Remember This Song? #6. Schleprock - "Suburbia"

Schleprock
"Suburbia"
(America's) Dirty Little Secret

By the summer of 1996, the second (or third, or maybe even fourth) wave of punk bands had been scooped up by major record labels in the wake of the Great Green Day/Offspring Explosion of '94. Yes, that is an official term. Google it. It'll lead you back here.

Much like Seattle circa '92, by the summer of 1996 it was hard to find a band in the state of California that didn't have a record contract. But for every Face to Face and Pennywise, there were three 1000 Mona Lisas vying (and often stealing) listeners hard-earned money. And this was right at the precipice of the second (or 3rd) wave of ska bands, during which the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to Less Than Jake ratio was somewhere around 1000:1.

During this free-for-all, it was easy for labels to take any unpolished group with a singer who yelled most of their lyrics (this was before the nasally days), proclaim them the next Green Day and sit back while they sold enough copies to pay back their advance and then some. But despite this exploitation, there were still some quality groups and one of those was Los Angeles' Schleprock, who had a minor hit in that great Summer of 1996 with their fantastic single, "Suburbia."

Schleprock - Suburbia
Get More: Schleprock - Suburbia

Thanks to SPIKE TV for allowing embedding on this video. I promise I'll watch at least 2 hours of Ninja Warrior to make it up to you guys.

One of the things I loved most about rock music in the mid-90s was the diversity - you could turn on 120 Minutes or your local radio station at any time and hear Beck's piecemeal white boy hip-hop, followed by Tori Amos' plaintive wailing right before Oasis's acoustic juggernaut "Wonderwall" followed by any of the aforementioned punk bands. And none of it seemed out of place.

Back to Schleprock, it was an episode of 120 Minutes that first brought them to my attention, incidentally this week's episode 15 years ago, the 9/8/96 show hosted by Matt Pinfield with Special Guests No Doubt. I felt like Moses scribbling down the Ten Commandments anytime I watched this show, writing down the name of every band and song whose video made it to air. And one of the most memorable of the time was "Suburbia." With it's Clash (and to me, The Specials) inspired verses and big, loud anthemic chorus, this was a song after my 17-year-old heart.

Lyrically, the song deals displays the typical cynicism towards America's suburbs, painting them as a dystopian wasteland. While this is hardly new ground, the disaffected youth of America (and Canada, in Arcade Fire's case) will be singing about how much suburban life sucks until there are no more suburbs. So you can hardly blame Schleprock for succumbing to a basic tenant of rock music.

Unfortunately, Schleprock broke up after their next record and were relegated to obscurity. But one of many things you have to give punk fans credit for - they have a much longer and better memory than their pop or rock counterparts, and don't need a trendy nostalgia kick to remember a band whose music they liked at any point.

Also, I had hoped to put their really cool - and relevant to the song! - video above, but Warner Bros. Records has disallowed embedding on their videos. Because I'm making so much money off of this. Thank god the DIY/punk ethos won out on the internet.

Whatever.