"A Credit to His Gender" by Good Riddance

Shuffle of the Day for 8/16/2006
"A Credit to His Gender" by Good Riddance from A Comprehensive Guide to Moderne Rebellion

Back in the day (read late 1990's) I was really into hardcore, especially the more political/straight-edge/anti-frat boy as it could get. It was part and parcel with the general ultra-leftist feelings I had in college (that has since been tempered with real world pragmatism, a.k.a., resigned bitterness and resentment). However, at the time, I thought these bands might be able to change the world, or at least parts of it. Good Riddance seems especially well suited for this pursuit, just look at the title of the album that "A Credit to His Gender" is derived. The song itself is a downright indictment of the frat-boy culture, although Good Riddances lyrical chops might go over their heads. It seems pretty clear with lines like Call her a whore/just the same as you/but she could never be that shallow. When you put lines such as that to a punk/hardcore song, well, its perfect for playing at 1:20AM on a college radio station and hoping you can at least comfort yourself that someone might be listening thinking "yeah, screw that frat-boy types" (I suppose it was less prevalent at my college considering frats and sororities had been banned since the 60's - but the culture was still present). I don't know how I feel anymore about the changing power of music. It seems like most music has been co-opted in this country just like almost everything else by (1) big business; (2) the christian "right" and (3) downright evil. I suppose I just have to hope that it can work like it did with me: one person at a time so we don't totally lose sight of the way life should work rather than the way we're told it has to be.