Die for the Government in Bloomington, MN

Admittedly, it's strange that an old school-sounding
punk
trio would criticize
scene denizens thusly: "Covered in leather, or plaid patches, or metal studs/Your hair is dyed or spiked with glue/You only talk to those who look and act the way you do/You scoff at how the cops treat you/But they're no worse than dicks like you!" (
"Punk by the Book"
). It's even more strange in light of
Anti-Flag
's
Discharge
/
Rancid
haircuts, a dog collar, and even a shirt that says "destroy." But since they point out that what you think is more important than how you dress, fair enough, because they carry on a more crucial custom: warning
MTV
-polluted, 85-TV-channel youth that
means doing something productive instead of being passive or getting drunk and into fights, and becoming aware of politics and history is a prerequisite before bitching about the government (such as the Pentagon's attempts to pretend there is no Gulf War syndrome, as
points out). Criticism from within is the only kind that's listened to. As well, on songs such as
"Safe Tonight"
and
"Police State in the U.S.A.,"
tosses up the kind of vintage, early-'80s, So-Cal, melodic
that
B.Y.O.
,
Frontier
Posh Boy
, and other labels specialized in, and a
ska
song is welcome. ~ Jack Rabid