Youth of Today - "Take a Stand" (Dylan's Dumb iPod #8)

Youth of Today isn’t really a band you can convince people to like. If it doesn’t make sense the first time, it’s probably not gonna make sense on subsequent listens. Somehow it’s always resonated with me...but I'm not that smart. I get in car wrecks all the time and I purchase books about baseball players who don't matter.

I don’t really care to resolve anyone’s hang-ups with YOT. Maybe it’s straight edge (and selling out, and re-claiming), maybe it’s that they’re as old as my parents and playing shows in 2011 (seriously though, have you seen those vids? Say what you want, but damn. Stage dive count is off the damn charts!) or maybe it’s just Ray’s voice (which is kind of annoying...but completely necessary for this band). Who cares. Banger track with a banger skank-mosh intro. It’d hard to isolate cuts from Break Down the Walls but this one’s elite. Super positive lyrics (not wimpy positive, save that garbage for 7 Seconds or whatever) and awesome call-and-response backups.

If I talk about this song any more I’m going to sound like a grown-retard, so I’ll just sign off with a cool YOT moment from This is Hardcore 2009. Slumlords get ready to play “Drunk at the Youth of Today Reunion” and Jeff Perlin goes “A lotta people think we hate Youth of Today. That ain’t true. I love Youth of Today. Who the hell hates Youth of Today?” Indeed.

Classic vid below. Check any of the new ones too. You'll still be impressed (and vaguely annoyed).

Quicksand - "Tell Them Anything (demo)" (Dylan's Dumb iPod #7)

As far as I know, this song never saw a proper release. I got it from some blog that had a whole bunch of B-Sides and rarities assembled. Normally I don't dig B-sides. They didn't make it to the
"real" album for a reason, and only annoying dorks go into histrionics over B-sides. (Overzealous Alkaline Trio and Hot Water Music fans, take note). Still, I'm a huge Quicksand fan, and they have a discography that's small enough to fully digest without too many problems. Like Nirvana...or a fast food meal. I can dig it.

A few thoughts:

A) I'm not sure what year this song is from, but probably 1998 or 1999 since they broke up in '99. I'm guessing this is a scrapped demo session for the new album that was to come out when they decided to reform for a bit.

B) For a demo session, it sounds pretty much like standard Quicksand studio material. Chunky riffs, Sergio Vega's grinding bass, a little o' that "Loud Quiet Loud" dynamic. It could have fit pretty easily on Manic Compression.c) These unreleased songs sound a little more hurt, a little bit more "brooding" than other material. Just a dorky observation on my part.
D) Walter Shriefels is an incredible musician and all of his bands are great.
There aren't any vids of this song, but here's a link to that B-Sides and Rarities comp that I found.