For such a small and sparsely populated country without English as the main language, Sweden has produced so many heavyweights across the musical spectrum from pop to metal to punk and everything in between. To name but a few - Refused Millencolin Meshuggah Amon Amarth In flames Soilwork Ghost At the gates The Cardigans Opeth Abba Cult of Luna Arch Enemy Eagle eye cherry
making a living under the dominant capitalist regime as a socialist is doing the same thing everyone else is doing.. surviving. kudos to them to have done it as well as they have! so... not full of shit anymore than i am slaving in a kitchen for rich whites at sub$50k a year. also idk why, but among the the conservatives and most libs there seems to be some rule that being a socialist (believing that labor should own the means of production in a democratic setting) means having to be poor... i dont get it. anyway, THANKS for doing thid video, and all the other HC and PxVx content from the last decade or more. fucking interview mike cheese:)
I can confirm. I was touring guitarist for The Used for their first record, not to mention around for most of the recording and writing of it. Quinn and I were obsessed with Refused and you can hear a lot of that influence in what he recorded, particularly with the dissonant intro of the song Pieces Mended and then the opening up to the doubled high E as the song starts. This is a classic allusion to Refused's New Noise intro. Refused changed our lives for sure and in my opinion was the biggest influence for what eventually became the "screamo" band scene in the early 2000s. Legends. Still love them.
Honestly the scene in the South must have been much different from where you’re from because in the 90s in Florida and Georgia hardcore and punk was the same scene, same people, same clubs, some recording studios, same compilation albums, and often you’d see a punk band open for a hardcore band with members of the punk band in it. Wasn’t weird at all for like Chad Gilbert to be in Shai Hulud and A Newfound Glory, for example. I guess we just had less meatheads and more anarchist skate punks?
YES, I have been waiting for you to do this video, and I was not disappointed. I was a punk teenager in the middle of Sweden in the 90's (born in 81) and I cannot stress how huge of an influence Refused were for my generation. Rather Be Dead dropped like a bomb during my last year of junior high and "Umeå hardcore" quickly became the sound that all the local bands were aiming for. Then they released New Noise and The Shape of Punk and we all knew that this was something truly special. They played at the youth centre scene of my hometown Östersund in the spring of 1998, just weeks or so after releasing that album, with maybe 200 people in the audience. It remains one of the best and most intense shows I have seen in my life. I was lucky enough to see them twice more that year as they played on the second biggest stages of two of Swedens largest music festivals at the time, Hultsfred and Storsjöyran. So here in Sweden they were well on their way to become a big act. At the time of their breakup later that year I think there were many of us that thought that they would be one of those bands that would only be relevant to their home audience. So happy that they gained the legendary status they now have since, and that they decided to reunite. For me personally, The Shape of Punk changed how I view music and really made me expand my taste to electronica, prog, jazz and in the long run many other genres. It is a singular piece of art that I often go back and listen to.
This is one of the great things about these down to earth Swedish bands. Here they're just bands. They play small places and you can really get "intimate" with the music on another level. Refused, No Fun at All, Meshuggah, Raised Fist. All good bands that can fill a basement :)
One of the big factors in Refused's initial failure at the time was due to the technology. It would be next to impossible to perform those songs live without laptops, click tracks and in ear monitors. Turnstile can pull it off today but no place where hardcore bands were playing in the 90s were set up for anything like that. A mic'ed drum kit was rare back then.
@@TheGaggenau Dennis Lyxzen has mentioned how difficult it was to perform those songs in interviews. It comes up briefly in the Turned Out a Punk interview (between the obsessive record collector talk)
I met Refused through Cyberpunk as SAMURAI, and the songs they made for the game are some of my favorite songs, and then went back on the most popular songs of the previous albums, they've been on the back on my head ever since,and I'm glad their noise hasn't changed, because it's fucking rad, as for selling out, I have to agree with you, if you have a powerful message, doesn't matter if you sell yourself to bigger platforms, as long as your music stays the same, is when you start putting your songs through filters, and using the cookie cutter, and watering down elements of your music, tuning the music to pander to a broader audience and to make profit, that's when you ARE selling out.
"Never Fade Away" is amazing, I always wait until that song has ended before I get out of my car. Cyberpunk has its issues, but the soundtrack isn't one of them. Converge and The Armed, two other master hardcore bands are featured as well.
About halfway through my first playthrough of Cyberpunk I was like wait this sounds awesome/nostalgic but I've never heard it before so why. So I Googled it and it was the Refused. Who I've been into since Tony Hawk Underground
I love Refused's Samurai album, it's what got me into their band. And the lyrics they made for Samurai's tracks are 100% in character for them as a band too. Anti-Corporate rage music that to be honest, I relate to quite a lot.
Agreed. Johnny Silverhand and his backstory, views, and ethos absolutely fits Hardcore, as well as the kind of Hardcore Refused truly was. Silverhand is the kind of guy who would take his message to the streets in literal fashion, and actually walk the talk (and certainly did in the Cyberpunk Lore)
It's really interesting to hear the american perspective on Refused. As a Swede who was a teenager in the 90's and was in to all things punk, metal and hardcore, my memories of that era is very different. We had a huge boom of Swedish punk bands popping up all over the country. Most of them of them played in a style similar to Asta Kask and Strebers. Most were political, yes, but they were also in to drinking beer, having fun and not taking themselves to seriously. And then there was Umeå, making the national news for their straight edge hardcore scene, burning down McDonalds, letting out animals of farms and preaching a lifestyle without drugs. The kings of Umeå Hardcore was always Refused, long before anyone outside of Sweden knew they existed. On a sidenote, we used the term hardcore before we knew of any Umeå bands. But back then it described what most people today call crust, Anticimex, Exploited and all the Dis-bands.
I remember getting the "Shape of Punk" CD on release day at a local record show. A week later or so Refused played a local show and I climbed the stage when "New Noise" started. I timed my jump for the "Can I scream" line, but nobody in the audience knew the song back then, and you can imagine how this ended up for me…
I got into Refused when I used to play Diablo 2 online in 2000 and I made a Swedish friend on there - he recommended them to me, and I've not stopped listening since. Thanks, Jah!
true story: I discovered the band from watching an "alternative" segment in our local MTV, that would show really different stuff we would never hear about otherwise, from portuguese rappers to japanese jazz bands. as soon as I watched New Noise music video I felt in love. I somehow managed to buy a copy of The Shape and would listen to it every day, to the point I memorized the lyrics to most of the songs in the album, despite english not even being my language. lol but the amazing part is that one day I went to school with the cd, I guess in order to show it to a friend... and my History teacher, who was a metalhead, saw it and complimented me for my "musical taste", saying he was impressed a kid like me would listen to that. he didnt have this cd but he had their previous album, that one with a white cover. so we borrowed each others album to listen and copy the songs (the good old internet days, with no youtube, no torrent, etc). and later, when I bombed in a History test, he nonchalantly gave me a better score than he should, again telling me he was doing that because of my "musical taste". rofl
Very shocked Snapcase was not mentioned at all. In 1997 the release of “progression through unlearning” was insanely impactful on the entire scene along with their previous releases, they ended up touring with the deftones and other mainstream acts because of it. Refused at some point said that Snapcase was an influence. I enjoyed Refused and I was around to understand the impact of A Shape of Punk To Come, but heard Snapcase all over that. Playing shows/tours/fests with a lot of the bands around that time I could hear what bands were impacting the scene, and Snapcase was so important. Enjoyed the vid either way.
When I saw Refused in NYC, they wanted Snapcase to be their opener. They mentioned during the set how much Snapcase influenced them and they couldn't make the show because one of the members became a professional racecar driver and would be out of town.
@@ThePunkRockMBA talks about most influential, person brings up legit left out band.. Then finn goes all history lesson? Wow Finn king gatekeeper d-bag
Also, I can see Refused's influence on a Canadian band called Alexisonfire. You gotta feature Alexisonfire some day. They're definitely worth their own entry in The Punk Rock MBA.
I was lucky enough to have someone introduce me to Refused around 2002 when I was very much into punk. Finding that record and then deep diving and finding "fanning flames" blew my brain open. I told all of my friends and refused were without a doubt our favorite band for years. I bought shape three times because the cd would just get trashed jumping from car to car. When that Used record came out we called them "Re-Used" for obvious reasons. So many bands ripped them off after they broke up. I have seen them three times since they have gotten back to together, most recently with The Hives. It was a beautiful moment seeing my two favorite Burning Heart bands together on the same stage. AND it was the lead singers birthday! P.S. Thanks for the San Diego shout out Finn. Nice to hear about my hometown scene in a good light.
I was hanging out at a friends house back in the 90s watching either MTV or Much Music or whatever (give me a break it was over 20 years ago) when the video for New Noise came on. As it did for a lot of people, it blew my goddamn mind and I had to have the album. Fast Forward about 15 years and I got to see them live during a reunion tour in Silver Spring and they absolutely still had it. It was one of the best shows I've ever been to, and easily my favorite part of it was seeing the lead singer looking out at the crowd while we were just going nuts, and having the recognition of just how much of an impact their album had had on all of us. I'm really glad that, if not at the time, but in retrospect folks are really aware of just how amazing these guys were. I still can't figure out the time signature of the intro to The Deadly Rhythm to this day.
The way you smirked when you said "90's hardcore was some pretty wild shit." filled me with nostalgia. In Umeå the hardcore and vegan kids started acting like a cult and burned down several trucks from the local Scan factory which is one of Sweden's biggest meat producers. They made the municipality start serving vegan options in schools and shit, there was a mini moral panic at the time. And Refused were at the center of it. Great times!
Unfortunate? That's badass you've been able to see the evolution of punk for 30 years, can't wait to see where it ends up when I've been listening that long! 🤘🏻
Hell yeah me too homie. I've listened to ALOT of punk and watched documentaries about it and of course our guy Finn McKool. I listen to every genre of music. Mainly Rap and metal. Especially DeathCore, Metalcore n nu metal 🤘🎵🖤💯💯💯♠️
I saw New Noise on 120 minutes when that was still around really late at night. It blew me away and immediately told others about it, found the CD and blasted it. I also got into International Noise Conspiracy and found out Refused were broken up (I was convinced there was going to be a world wide Swedish musical revolution with them, The Hives, The Sahara Hotnights, etc.). I managed to finally get the chance to see Refused live in Seattle mere days before everything shutdown.
Hahaha no way! I was at that Seattle show. Last show I saw for years. Everything locked down within 2 weeks and that was the temporary end for live music.
I saw refused on the reunion tour in 2012. Dennis said something along the lines of "people say we have sold out, but you guys brought the records, and have brought tickets" They were playing Manchester academy and he mentioned that they upgraded the venue twice since tickets went on sale. The last time they'd played Manchester was in 1996, opening for madball, and 20 people showed up. And that it was nice to come back all these years later and 2000 people show up!
Really good analysis as usual! Same kind of stuff happened with At The Drive In which exploded in Europe in 2000 but split the year after. I remember that every band in Europe looked and sounded the same after the release of Relationship of Command
Heard new noise as a 13yr old in 2002, and it really was life changing, being a mostly pop punk/skate punk guy as a kid this album really opened my eyes to what else was available to me and truly changed my musical taste and direction. Finally got to see them live Halloween 2019, very much worth the wait.
This is the odd parallel record to the early/mid 2000’s screamo movement. You can hear it in so many bands like the Used and Thrice. It was the record that us cool scene kids knew by heart. Not only that… the lyrics. Truly inspirational and helped me be the empathetic/non douchey (hopefully) dude I am today.
I was definitely late to the Refused Party Program, I wasn't even a teenager yet when they broke up and hardcore was still way too heavy for my tastes at that point. But my god, when I finally was at a point to really receive this record in my late teens, it blew me away. It still does. What an absolute masterpiece and a triumphal work of art. It is perhaps unsurprising that their more recent music has failed to grab me - its almost impossible to catch lightning in a bottle, but to do it twice is unheard of. Nice bit of history work you've done here.
They were sure one of music milesstones in Punk history and been appreciated beyond Punk circut. Honorable mention with putting HC on the mainstream radar during 90's were Biohazard, Sick Of It All, Dog Eat Dog, Vision Of Disorder, Shelter, Madball...and The Exploited
God I remember the 90's straight edge vegan warrior h.c scene. All the karate fighting at shows got out of control and people just stopped dealing with it
Masterpiece. Recognizably hardcore punk, yet it sounds like nothing else. That's what makes the title ironic though; they did it so well that nobody could imitate it, so it *wasn't* the shape of punk to come!
I love Refused. From Pump the Brakes to New Noise. But during this time in the 90s there was a band sooo extremely underated named Breach. Breach experimented with ambient sounds, dual drummers for extra percussion. Very dynamic music that went from super heavy to super clear toned beauty. Breach is my favourite Hardcore band through all times and I would say that no other band has come close to capture my attention in that detail. That's my tip for the day.
I remember first hearing about them back in 99 or 00 when a very disinterested Lars Ulrich hosted a "Return of the Rock" music video marathon on MTV. They blew my 14 year old mind. When they reunited in 2012, I had serious plans to go to Sweden to finally see them - thankfully they announced a date nearby before I bought those plane tickets.
Refused and Rage Against the Machine were the sound of my formative years. Opened my eyes to what was really important, and honestly shaped who I became.
i feel so privileged to be old enough to remember a (mostly) pre internet world where even a kid downunder somehow resonated with the white-belt hardcore stylings of these Swedish bois,...and to be honest every time Finn points out these crucial but at the time (lets say pre 2002) smaller bands and genres that you have a formative organic connection to, its pretty special for us oldies,...i guess we were,... dare i say,...cool.:) Cheers bro, another banger (and if this is gonna be the year of some post-hardcore revivalism:),...
Great video Finn! Thank you for spending time talking about Refused and their legacy! Being myself an european and a serious hardcore fan, it's great seeing an american hardcore veteran dedicating time to the importance of this amazing band, which will always remain an icon of great importance for us
Do you know how I first heard of Refused? There was an Amoeba video edition of What's in my bag with Mike Shinoda, where he blew me out of the water with the sentence that there wouldn't have been Linkin Park, if there wasn't The shape of punk to come. That was good enough for me to check these boys!
Just found your channel and I’m pumped. I grew up on 90s punk and hardcore and loved Refused. I was even at their last show in that random basement in Harrisonburg, VA. Thanks for doing this. I’m gonna have to binge a number of your other videos I can already tell
Refused made me want to learn screaming and be in a band. Both happened. I was near to tears when i heard refused would do songs as samurai for cyberpunk2077 which i also loved.
Nobody besides Korn was tuning that low back then lol. If you like them try checking out Harvest, Countervail, Turmoil, Bloodlet, Overcast, Fall Silent, Burn It Down, Morning Again, Abnegation, Groundwork, Hourglass, Day of Suffering, Eyelid.
I think the only band from 90s hardcore to top Disembodied in terms of drop-tuning and heaviness was Die My Will, especially on their split with Piecemeal
Holy shit this is actually your best video so far Finn. Seriously your delivery is fantastic, great editing and really detailed analysis. A perfect amount of facts and personal commentary. You actually referenced the Ornette Coleman album too, which as an angular post bop jazz nerd slaps so hard. So stoked to see where you take your content this year!
I'm 33 and when I was in high school, even among subgenres and subcultures, punk wasn't respected then. It got a little popular when Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte exploded, but after that died down there wasn't much attention or respect. I do love the hell out of some Victory Records though. Integrity's Den of Iniquity got me through most of my depression in my teens and 20s. Refused is also a means a lot to me. Thanks so much for doing this video!
I remember seeing them live in Örebro, Sweden about 200 years ago, they introduced me to this kind of music! Pump the Brakes was my go to song when jumping on my bike or the bus to school!
It perplexes me that they'll play Circle Pit but not Pump The Brakes when they play live now I guess Dennis and David played it enough in the 90's to last a lifetime
I saw them in NY at small venue right after they reformed. This was when they still had the original line up. Eeeeasily one of the shows I’ve ever been to. An energy level I’ve rarely experienced since.
ngl, i think refused are a bunch of wankers -- from self-styled situationist epigones waging a performative sisyphean struggle against a nebulous 'boring discourse,' to washouts indulging in mediocre comeback albums and nostalgia tours -- but the shape of punk to come is a gem. i respect them for that album and that album alone.
Yeah bro! One of the greatest bands of all time. I was lucky to interview them when they played New Zealand, I remember them being great guys, they have had such a positive impact on many lives. Great video, thanks man!
I'll never forget when me and my friends heard "New Noise". We went out immediately and got "Shape of Punk" it was just a real breath of fresh air at the time. We were all starting bands etc. And that music was such a soundtrack to some amazing times...
I remember this coming out and it was so good! I was really into Victory through the Victory Style comps after I went to my first show in '97. I'm from South Dakota and our punk scene was eclectic because it was so small and though we had a stable of local bands, there wasn't a "sound." But we got lots of touring bands because we are like half way between Denver and Minneapolis on I-90. We had so many legendary bands that played like Refused, Fugazi, No Means No, At the Drive In.. I love how this music and community can make the world a much smaller place than it seems, especially when you come from from a tiny place and are part of a tinier group of people therein. Great video as always!
In order to be punk today, to actually rebel against the establishment, you'd need to be rightwing. Leftwing is lame & pro establishment, not edgy in the least.
Happy New Year Finn! Love you channel. We grew up in the same era of hardcore (I was in South Florida). I was lucky to see Refused twice! First time they opened up for Snapcase (supporting Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent). And they were already changing up their look and sound. I remember some up the audience was not feeling their look and stage antics. Me, on the other hand, I was all on board and loving every minute. The second time was for The Shape of Punk to Come. This time they were the headline with Frodus opening up for them. We drove over 2 hours north to see them in a small beach town in Fl. They played some rec center with no stage. And I was blown away. They were not the same band I saw years ago. To this day it's still one of the best live shows I've seen. After the show my group met Dennis and we hung-out for bit. We had mutual hardcore connections. I remember him telling us that this tour in the state was a bit of a challenge. Month later word got back to us they broke up on the same tour. I was bummed, I felt this album was groundbreaking for HC and more Ppl needed to hear this. And just like you mentioned the album picked up steam after the band was done. I remember seeing the video on MTV and being like WTF! why now!? Anyways I'm glad to made the video hopefully more Ppl listen to them. Love the San Diego scene maybe you should do a video on that! And thanks for taking me down memory lane again!
Refused isn't my favourite band, but this is perhaps my favourite video of yours. Just masterfully done and a very balanced viewpoint on whether or not they are sellouts. A side note but the dudes who produced The Shape Of Punk To Come are heroes of mine and had a legendary run in the late 90s and early 2000s off the back of this album. Loads of bands wanted that sound, understandably so!
I think it's always super interesting that so many bands and artists get big after the fact. I've been keeping an eye on the unwound reunion and seeing this post-hardcore band that made fantastic music but maybe only ever played to an audience of like 500 people on a good night to selling out 3 nights in a row of 1000-2000 cap venues has been super interesting and I think it's that kinda thing where the people who cherish it really do cherish it and want to champion it for better or worse. Which is what I think happened to refused.
Greetings from U-mey-oh! Weird but not completely unexpected to see contemporary images (thanks for that too) of my home town featured in this channel. Kids are actually starting to show up at gigs again and forming bands like in -94 when hardcore was mainstream, wearing x:s on their hands not because it looks cool but because they are actually under-age. So yeah, us old folks in the scene are playing to, and with, our own children nowadays. Good times!
Side reference to abhinanda too… quite a change in their las album too. And songs to fan the flames is an extraordinary album too, far better than many contemporary ones. The level of technique and composition makes me swing back and forth between shape and this one.
I am Swedish, but stumbled upon the album in 2002 on the internet, got so exited and looked fore more albums to come, found out that they broke apart and that they were just 2h away from where I live. Have been looking for anything that slaps this hard ever since. My absolute favorite album.
I remember my brother introduced me to this album freshman year of high school in '06 when all I listened to were Disturbed, Slipknot, and various other metal bands. It was definitely an eye opening experience, and one that I hold close since my brother's passing.
I grew up listening to punk, NOFX, Pennywise, Bad Religion, etc. In about 99/2000, the hardcore kids at my school went around passing out burned cds one day with about 20 different bands on it. I was like “wtf is all of this, because I need to hear more!” One of the bands was Refused, with New Noise. It was one of those small moments that really changed my life.
I like NoFX, Pennywise, and Bad Religion, music-wise and topic-wise, but Shape of Punk to Come is over-rated and boring. I have never liked it and still don't
I seen them tons of times. I even gave a t shirt and skated before a punk show in Sweden with the singer Dennis. I had a fishbone shirt and he wanted it. And I got a Strife shirt from him. And so many of my friends became straight edge because of just Refused and other swedish bands bands. I even got to see Earthcrisis in Sweden cos of my straight edge friends. Refused were a great band. I hope u do a deep dive into the Burning Heart and skate punk scene in Sweden in the mid 90s, Millencolin, 59 times the pain, Mindjive, Breach, Satanic Surfers and Raised Fist and other bands.
Awesome video, Finn. I got into Refused as a kid (like 6?) reading an interview by Pete Wentz that listed “Summerholidays” as one of his favorite all time songs. Love when you cover these classic or legendary releases/bands in these essay formats. Happy new year!
Excellent Video and History....I saw them in Miami in 1996 at "CHEERS" and I still recall how they came out in Tuxedos and the Hardcore Crowd was booing them and throwing water at the stage and they ignore and went on playing as a few of us who (like me) was so excited to see them in "a hole in the wall" and they broke into the song "Burn It"........what a start to a show for openers and then swing into "rather Be dead".....if you can even find a CD or record store get " Everlasting" ep from 1995...... Was great to see them when they did the reunion and when "Freedom" came out to hear them back and to finally see and hear "New Noise" live.
Hey Finn! Props to you for considering the different Hardcore Straightedge scenes when making this video! I remember a discussion being had about the violence in the Salt Lake straightedge scene in a previous video of yours
This album and relationship of command by at the drive in and black sails in the sunset by afi completely changed my musical life. Great work as always. Keep it up!
IMO, the refused were prophets of the rock genre. You are exactly right about ignoring artists until it’s too late. PLEASE make a 10 “unknown” bands to watch video! 🙏 I’m old and know anything now. Lol
Your takeaway at the end has been very true for me at least. I’m way too young to have seen or been around for many of these 90’s hardcore bands you mention or have snippets of in your videos. But I’ve discovered so many bands that I probably would’ve never come across otherwise, that I really really like.
This is a great video on Refused! I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard one of the biggest reasons for their breakup was that only the lead singer Dennis Lyxzen was really into socialism/communism and that it wasn't that important to the other band members. And that caused struggles within the band. But because Dennis wrote the lyrics, that was what people thought was the band all about. Anyway, still love this album. So sad they broke up the same year as their masterpiece got released.
Loved this walk down memory lane and the history lesson. End of the video hit hard. Thanks Finn! Starting the new year off with a bang, hope you have a good one
Back in grade 7 (2002) I snuck out of my room to watch the punk show on much music and the video for new noise came on. To this day the shape of punk to come is in my top 5 and new noise changed the course of my musical taste forever. Thank you.
You saved the best for last when you spoke on compromises and how you hope your Sports Metal content will direct some kids to dig deeper into music (as they most assuredly will).
Finn thanks from europe for this wellspoken and very good review about Refused and her legacy. A good overview of what happened in the 1990ies in Hardcore and how Refused changed the game a bit in 1998.
I think I've heard in other videos that you weren't a big fan of that scene but I think a video on the San Diego 90's scene and by extension it's influence on the early "screamo" scene would be really important, even with all of emo's various revivals over the years, it's insane how little acknowledgement that scene gets despite a lot of it's key members influence (namely Gravity Records, 31G, and Ebullition) on the world of hardcore as a whole. It kind of feels like a huge chunk of the world in the 2000's basically tried to look like Justin Pearson in the 90's and regardless if you like that scene or not, the fact that not that many people know or care about that is kinda crazy.
i remember coming home from primary school in 98, my dad had just got the burning hearts studio vhs and being floored with refused, cut to my birthday that year and i got The Shape of Punk to come for my birthday and it being me and my dads favorite punk album for an absolute long time. to this day its one of my top 3 albums of all time. Thanks for that blast down memory lane Finn
Some weird syncronicity - this morning I randomly played The Shape of Punk To Come without having seen this video was posted. It's such an interesting album. Definitely has that "lightning in a bottle" feeling to it. I didn't realise they struggled so much during their time as a band though. It's definitely a shame they didn't get found in time, especially when some of the bands they inspired went on to be pretty massive.
When I was 16yrs i and Dennis Lyxen were pen pals, how cute isn't that 😻 I have letters somewhere in my apartment. Sweden had a mega hardcore scen in 1994, the best years in my life 🤍✨
This album in short was mind blowing, completely epic on every level. Another good video Finn, really like your take on most things, even on the rare times that I may not agree.
Refused gave me everything I didn’t think I needed in music at the time. I had never heard lyrics like this, delivered with style and intensity. Definitely married poppunk, Emo, hardcore, metal into a single sound.
Found Refused on the Burning Hearts, Cheap Shots Volume 3 album. What a game changer. Their documentary they released years later is still on of the most honest films about band life I've seen. Great content man. Keen to hunt down these San Diego bands now.
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If you haven't already done a video on Gorilla Biscuits could you pleeeeeease? You should start today!
@ThePunkRockMBA being an old is cool. Being a fan of the punk and hardcore scene for 30 years is a good thing!
For such a small and sparsely populated country without English as the main language, Sweden has produced so many heavyweights across the musical spectrum from pop to metal to punk and everything in between.
To name but a few -
Refused
Millencolin
Meshuggah
Amon Amarth
In flames
Soilwork
Ghost
At the gates
The Cardigans
Opeth
Abba
Cult of Luna
Arch Enemy
Eagle eye cherry
making a living under the dominant capitalist regime as a socialist is doing the same thing everyone else is doing.. surviving. kudos to them to have done it as well as they have! so... not full of shit anymore than i am slaving in a kitchen for rich whites at sub$50k a year.
also idk why, but among the the conservatives and most libs there seems to be some rule that being a socialist (believing that labor should own the means of production in a democratic setting) means having to be poor... i dont get it.
anyway, THANKS for doing thid video, and all the other HC and PxVx content from the last decade or more. fucking interview mike cheese:)
tlnr; youre mostly right, but i dont even think they made compromises. again, thanks.
I can confirm. I was touring guitarist for The Used for their first record, not to mention around for most of the recording and writing of it. Quinn and I were obsessed with Refused and you can hear a lot of that influence in what he recorded, particularly with the dissonant intro of the song Pieces Mended and then the opening up to the doubled high E as the song starts. This is a classic allusion to Refused's New Noise intro. Refused changed our lives for sure and in my opinion was the biggest influence for what eventually became the "screamo" band scene in the early 2000s. Legends. Still love them.
Nice! I can also hear a bit of Worms of the Senses during the intro in a Box Full of Sharp Objects
Thanks for being a part of the only good record from this band 😂
Were you with them when they first started out in Utah or did you sit in on just that tour?
As a Utah County kid (veterans hall in AF alumni) I can confirm and vouch for this comment. Hope all is well, Greg.
Honestly the scene in the South must have been much different from where you’re from because in the 90s in Florida and Georgia hardcore and punk was the same scene, same people, same clubs, some recording studios, same compilation albums, and often you’d see a punk band open for a hardcore band with members of the punk band in it. Wasn’t weird at all for like Chad Gilbert to be in Shai Hulud and A Newfound Glory, for example. I guess we just had less meatheads and more anarchist skate punks?
The Shape of Punk to Come is a "10 out of 10". Absolute game changer that still holds up to this day. The guitar tone is unreal.
...and Sandstrom's drums
The production as a whole is outstanding. Everything sounds great.
@@JC_2311 I see you are a man of culture.
Sounds like they used an HM2 pedal but I dunno. Great sound tho!
I like their early stuff, The Shape of Punk To Come is over-rated and boring music-wise.
YES, I have been waiting for you to do this video, and I was not disappointed. I was a punk teenager in the middle of Sweden in the 90's (born in 81) and I cannot stress how huge of an influence Refused were for my generation. Rather Be Dead dropped like a bomb during my last year of junior high and "Umeå hardcore" quickly became the sound that all the local bands were aiming for. Then they released New Noise and The Shape of Punk and we all knew that this was something truly special. They played at the youth centre scene of my hometown Östersund in the spring of 1998, just weeks or so after releasing that album, with maybe 200 people in the audience. It remains one of the best and most intense shows I have seen in my life. I was lucky enough to see them twice more that year as they played on the second biggest stages of two of Swedens largest music festivals at the time, Hultsfred and Storsjöyran. So here in Sweden they were well on their way to become a big act.
At the time of their breakup later that year I think there were many of us that thought that they would be one of those bands that would only be relevant to their home audience. So happy that they gained the legendary status they now have since, and that they decided to reunite.
For me personally, The Shape of Punk changed how I view music and really made me expand my taste to electronica, prog, jazz and in the long run many other genres. It is a singular piece of art that I often go back and listen to.
Exact! My best Refused memory is from the gig they did in svarta rummet in östhammar infront of 300 kids in a 8 by 6 meter room.
This era was legendary, i miss "Bergslagsrocken" in Fagersta, what a time to live in. Even Green Day played there -94 ❤️✨🤍
svärjeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
This is one of the great things about these down to earth Swedish bands. Here they're just bands. They play small places and you can really get "intimate" with the music on another level. Refused, No Fun at All, Meshuggah, Raised Fist. All good bands that can fill a basement :)
Cronsioe, there´s a name I haven´t seen since my highschool days. Wargentin?
One of the big factors in Refused's initial failure at the time was due to the technology. It would be next to impossible to perform those songs live without laptops, click tracks and in ear monitors. Turnstile can pull it off today but no place where hardcore bands were playing in the 90s were set up for anything like that. A mic'ed drum kit was rare back then.
Yes! I remember VOD’s singer stepping on a delay pedal during the clean vocals in their songs lol
not if you listen to interviews with the band
@@TheGaggenau Dennis Lyxzen has mentioned how difficult it was to perform those songs in interviews. It comes up briefly in the Turned Out a Punk interview (between the obsessive record collector talk)
I met Refused through Cyberpunk as SAMURAI, and the songs they made for the game are some of my favorite songs, and then went back on the most popular songs of the previous albums, they've been on the back on my head ever since,and I'm glad their noise hasn't changed, because it's fucking rad, as for selling out, I have to agree with you, if you have a powerful message, doesn't matter if you sell yourself to bigger platforms, as long as your music stays the same, is when you start putting your songs through filters, and using the cookie cutter, and watering down elements of your music, tuning the music to pander to a broader audience and to make profit, that's when you ARE selling out.
"Never Fade Away" is amazing, I always wait until that song has ended before I get out of my car. Cyberpunk has its issues, but the soundtrack isn't one of them. Converge and The Armed, two other master hardcore bands are featured as well.
About halfway through my first playthrough of Cyberpunk I was like wait this sounds awesome/nostalgic but I've never heard it before so why. So I Googled it and it was the Refused. Who I've been into since Tony Hawk Underground
I love Refused's Samurai album, it's what got me into their band. And the lyrics they made for Samurai's tracks are 100% in character for them as a band too. Anti-Corporate rage music that to be honest, I relate to quite a lot.
Say what you want about Cyberpunk as a game but, Refused song's were pretty badass.
Rage for the machine
Agreed. Johnny Silverhand and his backstory, views, and ethos absolutely fits Hardcore, as well as the kind of Hardcore Refused truly was. Silverhand is the kind of guy who would take his message to the streets in literal fashion, and actually walk the talk (and certainly did in the Cyberpunk Lore)
Well said. Preem comment, choom 🤘🏻😂
I first head of Refused from Tony Hawk’s Underground.
New Noise was one of the standouts for me on one of the greatest video game soundtracks ever.
Every Tony Hawk game I just love the soundtracks they played on there.
The helicopter jump with new noise playing changed my life
Hell yeah! Same here. Although I wouldn’t truly appreciate the song until a few years later when I was in middle school
Likewise along with god knows how many other people
MMA fight Clay Guida became my favorite fighter of all time after using it as an entrance song. He also used Alkaline Trio and other great bands too.
It's really interesting to hear the american perspective on Refused. As a Swede who was a teenager in the 90's and was in to all things punk, metal and hardcore, my memories of that era is very different. We had a huge boom of Swedish punk bands popping up all over the country. Most of them of them played in a style similar to Asta Kask and Strebers. Most were political, yes, but they were also in to drinking beer, having fun and not taking themselves to seriously.
And then there was Umeå, making the national news for their straight edge hardcore scene, burning down McDonalds, letting out animals of farms and preaching a lifestyle without drugs. The kings of Umeå Hardcore was always Refused, long before anyone outside of Sweden knew they existed.
On a sidenote, we used the term hardcore before we knew of any Umeå bands. But back then it described what most people today call crust, Anticimex, Exploited and all the Dis-bands.
I remember getting the "Shape of Punk" CD on release day at a local record show. A week later or so Refused played a local show and I climbed the stage when "New Noise" started. I timed my jump for the "Can I scream" line, but nobody in the audience knew the song back then, and you can imagine how this ended up for me…
I got into Refused when I used to play Diablo 2 online in 2000 and I made a Swedish friend on there - he recommended them to me, and I've not stopped listening since. Thanks, Jah!
true story: I discovered the band from watching an "alternative" segment in our local MTV, that would show really different stuff we would never hear about otherwise, from portuguese rappers to japanese jazz bands. as soon as I watched New Noise music video I felt in love. I somehow managed to buy a copy of The Shape and would listen to it every day, to the point I memorized the lyrics to most of the songs in the album, despite english not even being my language. lol but the amazing part is that one day I went to school with the cd, I guess in order to show it to a friend... and my History teacher, who was a metalhead, saw it and complimented me for my "musical taste", saying he was impressed a kid like me would listen to that. he didnt have this cd but he had their previous album, that one with a white cover. so we borrowed each others album to listen and copy the songs (the good old internet days, with no youtube, no torrent, etc). and later, when I bombed in a History test, he nonchalantly gave me a better score than he should, again telling me he was doing that because of my "musical taste". rofl
Amazing story. Curious, what country?
@@bgmzy Brazil.
Such a great album. Glad you’re covering this, what a way to come into the new year.
Very shocked Snapcase was not mentioned at all. In 1997 the release of “progression through unlearning” was insanely impactful on the entire scene along with their previous releases, they ended up touring with the deftones and other mainstream acts because of it. Refused at some point said that Snapcase was an influence. I enjoyed Refused and I was around to understand the impact of A Shape of Punk To Come, but heard Snapcase all over that. Playing shows/tours/fests with a lot of the bands around that time I could hear what bands were impacting the scene, and Snapcase was so important. Enjoyed the vid either way.
Thanks! You shouldn’t be shocked, this isn’t the history of every 90s hardcore band.
When I saw Refused in NYC, they wanted Snapcase to be their opener. They mentioned during the set how much Snapcase influenced them and they couldn't make the show because one of the members became a professional racecar driver and would be out of town.
Snapcase ❤
@@ThePunkRockMBA talks about most influential, person brings up legit left out band.. Then finn goes all history lesson? Wow Finn king gatekeeper d-bag
That album is BRUTAL af
Also, I can see Refused's influence on a Canadian band called Alexisonfire. You gotta feature Alexisonfire some day. They're definitely worth their own entry in The Punk Rock MBA.
Dallas Green's musically career is pretty fascinating. He is underrated guitar hero!
Definitely. They would practically be a Refused cover band if Dallas Green wasn't an elite vocalist
I'd love to see Finn do a video on Alexisonfire, they're absolutely incredible
Alexisonfire is such a great band
I was lucky enough to have someone introduce me to Refused around 2002 when I was very much into punk. Finding that record and then deep diving and finding "fanning flames" blew my brain open. I told all of my friends and refused were without a doubt our favorite band for years. I bought shape three times because the cd would just get trashed jumping from car to car. When that Used record came out we called them "Re-Used" for obvious reasons. So many bands ripped them off after they broke up. I have seen them three times since they have gotten back to together, most recently with The Hives. It was a beautiful moment seeing my two favorite Burning Heart bands together on the same stage. AND it was the lead singers birthday!
P.S. Thanks for the San Diego shout out Finn. Nice to hear about my hometown scene in a good light.
I was hanging out at a friends house back in the 90s watching either MTV or Much Music or whatever (give me a break it was over 20 years ago) when the video for New Noise came on. As it did for a lot of people, it blew my goddamn mind and I had to have the album. Fast Forward about 15 years and I got to see them live during a reunion tour in Silver Spring and they absolutely still had it. It was one of the best shows I've ever been to, and easily my favorite part of it was seeing the lead singer looking out at the crowd while we were just going nuts, and having the recognition of just how much of an impact their album had had on all of us. I'm really glad that, if not at the time, but in retrospect folks are really aware of just how amazing these guys were. I still can't figure out the time signature of the intro to The Deadly Rhythm to this day.
The way you smirked when you said "90's hardcore was some pretty wild shit." filled me with nostalgia. In Umeå the hardcore and vegan kids started acting like a cult and burned down several trucks from the local Scan factory which is one of Sweden's biggest meat producers. They made the municipality start serving vegan options in schools and shit, there was a mini moral panic at the time. And Refused were at the center of it. Great times!
Hell yeah glad you're making a video on this masterpiece
Let's fucken do it
Citing Fugazi as a big influence.. *cough cough* Finn. :D Where's our Fugazi video? lol
Yeah.... Finn's never hidden the fact that he's not a big Fugazi fan. That's on him!
That would need to come with a Minor Threat video
@@Caffeine_Club that's why that vid would be great
I'd LOOOOOVVVEEE to see a FUGAZI vid!!!
That and a BLACK FLAG one!
Jam band hardcore. Didnt appreciate it until my late 20s even as a huge Minor Threat fan.
Unfortunate? That's badass you've been able to see the evolution of punk for 30 years, can't wait to see where it ends up when I've been listening that long! 🤘🏻
Hell yeah me too homie. I've listened to ALOT of punk and watched documentaries about it and of course our guy Finn McKool. I listen to every genre of music. Mainly Rap and metal. Especially DeathCore, Metalcore n nu metal 🤘🎵🖤💯💯💯♠️
@@carlzombie6722 I personally can't get into rap, but I'd like to, you have any recommendations?
I saw New Noise on 120 minutes when that was still around really late at night. It blew me away and immediately told others about it, found the CD and blasted it. I also got into International Noise Conspiracy and found out Refused were broken up (I was convinced there was going to be a world wide Swedish musical revolution with them, The Hives, The Sahara Hotnights, etc.). I managed to finally get the chance to see Refused live in Seattle mere days before everything shutdown.
Hahaha no way! I was at that Seattle show. Last show I saw for years. Everything locked down within 2 weeks and that was the temporary end for live music.
I saw refused on the reunion tour in 2012.
Dennis said something along the lines of "people say we have sold out, but you guys brought the records, and have brought tickets"
They were playing Manchester academy and he mentioned that they upgraded the venue twice since tickets went on sale. The last time they'd played Manchester was in 1996, opening for madball, and 20 people showed up. And that it was nice to come back all these years later and 2000 people show up!
Really good analysis as usual! Same kind of stuff happened with At The Drive In which exploded in Europe in 2000 but split the year after. I remember that every band in Europe looked and sounded the same after the release of Relationship of Command
Heard new noise as a 13yr old in 2002, and it really was life changing, being a mostly pop punk/skate punk guy as a kid this album really opened my eyes to what else was available to me and truly changed my musical taste and direction. Finally got to see them live Halloween 2019, very much worth the wait.
This is the odd parallel record to the early/mid 2000’s screamo movement. You can hear it in so many bands like the Used and Thrice. It was the record that us cool scene kids knew by heart. Not only that… the lyrics. Truly inspirational and helped me be the empathetic/non douchey (hopefully) dude I am today.
The Shape of Punk to Come is such a great album, absolutely trend setting
Been waiting for Finn to do this one for a while. still an extremely underrated band to this day. wish they had lasted longer.
they got back together, released 2 albums since
I was definitely late to the Refused Party Program, I wasn't even a teenager yet when they broke up and hardcore was still way too heavy for my tastes at that point. But my god, when I finally was at a point to really receive this record in my late teens, it blew me away. It still does. What an absolute masterpiece and a triumphal work of art. It is perhaps unsurprising that their more recent music has failed to grab me - its almost impossible to catch lightning in a bottle, but to do it twice is unheard of. Nice bit of history work you've done here.
They were sure one of music milesstones in Punk history and been appreciated beyond Punk circut.
Honorable mention with putting HC on the mainstream radar during 90's were Biohazard, Sick Of It All, Dog Eat Dog, Vision Of Disorder, Shelter, Madball...and The Exploited
God I remember the 90's straight edge vegan warrior h.c scene. All the karate fighting at shows got out of control and people just stopped dealing with it
Masterpiece. Recognizably hardcore punk, yet it sounds like nothing else. That's what makes the title ironic though; they did it so well that nobody could imitate it, so it *wasn't* the shape of punk to come!
I love Refused. From Pump the Brakes to New Noise. But during this time in the 90s there was a band sooo extremely underated named Breach. Breach experimented with ambient sounds, dual drummers for extra percussion. Very dynamic music that went from super heavy to super clear toned beauty. Breach is my favourite Hardcore band through all times and I would say that no other band has come close to capture my attention in that detail. That's my tip for the day.
Thanks for the hint!!!! They kick ass!!!
@@bengoshi4 Big Strong Boss, Venom, Diablo. Crazy good and inuitive songs. They kind of had their own sound. And in some cases their own genre.
Pretty sure that Refused and Breach even toured together (must have been 95 or 96).
I remember first hearing about them back in 99 or 00 when a very disinterested Lars Ulrich hosted a "Return of the Rock" music video marathon on MTV. They blew my 14 year old mind. When they reunited in 2012, I had serious plans to go to Sweden to finally see them - thankfully they announced a date nearby before I bought those plane tickets.
Refused and Rage Against the Machine were the sound of my formative years. Opened my eyes to what was really important, and honestly shaped who I became.
i feel so privileged to be old enough to remember a (mostly) pre internet world where even a kid downunder somehow resonated with the white-belt hardcore stylings of these Swedish bois,...and to be honest every time Finn points out these crucial but at the time (lets say pre 2002) smaller bands and genres that you have a formative organic connection to, its pretty special for us oldies,...i guess we were,... dare i say,...cool.:) Cheers bro, another banger (and if this is gonna be the year of some post-hardcore revivalism:),...
Great video Finn! Thank you for spending time talking about Refused and their legacy! Being myself an european and a serious hardcore fan, it's great seeing an american hardcore veteran dedicating time to the importance of this amazing band, which will always remain an icon of great importance for us
Do you know how I first heard of Refused? There was an Amoeba video edition of What's in my bag with Mike Shinoda, where he blew me out of the water with the sentence that there wouldn't have been Linkin Park, if there wasn't The shape of punk to come. That was good enough for me to check these boys!
Same
Just found your channel and I’m pumped. I grew up on 90s punk and hardcore and loved Refused. I was even at their last show in that random basement in Harrisonburg, VA. Thanks for doing this. I’m gonna have to binge a number of your other videos I can already tell
Great video, man! Got into them after playing Cyberpunk and hearing their "Samurai" songs. Great energy and history. Definitely nothing like it.
When I first heard Chippin’ In I thought, “man that sounds like Refused”. So fucking cool to find out that they ARE Samurai.
Refused made me want to learn screaming and be in a band. Both happened.
I was near to tears when i heard refused would do songs as samurai for cyberpunk2077 which i also loved.
Disembodied has got to be one of my favorite old school hardcore bands, still sounds heavy as fuck
Nobody besides Korn was tuning that low back then lol. If you like them try checking out Harvest, Countervail, Turmoil, Bloodlet, Overcast, Fall Silent, Burn It Down, Morning Again, Abnegation, Groundwork, Hourglass, Day of Suffering, Eyelid.
Thank you! Only one of those I've heard is abnegation and I LOVE them so I'll definitely check out the others 🤘🏻
I think the only band from 90s hardcore to top Disembodied in terms of drop-tuning and heaviness was Die My Will, especially on their split with Piecemeal
Cool video Finn! I think The Shape of punk to come is one of the greatest albums of all time in the punk/hardcore scene
Dude! This video was sick, and honestly hearing Refused is a breath of fresh air. Thanks for video!
Holy shit this is actually your best video so far Finn. Seriously your delivery is fantastic, great editing and really detailed analysis. A perfect amount of facts and personal commentary. You actually referenced the Ornette Coleman album too, which as an angular post bop jazz nerd slaps so hard. So stoked to see where you take your content this year!
I'm 33 and when I was in high school, even among subgenres and subcultures, punk wasn't respected then. It got a little popular when Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte exploded, but after that died down there wasn't much attention or respect. I do love the hell out of some Victory Records though. Integrity's Den of Iniquity got me through most of my depression in my teens and 20s. Refused is also a means a lot to me. Thanks so much for doing this video!
Such a killer album, and perhaps one of the most important in the punk genre.
I remember seeing them live in Örebro, Sweden about 200 years ago, they introduced me to this kind of music! Pump the Brakes was my go to song when jumping on my bike or the bus to school!
It perplexes me that they'll play Circle Pit but not Pump The Brakes when they play live now
I guess Dennis and David played it enough in the 90's to last a lifetime
I love refused, they hit hard with music, lyrics and of course vocals.
🤘 Thanks man
Clearly misunderstood band
Hard to understand what doesn't exist apparently
I saw them in NY at small venue right after they reformed. This was when they still had the original line up. Eeeeasily one of the shows I’ve ever been to. An energy level I’ve rarely experienced since.
ngl, i think refused are a bunch of wankers -- from self-styled situationist epigones waging a performative sisyphean struggle against a nebulous 'boring discourse,' to washouts indulging in mediocre comeback albums and nostalgia tours -- but the shape of punk to come is a gem. i respect them for that album and that album alone.
Exactly what I would have said if I gave a shit at all about this band.
Yeah bro! One of the greatest bands of all time. I was lucky to interview them when they played New Zealand, I remember them being great guys, they have had such a positive impact on many lives. Great video, thanks man!
*Refused* is to punk what *deftones* is to nu-metal
Except Refused is good.
@@KnivingDispodia already with to SHADE 😎😎😎😎
Ummmmm, no.
Okay
I'll never forget when me and my friends heard "New Noise". We went out immediately and got "Shape of Punk" it was just a real breath of fresh air at the time. We were all starting bands etc. And that music was such a soundtrack to some amazing times...
I remember this coming out and it was so good! I was really into Victory through the Victory Style comps after I went to my first show in '97. I'm from South Dakota and our punk scene was eclectic because it was so small and though we had a stable of local bands, there wasn't a "sound." But we got lots of touring bands because we are like half way between Denver and Minneapolis on I-90. We had so many legendary bands that played like Refused, Fugazi, No Means No, At the Drive In.. I love how this music and community can make the world a much smaller place than it seems, especially when you come from from a tiny place and are part of a tinier group of people therein.
Great video as always!
In order to be punk today, to actually rebel against the establishment, you'd need to be rightwing. Leftwing is lame & pro establishment, not edgy in the least.
Happy New Year Finn! Love you channel. We grew up in the same era of hardcore (I was in South Florida). I was lucky to see Refused twice! First time they opened up for Snapcase (supporting Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent). And they were already changing up their look and sound. I remember some up the audience was not feeling their look and stage antics. Me, on the other hand, I was all on board and loving every minute. The second time was for The Shape of Punk to Come. This time they were the headline with Frodus opening up for them. We drove over 2 hours north to see them in a small beach town in Fl. They played some rec center with no stage. And I was blown away. They were not the same band I saw years ago. To this day it's still one of the best live shows I've seen. After the show my group met Dennis and we hung-out for bit. We had mutual hardcore connections. I remember him telling us that this tour in the state was a bit of a challenge. Month later word got back to us they broke up on the same tour. I was bummed, I felt this album was groundbreaking for HC and more Ppl needed to hear this. And just like you mentioned the album picked up steam after the band was done. I remember seeing the video on MTV and being like WTF! why now!? Anyways I'm glad to made the video hopefully more Ppl listen to them. Love the San Diego scene maybe you should do a video on that! And thanks for taking me down memory lane again!
I feel like Dennis's vocals made Refused stand out from the other Victory bands. "Songs to fan the flames" is a top 5 Victory release for me.
Refused isn't my favourite band, but this is perhaps my favourite video of yours. Just masterfully done and a very balanced viewpoint on whether or not they are sellouts.
A side note but the dudes who produced The Shape Of Punk To Come are heroes of mine and had a legendary run in the late 90s and early 2000s off the back of this album. Loads of bands wanted that sound, understandably so!
Maybe a video about Discharge and their influence on crust punk, d-beat and crossover thrash?
I think it's always super interesting that so many bands and artists get big after the fact. I've been keeping an eye on the unwound reunion and seeing this post-hardcore band that made fantastic music but maybe only ever played to an audience of like 500 people on a good night to selling out 3 nights in a row of 1000-2000 cap venues has been super interesting and I think it's that kinda thing where the people who cherish it really do cherish it and want to champion it for better or worse. Which is what I think happened to refused.
Greetings from U-mey-oh! Weird but not completely unexpected to see contemporary images (thanks for that too) of my home town featured in this channel. Kids are actually starting to show up at gigs again and forming bands like in -94 when hardcore was mainstream, wearing x:s on their hands not because it looks cool but because they are actually under-age. So yeah, us old folks in the scene are playing to, and with, our own children nowadays. Good times!
Side reference to abhinanda too… quite a change in their las album too. And songs to fan the flames is an extraordinary album too, far better than many contemporary ones. The level of technique and composition makes me swing back and forth between shape and this one.
I am Swedish, but stumbled upon the album in 2002 on the internet, got so exited and looked fore more albums to come, found out that they broke apart and that they were just 2h away from where I live. Have been looking for anything that slaps this hard ever since. My absolute favorite album.
mostly listen to trall and almost no punks where i live so i have never even heard of them. have to check them out now.
I remember my brother introduced me to this album freshman year of high school in '06 when all I listened to were Disturbed, Slipknot, and various other metal bands. It was definitely an eye opening experience, and one that I hold close since my brother's passing.
Punk o rama IV. Summer holiday Vs. Punk Routine made me go "WTF WHO IS THIS!" Took me till 2005 to find a copy of the CD.
I grew up listening to punk, NOFX, Pennywise, Bad Religion, etc. In about 99/2000, the hardcore kids at my school went around passing out burned cds one day with about 20 different bands on it. I was like “wtf is all of this, because I need to hear more!” One of the bands was Refused, with New Noise. It was one of those small moments that really changed my life.
I like NoFX, Pennywise, and Bad Religion, music-wise and topic-wise, but Shape of Punk to Come is over-rated and boring. I have never liked it and still don't
I still remember getting this CD as a high school kid and it legit changed my view on music. Thanks for covering this!
I seen them tons of times. I even gave a t shirt and skated before a punk show in Sweden with the singer Dennis. I had a fishbone shirt and he wanted it. And I got a Strife shirt from him. And so many of my friends became straight edge because of just Refused and other swedish bands bands. I even got to see Earthcrisis in Sweden cos of my straight edge friends. Refused were a great band. I hope u do a deep dive into the Burning Heart and skate punk scene in Sweden in the mid 90s, Millencolin, 59 times the pain, Mindjive, Breach, Satanic Surfers and Raised Fist and other bands.
Awesome video, Finn. I got into Refused as a kid (like 6?) reading an interview by Pete Wentz that listed “Summerholidays” as one of his favorite all time songs.
Love when you cover these classic or legendary releases/bands in these essay formats.
Happy new year!
Excellent Video and History....I saw them in Miami in 1996 at "CHEERS" and I still recall how they came out in Tuxedos and the Hardcore Crowd was booing them and throwing water at the stage and they ignore and went on playing as a few of us who (like me) was so excited to see them in "a hole in the wall" and they broke into the song "Burn It"........what a start to a show for openers and then swing into "rather Be dead".....if you can even find a CD or record store get " Everlasting" ep from 1995...... Was great to see them when they did the reunion and when "Freedom" came out to hear them back and to finally see and hear "New Noise" live.
I was at that show!
Hey Finn! Props to you for considering the different Hardcore Straightedge scenes when making this video! I remember a discussion being had about the violence in the Salt Lake straightedge scene in a previous video of yours
This album and relationship of command by at the drive in and black sails in the sunset by afi completely changed my musical life. Great work as always. Keep it up!
bro!! im SO glad you did a video on this! ive been saying this for a long time now. thank you
IMO, the refused were prophets of the rock genre. You are exactly right about ignoring artists until it’s too late. PLEASE make a 10 “unknown” bands to watch video! 🙏 I’m old and know anything now. Lol
Glad to see you back with a great topic on this channel!!!
Your takeaway at the end has been very true for me at least. I’m way too young to have seen or been around for many of these 90’s hardcore bands you mention or have snippets of in your videos. But I’ve discovered so many bands that I probably would’ve never come across otherwise, that I really really like.
Superb video, one of my favorite you ever made. Thank you Finn for your content and I wish you a fantastic year 2023.
This is a great video on Refused! I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard one of the biggest reasons for their breakup was that only the lead singer Dennis Lyxzen was really into socialism/communism and that it wasn't that important to the other band members. And that caused struggles within the band. But because Dennis wrote the lyrics, that was what people thought was the band all about. Anyway, still love this album. So sad they broke up the same year as their masterpiece got released.
Loved this! All the amazing footage and clips were rad. Really enjoyed. May 2023 be positive and undefeated for u Finn!
Stirling job mate!!! This album literally changed my whole view of music!
Loved this walk down memory lane and the history lesson. End of the video hit hard. Thanks Finn! Starting the new year off with a bang, hope you have a good one
Back in grade 7 (2002) I snuck out of my room to watch the punk show on much music and the video for new noise came on. To this day the shape of punk to come is in my top 5 and new noise changed the course of my musical taste forever. Thank you.
I've loved them since 1998 and have really never seen such an in-depth take on it. I scour the web for this kind of stuff.
You saved the best for last when you spoke on compromises and how you hope your Sports Metal content will direct some kids to dig deeper into music (as they most assuredly will).
I’m 46 years old, and I JUST heard TSOPTC. I’m embarrassed. This is a perfect fucking album.
Finn thanks from europe for this wellspoken and very good review about Refused and her legacy. A good overview of what happened in the 1990ies in Hardcore and how Refused changed the game a bit in 1998.
I think I've heard in other videos that you weren't a big fan of that scene but I think a video on the San Diego 90's scene and by extension it's influence on the early "screamo" scene would be really important, even with all of emo's various revivals over the years, it's insane how little acknowledgement that scene gets despite a lot of it's key members influence (namely Gravity Records, 31G, and Ebullition) on the world of hardcore as a whole. It kind of feels like a huge chunk of the world in the 2000's basically tried to look like Justin Pearson in the 90's and regardless if you like that scene or not, the fact that not that many people know or care about that is kinda crazy.
I’ve mentioned that stuff quite a few times! I don’t think it would get views as a dedicated video, it’s very obscure
seriously the best video on this channel!!!!!!! excellent work .
i remember coming home from primary school in 98, my dad had just got the burning hearts studio vhs and being floored with refused, cut to my birthday that year and i got The Shape of Punk to come for my birthday and it being me and my dads favorite punk album for an absolute long time. to this day its one of my top 3 albums of all time. Thanks for that blast down memory lane Finn
One of the best prmba videos, super thoughtful and well done thank you fin!
This has always been one of my top ten favorite albums of all time, thank you so much for doing this
Some weird syncronicity - this morning I randomly played The Shape of Punk To Come without having seen this video was posted.
It's such an interesting album. Definitely has that "lightning in a bottle" feeling to it. I didn't realise they struggled so much during their time as a band though. It's definitely a shame they didn't get found in time, especially when some of the bands they inspired went on to be pretty massive.
I never understood why this is proclaimed as such an important album, thanks for explaining it well!
I still don't understand, this is just hype. Their music is super generic.
When I was 16yrs i and Dennis Lyxen were pen pals, how cute isn't that 😻 I have letters somewhere in my apartment. Sweden had a mega hardcore scen in 1994, the best years in my life 🤍✨
This album in short was mind blowing, completely epic on every level. Another good video Finn, really like your take on most things, even on the rare times that I may not agree.
The arrangements and power in their music is what we need NOW more than ever.
Refused gave me everything I didn’t think I needed in music at the time. I had never heard lyrics like this, delivered with style and intensity. Definitely married poppunk, Emo, hardcore, metal into a single sound.
Found Refused on the Burning Hearts, Cheap Shots Volume 3 album. What a game changer. Their documentary they released years later is still on of the most honest films about band life I've seen. Great content man. Keen to hunt down these San Diego bands now.