Assault Challenge Number 1: Rise Against
The Challenge
Sometimes at the Assault offices we can’t agree on things and, instead of respectfully disagreeing, we challenge each other like small children on the playground. Earlier this year, Third World Timmy challenged me to listen to Rise Against’s entire discography and see if maybe my opinion of them would improve after being exposed to their music. This is the true story of what happened.
Opening Statement
I never had a valid reason to hate Rise Against. I like punk rock, and I don’t mind having some extreme left-wing politics thrown into the mix. So the obvious question is, from whence did my deep-burning hatred for this band spring forth? There are three main reasons, at least two of which make no logical sense whatsoever. To wit:
- Their reconciling of radical ideals with pop success is sometimes less than successful.
- Their radio singles are incredibly stupid and shallow.
- I already liked Against Me!, and thought that another “Against” band would just be pushing it.
So, as you can see, my reasoning is not always sound. But I do tend to stick by my opinions once formed. Could actually listening to the band’s albums trasnform me into a fan?
The Evidence
Consider me Optimus Prime, motherfucker! (Or at least Bumblebee.) Because once I dug into the band’s albums, I found an awful lot to like, and actually began turning other folks on to Rise Against. As is pretty typical, the radio singles don’t come close to telling the whole story. For instance: Rise Against recorded two albums of no-frills, balls-to-the-wall basement punk for Fat Wreck Chords before they jumped to a major and started appearing on Guitar Hero playlists.
The Unraveling (2001)
The Unraveling, their first full length, is a bit repetitive but it’s also loud, raucous, and so intense you might get ear blisters. Some of the songs also seem a bit more personal than their later work, which was refreshing – leader Tim McIlrath will never be a poet of the human condition or anything, but hearing him drop the socio-political gobbledygook and address a few issues closer to home endeared the group to me. It’s a bit like seeing your dad naked, but not as awkward. All the dudes in Rise Against are human beings, and the amateurish punk-rock captured on The Unraveling makes it pretty hard to hate on them for becoming such a crushing monolith later on.
Revolutions Per Minute (2003)
Speaking of that monolith business, their second album Revolutions Per Minute is the great step forward in their evolution from scrappy gutter punks to full-fledged world-beaters. The production values are stepped up and the track list is shorter – where The Unraveling runs long and starts to seem like one dragged-out rant, Revolutions Per Minute is an honest-to-god Rock Record with a clear beginning and end. It’s here that McIlrath started his tradition of hitting hard with a state-of-the-union track right at the beginning, and it has worked now for four albums running. It’s a good trick.
Listening to Revolutions Per Minute is when I started to recognize the band’s real skill at marrying awesome pop-punk melodies with biting political commentary. But this is also where we run into some problems: What is the value of that commentary? What are McIlrath’s qualifications? Undoubtedly these concerns are superfluous to most listeners, because who really gives a shit what a band is talking about as long as they’re consistently kicking your ass with rock firepower? But these are my concerns, and I had to grapple with them. Here’s what I came up with:
The value of the band’s commentary is nil. I don’t care what they think about any given subject, although I won’t hesitate to pump my fist whenever they shout-out generally agreeable shit about equality. I feel like McIlrath is a little too hard on America – it’s my opinion that this is still the greatest country in which a person who enjoys freedom and opportunity can live, no matter how many bungled wars and bad elections we must endure. America is not bullshit, and I get a little testy when the band keeps insisting that it is, but McIlrath is (fortunately) not an expert. He’s a layman, which means his words carry no more weight than my average drunken buddy. I can ignore the stuff I don’t like and focus on the riffs, which are frequently amazing.
Siren Song Of The Counter Culture (2004)
Moving forward: The band’s third album (and major label debut) Siren Song Of The Counter Culture is quite possibly their best, street cred be damned. The album actually starts harder and meaner, like they’re trying to prove that a bigger recording budget and sweeter royalty checks haven’t made them soft. It’s my pet theory that every punk band has one truly great record in them. This generally occurs when they master sonic dynamics to the point that the listener can’t get bored no matter how much the songs sound the same, and Siren Song is like that. It’s a roller coaster of a record, with the band even unplugging for the gentle-but-urgent “Swing Life Away” without losing any of their momentum. There are no bad songs here, and no filler, either – this is an A+ punk record that everyone should own. It’s in my regular rotation now, and for that I must thank Timmy. Siren Song Of The Counter Culture is an album that actually improves your life; it gets me so pumped up sometimes that I have to take a smoke break before resuming my normal activities.
The Sufferer And The Witness (2006)
Rise Against’s follow-up, The Sufferer And The Witness, is a little more varied but a little less intense. It follows the same basic formula as Siren Song, which means that it’s impact is necessarily a little dulled, but it also contains my favorite Rise Against song. “The Approaching Curve” is a dark, haunting narrative delivered in by McIlrath in rapid speak-sing, set to ominious minor-key chords and exploding every so often into an awesome chorus. It displays a new level of craft and sophistication, and if I had to choose between Sufferer and Siren Song, it might actually nudge the former ahead. Slightly. Like I said, these two albums are remarkably similar, and they’re both dazzingly muscular and hooky. I’d call them companions.
Appeal To Reason (2008)
Rise Against’s latest record, Appeal To Reason, is more of the same, and at this point the schtick is getting a little tired. But it’s also their slickest and most radio-ready set yet, as evidenced by “Savior”s utter dominance of Chicago alt-rock airwaves. This is a song that I hated when I first heard it, and actually memorized just so I could mock it. Flash forward a couple months and I’m embarrassing myself at a Christmas party, about ten drinks in and completely eviscerating the song on Rock Band. (Tim will testify to the shock and awe of this horrfiying performance.) I’m not that keen on Appeal To Reason, not necessarily because it’s bad but because I don’t need another album like this in my collection. Also, I was so blown away by the band’s previous two records that maybe I’m just not able to totally process this one yet.
The Verdict
I will probably never love Rise Against the way Third World Timmy does; my Chicago punk band of choice will forever be Alkaline Trio, not just because I’m a fan of drinking and being Satanic but because their tales of heartbreak and liver damage are way more relatable. Try as I might, I just can’t get too fired up about political rock. I’d rather re-enroll in community college for a seventh year and take some history classes than get my info from a punk band. But that’s just me – if this is the kind of stuff that floats your boat, Rise Against is like strapping a motor on your schooner. They’re fierce, they’re intelligent, and they rock harder than most other bands in their particular weight class. I can now say I consider myself a fan.
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About the Author
Oswald Hobbes is an amateur music appreciationist from the wilds of the Midwest.
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This is incredible. Worth Dying for a is a better song on The Sufferer and the Witness I think.
The Approaching Curve never did it for me for some reason–it was a nice song–but I’m more in to the songs that make me feel like I could bench press a buick.