to expect of the encounter.  Somebody handed Jesse his electric guitar, Mike took out his bass and what followed was an impromptu set, guitar lesson, and jam session all rolled into one as Jesse and Mike played what had to be 3 hours of MxPx's music catalog.  They literally could have played all night if it wasn't for the fact that, you know--there was a wedding to prepare for and poor Mike was still exhausted and hadn't eaten a thing since arriving in Wisconsin, but he was such a good and humbled sport about the whole ordeal as he toughened it out for our entertainment--one of the most lax people I have ever met.  And really, as an entertainer, Mike knew that the show had to go on, even it was in a small room of just about 20 people watching.  As I would later learn, Mike takes his musical obligations very seriously.

Some of the highlights:

• Announcing that he and MxPx were working on a new album (eventually being Plans Within Plans). 
• Giving us an inside scoop of the current music scene.
• Updating us on the band and its other members, Tom Wisniewski and Yuri Ruley, and how they're now providing and caring for their respective families.
• How he continues to tour without the band with Tumbledown and the MxPx All-Stars. 
• Basically, he explained how blessed he was for having the opportunity to perform for a living and will continue to tour and use his musical and songwriting talents.
• Performing two song requests from me: "Begin to Start" and "Teenage Politics"
• Mike tried setting me up to start doing the vocals for "Politics," but I forgot the words and choked.  The song was abruptly ended, understandably so.  

(Here's a video of my boy Jesse playing guitar and Mike playing bass.  The name of the song is "Heard that Sound" by MxPx.)

Yours Truly on the left.
Mike was definitely dressed for the occasion as well
(Personal Collection)

As mentioned before, Mike was there to do a one hour solo acoustic set before the wedding.  The one song that stuck out that he did play was "Final Slowdance," which I always thought was appropriate for events such as these.  A lot of people at the wedding who never heard of Mike or MxPx came out very impressed and quickly became fans.

Eventually, I did have, what proved to be a very long conversation with Mike.  After praising his work as a musician and thanking him for creating music that people like me can relate to--despite the fact that I am not a Christian and MxPx has always had the label of a Christian Band--we began having a conversation about stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.  With respect to Mike, I was not conducting an interview and if I was somebody of importance, we would have been speaking "off the record," but I will try to tip-toe the major issues that were discussed over whiskey and tequila drinks.

• Found out we have something in common: we both enjoy listening to Bad Religion. 
• His close relationship with the bands Thursday and Strike Anywhere. 
• What it means to be part of a band that has been labeled as a "Christian band." 
• I shared with him, that despite not being a Christian myself, that I enjoy listening to bands like Emery and August Burns Red. Again, he reminded me that he likes Bad Religion.
• How he and Chuck Ragan's acoustic music differ despite both coming from punk rock backgrounds. 
• We discussed the pros and cons of technology on the music industry. He explained that there was more exposure, but getting paid as a musician was a lot harder to achieve despite Internet services claiming that they pay a percentage to musicians for letting them use their music for their streaming and downloading services (which is really not news as many bands can attest to this fact). 
• In the August 2012 issue of Alternative Press, he had a more optimistic and detailed view about technology being used as a beneficial tool to succeed as a musician. 
• The real highlight--Mike telling me that I have a place to crash the next time I visit Seattle, Washington. Don't know if he was serious or if I should take his invite with a grain of salt, but I considered it a small victory as annoying as I must have been with all my questions.  Plus it gives me another reason to go back to Seattle.  
• Of course, was able to get his autograph. 

Mike proved to be a very cool, humbled, patient, guy who thankfully, takes his craft seriously.  He's gone through his ups and downs in 2012 (gear stolen in Vancouver), but continues to tour, all over the world--most recently, he went to Australia to play bass for Goldfinger. We at Pathological Hate continue to wish him lots of luck and I personally wish to thank him again for a very memorable wedding in late May. 

Great to meet you too, Mike!--Felipe M (Personal Collection)

TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING: Thursday Performs FULL COLLAPSE!

Felipe M.

If you don't know about Thursday and their album Full Collapse, then what are you waiting for?  It wasn't a very popular mainstream album and it did not make a dent in the charts back in 2001 (reaching #178 on the Billboard charts), but the imprint that it has left in the world of music is very prevalent, as it has become a fan favorite in the punk/hardcore/underground scene and has influenced many bands that followed its release.  It is truly a landmark of a gem in independent music.  

So earlier this year, Thursday had announced that they would be touring in support of Underoath where they would play Full Collapse IN ITS ENTIRETY!  I so happened to be there on February 9, 2011 at the House of Blues, Chicago, Illinois.

These old songs are still amazing and they have not aged a bit.  They're as cutting edge as anything that's being released by other bands today.  Thursday playing them live just justifies and confirms that belief.  Another thing that stuck out as these memorable songs were being played live is the fact that, as intense as these songs are, they make you move.  I'm not much of a dancer, but something in these songs just made me want to dance and as I was looking at the crowd, I wasn't alone in this thinking.  I mean, even the song "Concealer," which starts out as a simple head-bobbing tune, eventually becomes a song that you want to dance to.  

The crowd was pretty tamed, but that's at any Thursday show.  Thursday is the only hardcore act where the entire crowd is mesmerized by the band's lead singer (in this case, Geoff Rickly) as there are no cirlce pits, no moshing, and no need for elbows to be up at all times.  It is truly a sight to behold as the entire crowd is usually looking at the stage in awe.  

The band finished their set with a new song from their new album No Devolucion, "Turnpike Divides."  The song was so good, that I had made up my mind that I would go ahead and buy the album on its release date without listening to the other tracks (very rarely do I buy an album without listening to a few tracks first).  

This album will always have a special place for me and I was glad that Thursday decided to pay homage to it.  Outside of the very popular "Understanding in a Car Crash," the other songs are not played very regularly as they should be.  But "Autobiography of a Nation" ("WRITE THESE WORDS BACK DOWN!"), "Cross Out the Eyes," and "Paris in Flames" never gets old ; Hearing songs "A Hole in the World," "I Am the Killer," "Standing on the Edge of Summer," "Wind-Up," and "How Long Is the Night" for the first time live was definitely a treat.  

I wish more bands had the ability to play the 10 year anniversary of any albums.  Albums released in 2001 that I wish would be played live in their entirety are as follows:

• Thrice--Identity Crisis
• Rise Against--The Unraveling
• Strike Anywhere--Change is a Sound
• Rufio--Perhaps, I Suppose...
• Hot Water Music--A Flight and a Crash
• Brand New--Your Favorite Weapon
• The Bouncing Souls--How I Spent My Summer Vacation (which they actually did in select cities this year.  Obviously, I missed the Chicago date).
• Alkaline Trio--From Here to Infirmary
• Against Me!--Crime as Forgiven

To read the 50 GREATEST BAD RELIGION SONGS OF ALL TIME from the very beginning, click here.

Feel free to listen to the greatest NEW YEAR'S EVE song of all time, Thursday's "Jet Black New Year."

Also, check out Devon's interpretation of Thursday's "Autumn Leaves Revisited," along with other Song Facts