[Hype Hype Hooray] “Drugs” and TEENS

Every [two weeks?] Jamie Hale takes a long, hard look at the music industry and the blog scene that feeds it. Here, he releases those findings and makes snarky, sarcastic remarks. Admittedly, both Jamie and Knox Road are a part of this scene. So sue us.

The other day I was listening to “Drugs,” by Black Lips when the message of the song really set in.

The track jump starts: “Rad attitude and my nose is a runny / I like you lots but you think that I’m a dummy / Can I pick you up with me and my buddies and chill.” We’re immediately introduced to some sort of juvenile delinquent, looking for nothing but a good time. But it goes so much deeper than that.

The song continues with the same delinquency: “We’ll hammer down in my Plymouth Barracuda / Huffin’ and a puffin’ on that BC Buddha / Don’t worry ’bout it sugar you’ve got nothing to lose.” But after “Drugs” winds down its chorus dedicated to all things fun and destructive, it crescendos with the real message of the song: “We’ll laugh about this tomorrow / It’s times like this I hope will follow.”

It’s that line that struck a chord inside me. While I’ve never been the skateboarding, get-drunk-and-smash-your-gear kind of guy, I’ve always had an appreciation for the passion and sheer audacity of the guys in that scene. The people in “Drugs” might be out to get high and drive fast, but in the end they’re just trying to make the best out of life, no matter what. But who are these people?

Last month, out of nowhere, I met them.

Continue reading [Hype Hype Hooray] “Drugs” and TEENS

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