The Vindictives: Rocks in my Head (with 8 page MRR interview!)

“(In 1992) I was still co-producing with Blaise Barton – who had worked with (Bob) Dylan – I’d always felt that his unique understanding of where words belonged in a song brought the best out in me, lyrically speaking.”

Joey Vindictive

Though The Vindictives self-released their early singles,  it was their signing to Lookout Records (more HERE) that brought the Chicago band a wide audience in the nineties. While the band would be associated with Screeching Weasel (Ben actually played guitar in the band's early days) but like all great pop-punk bands, their lyricist Joey Vindictive had a powerfully individual way with the word and could be as terse as Dee Dee Ramone or wordy enough to be Dylanesque. Vindictive's lyrics used self-loathing and general misanthropy (see the "Terrible Monster")  into something that transcended anger and hatred. Or, as Wikipedia would, have it "The lyrics were often intelligent outrages communicated through intentionally immature self-defeating soliloquies" (Amen, Wiki, amen).

Of course it's not just the words, the music kicked ass with pop-punk tunes loaded with backing vocals, charging guitar work, near-hardcore tempos and, of course, that deliriously snotty kid voice that Joey Vindictive wielded like an angry toddler.

Don't forget to leave a thought on the Vindictives in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the Rocks in My Head' Link.)

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