Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Why Is She In Pain?

Battery - Why Is She In Pain?

she wants to be beautiful for our beauty-starved eyes. she's dying, she's dying, she's dying but we never seem to mind. her cry is in her toothpick legs and attention-hungry smile, and as it goes on, the transfer occurs from magazine to child

but the only thing these beauty magazines leave is low self-esteem the only thing they leave is a low self-esteem

we're brainwashed to think that thin is pretty, but if beauty is love, why is she in pain? I'm guilty, I'm guilty, I'm guilty. it's time we placed the blame, let's also blame the media, and face the fact that this is insane, and spit in the face of their so-called beauty and make a change

we have got to open our eyes if we want to make a change we have got to open our eyes if we want to make a change

because there are sick and starving girls throwing up after they eat so they can look thin and pretty for the people the meet. and the thing that scared me the most is there are people that i hold close that are dying and i never even noticed

This song is one of the best hardcore/punk songs written in the 90's. At least in my opinion, i was listening to fatwreck bands and early tooth and nail stuff in the 90's so i don't relate much to hardcore from the 90's. Outside of youth crew stuff I'm impartial.

Anyway, back to this song. The reason i think it's so important is because it tackles an issue that so few hardcore or punk bands are willing to deal with. I think it's awesome when bands tackle issues that are specific to girls and are passionate about what they're singing. There are so many bands that just sing about whatever comes to mind or whatever is relevant at the time, scene politics and a bunch of other garbage. Then there are bands that have a social heartbeat, they can see the world outside of hardcore and they have meaningful things to say about what they're seeing. Battery was definitely one of those bands.

"Why Is She In Pain" is probably my favorite Battery song off of my favorite Battery record, musically its incredible and lyrically not much can match it. Even i can relate to what's being said because I've seen and know girls who have fallen victim to this unrealistic perception of how they're supposed to look and behave. Maybe not to the extreme of throwing up after every meal or starving themselves, but you can see the weight of these expectations in their eyes and i couldn't imagine how much that would suck.

Battery is still a refreshing band to listen to. It feels like so many bands are writing about nothing and a lot are, but there has always been and will always be a handful of band playing hardcore music with something to say that everybody needs to hear.

4 comments:

Mike said...

As I was telling someone else on last.fm, so many songs off this album could be on the soundtrack to my life. From The Factory (sports and school I never found a home, the only place I found acceptance was going to shows...) and Go Back To The Gym (grab a beer, hit the couch and feel alone, because this show will go on without you...). Classic stuff.

Tyler said...

Yeah definitely man. There's a sincerity in the songwriting that really makes what's being said hit home. Go Back to the Gym is another song i really like.... they're all good though. I'm glad i started listening to this record again.

Onno said...

Totally with you guys on this one. Battery was a great hardcore band, while they weren't that typical hardcore. Also, how awesome is it that we all relate on stuff the same while spread all over the world. ;-)

BB said...

so i foound your blog through mike and onno, battery is the shit and your blog is awesome