For the past few months, I've been collecting Pepsi caps because you can redeem them on-line for free music. It's worked pretty well, with the exception of there being no criteria for what songs you can buy with Pepsi Points and which you have to pay for via Amazon. Get your shit together, Pepsi Stuff.
Browsing the list this evening, I came across a name that instantly drew me back to the summer of 1994: Bad Religion.
I scroll the list. "Infected." That's worth 99 cents.
Gawd almighty I love this song. I remember it was my sophomore year of high school when I was just learning that love and sex was a contact sport. This song turns contact into combat. It's guttural and great, the best song of this genre. Bad Religion went on to other fantastic songs, but pound for pound, nothing touches "Infected."
It's strange how you put together top 10 lists at one point in your life and then forget about them. I always thought "Stranger Than Fiction" was on my top 10 album list of all time, but I swear it's been 5 years since I've listened to Bad Religion.
In honor of their rediscovery and remembered greatness, let's deconstruct "Infected."
Now here I go
Hope I dont break down
I wont take anything
I dont need anything
Inauspicious. Nice groove. Moving on.
Dont want to exist
I cant persist
Please stop before I do it again
The existential malaise kind of takes hold here, but the song is so damn catchy at this point, it's hard to take it seriously as a piece of "poor me" songwriting. The last line hints at where the song is going to go from here.
Just talk about nothing, lets talk about nothing
Lets talk about no one, please talk about no one, someone, anyone
I love this line. The contradiction is fun from a lyrical standpoint, but the first phrase says a lot about relationships, from my experience. How many times have you told a friend "we talk about nothing," as a compliment. They talk about nothing, so please talk about something, for the love of God. To me, it hints at incompatibility, but attraction has taken hold...hence:
You and me have a disease
You affect me, you infect me
Im afflicted, youre addicted
You and me, you and me
It's easy to see why these lines are so damn catchy. Affect and Infect are nice halves of a whole phrase, but the "I'm afflicted, you're addicted" hints at something more. The whole song at this point, a phrase or two aside, is from the guy's POV. She's got him doing things against his will, which is why I love "I'm afflicted, you're addicted." Addicted to making him say "how high" when she says "jump"? Addicted to the feeling of power a woman has over any man at certain points in a relationship? Addicted to causing him pain? Ooooh, that's a good one. Next verse.
Im on the edge
Get against the wall
Im so distracted
I love to strike you
The violence rears it's head. This song has a lot of violent images, but this particular one works really well from the guy's perspective. He's backed into a corner, and what do desperate creatures do in a corner? Is the strike actual or metaphorical? Works either way (although I never condone violence against women).
Heres my confession
You learned your lesson
Stop me before I do it again
This line kind of reinforces the idea of physical violence on one level, but on another level you've got this idea - he did something to reveal his true nature. This could very much be about love. Exposing love is an incredibly vulnerable moment, so he confesses his love and she learns from that. Stop me before I do it again. It seems like a stretch, but the rhyme is really good. Onto the bridge.
Youre clear - as a heavy lead curtain
want to drill you - like an ocean
We can work it out
Ive been running out, now
Im running out
Dont be mad about it baby
Ah, the truth comes out. The situation makes him run, but it's complicated. How complicated? Onto the best part where the lead singer echos the chorus with these little gems:
I want to tie you, crucify you
Kneel before you, revile your body
You and me, were made in heaven
I want to take you, I want to break you
Supplicate you, are incurable
I want to bathe you in holy water
I want to kill you,
Upon the alter
You and me, you and me
Tell me that's not an honest declaration of love. Pain and pleasure just inches apart. Soul-sucking sacrifice and immeasurable joy. Chemicals going ape shit in your body, throwing thoughts no sane person would think into the front of your head. In inability for dispassion. A propensity for stupidity that seems completely rational. These lyrics are lovely.
Great song.
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