The Suicide Machines
“A Match and Some Gasoline”
(Side One Dummy)
These guys have been like three different bands. First they were the ska band that kicked some serious ass. With their second record they became hardcore. I lost track after the third record, which was so radio friendly it included songs about how much they loved their pet dog. Well, Dr. Jack would be stoked because the boys from Michigan are back, tearing G.W.’s politics to pieces and raising some serious rabble in the process. Jay’s lyrics point the finger squarely at the boobs in office as well as the corporations that put them there, which sure, anybody can do, but The Suicide Machines make it sound so good.
With a few rasta, Jah-inspired hooks that’ll have you feeling nostalgic for Operation Ivy and a whole lot of aggression that will leave a Minor Threat meets the Descendents taste in your mouth, “A Match and Some Gasoline” is an indictment of American politics at its best. If “Your Silence” doesn’t wake you the fuck up with its pointed, “You said politics don’t concern me and that’s just fine so sing along to the radio’s love song/ And when they reinstate the draft you’ll be the first to go…Gonna die at the age of 23, what you gonna do, still say, ‘It doesn’t concern me?'”, then you might as well bury your head a little bit deeper. Better to learn a lesson from a punk record than not at all, right?
