Give ‘Em the Boot
Tonight I get to celebrate the end of my first day at the new job by checking out Rancid at the 9:30 Club. They’re one of my favorite bands of all-time but I haven’t seen them live in approximately forever. I even bought a new pair of classic Doc Martens to celebrate my transformation into a pathetic old man whose life is dominated by nostalgia. Meanwhile, like any good Rancid fan who’s also a transit fan, my favorite song is “Roots Radical” and last week while not blogging I got bored and looked up this map of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s 60 Bus. Behold:
As you can, indeed, head out of downtown Campbell. These days it seems the area is now also served by a light rail line though that may not have been the case at the time the song was written and I suppose only posers take light rail anyway.
36 Responses to “Give ‘Em the Boot”
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August 11th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I suspect that there will be more than a few poseurs at the Rancid show tonight.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Did The Atlantic actually vaporize the archives of your blog there? Or just move it somewhere inaccessible? Seems a bit of a violation of Internet tradition.
Cranky
August 11th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
I’ve noticed a disturbing number of acquaintances becoming resigned to old-guydom at ages between, say, 27 and 29. This seems silly. I mean, sure, I don’t really like all this emocore stuff either, but does that really mean we have to go back to music that’s now fifteen years old? Don’t Beck and Death Cab have new albums … aren’t they somewhat more relevant than Rancid?
August 11th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I agree with you, Matt…Rancid is pretty much awesome. Everyone always says they’re not original. I always say, who gives a damn? They sounded good and they wrote good lyrics. The people who make this critique are invariably the people who sat out all the good music being made during the 1990s and instead listened to shit like Pearl Jam, trying to convince themselves that it was good beause they had cred. The hell with ‘em!
August 11th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Rancid (and the whole punk revival) was already considered retro in 1996, when I was 29. And as I listened to “And Out Come The Wolves” in my cherry-red 8-hole Docs, I felt like a a pathetic old man whose life was dominated by nostalgia.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Wow. Talk about nostalgia, and not about Rancid. I grew up in Campbell, and used to take that bus line or a similar one to Great America back in junior high school. The light rail is newer, but it isn’t being used all that much, because San Jose is so spread out, and it runs pretty infrequently.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Have a great time. It will be a little weird to see millionaire Lars in torn pants and a Forgotten shirt, and their new drummer is not even close to their old one, but they play a great show.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Where does one even get classic Docs anymore? And I mean *real* classic Doc Martens oxfords–all the ones I’ve seen lately have got the logo emblazoned on the sides. That’s an innovation, and an unwelcome one.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I guess the destination was known after all.
- g
August 11th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I am a semi with-it middle-aged Midwestern matron. My teenage son introduced me to Rancid (inadvertently, it’s not like we share music). He had it playing loudly in his room and I yelled, WHo’s that?! and he yelled, Rancid! He played Black Cadillac for me. A few weeks later he made it the ringtone on my cellphone thinking I’d hate it, but I kind of like it. No, I like it a lot!
August 11th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
For a bunch of Clash wannabees, Rancid is alright. At least Strummer liked them a lot. Have fun at the show!
August 11th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
You can get new Made in England Docs from their website, albeit at $150 a pop. I could only justify that kind of money because we didn’t have 8-eye riot reds in Alabama growing up.
I hear a bunch of folks went over to Solovair, too, which took over one of the DM factories when the parent company outsourced to China circa 2003. They run a little bigger than Docs in the same size, though.
And the problem with the VTA light rail is that once you’re out of downtown San Jose, the endpoints are the only places you want to go. Plus, I can actually get from my house to downtown SF on Caltrain faster than I can get to downtown SJ on the light rail – and I live RIGHT ON THE LIGHT RAIL.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Campbell represent; I used to take the 60 from Hamilton Ave (where I’d transfer from the 82) to the mall, and that line runs right by my junior high school. The light rail opened in 2005, and to my knowledge (I escaped to “the City” of San Francisco about the time this opened) it’s not taking a whole lot of ridership from the 60, as it serves a different overall area. I love, though, how now that I have a driver’s license and a car and a house in SF, there’s a light rail station that’s within walking distance of my childhood home and my high school; where was that when I needed it.
And Rancid, as basically the only South Bay band to “make it” in recent years (unless you also count Smashmouth, which I don’t), obviously kicks ass.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Dear Matt– Props on the new gig. I have a strong instinct this is a good fit for you. I’ve followed you on every move and I’ve found it very exciting watching you progress from one thing to the next. One request, though — could you slow down just a bit? I fear I’m developing whiplash.
Best,
Kathy
August 11th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I liked Rancid the first time I heard them….
when they were called The Clash…
August 11th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
i was in my mid-30s when rancid debuted. of course, they were absurdly derivative, and the singing with an accent was laugh out loud funny when one thought about it. they weren’t the clash; they were at least a couple of orders of magnitude short. they were also fun, good, passionate, and politically aware. it’s hard to be against that. have fun, matt. rancid ain’t such a big deal, but they are worth seeing and supporting.
y’all have very odd ideas about what constitutes an old guy. maybe on blogs, and certainly in tech, new is the place to be, but music doesn’t work that way. great is great, however old it may be. one may be cooler for liking a new band, but chances are in 10 years you won’t even remember that band. search it out, old and new, but don’t assume new is better or that being old marks the end of discovery. it is all there to be discovered anew. whatever silly shoes you are wearing.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Ah, the first obligatory Corrs post at the new blog!
The Corrs – All The Love In The World – Live In London 2001
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21JnJjf237E
The Corrs – All In A Day – Live In London 2001
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bMDVlzXN24&feature=related
The Corrs – Irresistible – Live In London 2001
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_0HknLv9Xg&feature=related
August 12th, 2008 at 12:35 am
You should have gone to Grizzly Bear instead–a truly spectacular show. Even Howard Wolfson was there. Seriously, he was.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:51 am
echo lynch’s comments
how was the show?
August 12th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Matt:
You are indeed a geek of world class proportions for looking up and publishing the bus route mentioned in Roots Radical.
I confess that Rancid is my favorite band, and that “And Out Come the Wolves” is one of the great albums of the 1990’s. I never understood why Rancid failed to have the trajectory of Green Day or the Offspring. Of course, I wonder why I can’t turn on the radio and hear ska music on a daily basis.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Fave Rancid song-slash-paean-to-mass-transit: Daly City Train. Best guitar solo to pogo to. Ever.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Dunno about you, but I thought the show fucking rocked!
August 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Wow! Truly never thought I’d see my hometown, Campbell, mentioned on a political blog. And to make it more surreal, it’s in a post about Rancid. Although never a real fan, my younger brother went to high school with Lars (Westmont High), and he was always nagging me about Rancid.
And one more thing: nostalgia, and “being the old-dude” is all in the mind. Good music is good music, and as long as there are musicians out there making it work, I’ll keep going to the shows. Hell, I’m 43 and I still go to 2-3 shows a month, although mostly small club venues – can’t do the arena crap anymore. This past 4th of July, my wife and I flew to NYC to catch my favorite band play a free show in Battery Park. Some people may say I’m being nostalgic, but let me tell you, Sonic Youth still brings it, and still makes 95% of the other bands out there look childish by comparison.
So, yeah, keep seeing Rancid until they decide to pack in….
August 12th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Well, congrats on the successful completion of the first few days of your new job.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Roots Radical is near the top of my Rancid favorites. The lyrics to that song encouraged me to check out Desmond Decker and I ended up dancing with my mom to Decker’s Honor Your Mother and Father at my wedding.
Don’t do that “too old” crap. I’m 38 and never felt better about liking great bands no matter what their age demo. I was just listening to Fall Back Down while I was making my kids breakfast today. I didn’t get tix for any of the Rancid shows this week and I’m pretty bumbed about it.
August 12th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Can anyone tell me why Rancid’s only New England gig is in Worcester, MA?
August 12th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Wow. Never would’ve guess there’d be so many Campbellians (Campbellites?) in one spot reading the same blog.
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