The Jean’s Blog: Get a Life

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Get a Life

Jawbreaker’s first outing on a major label- 1995’s Dear You- was also the band’s final album; they took their million dollars and then broke up the following year. For those who somehow missed the message of 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, the opening and closing tracks of Dear You put it plainly to the band’s dejected fan base: there is more to life than Jawbreaker so take your head out of your ass and get a life. As a longtime Jawbreaker fan, I actually prefer Dear You to 24 Revenge Therapy. The band sounds tighter than ever and the improved (some might call it slicker) studio production of Dear You is much better suited to the music and Blake’s vocals than the murkier sounding 24 Revenge Therapy.

Jawbreaker fans expecting 24 Hour Revenge Therapy Part II summarily trashed this album when it was released in ’95 but unlike its rougher predecessor I always found Dear You to be excellent and inspiring background music- especially when working on my novel. Despite some dark songs, Schwarzenbach sounds like he’s having fun this time around and there’s not one clunker on Dear You. “Oyster” became my college anthem, “Sluttering (May 4th)” both terrified and enthralled me, and the priceless Christopher Walken sample from Annie Hall on “Jet Black” is still my favorite moment on the album.

Not surprisingly, Jawbreaker reunited in 2017 and my buddy Toast and some of our old friends recently went and saw the band perform live at a sold out show in Brooklyn. Toast said it was fun but people in the crowd- including our friends- looked as though they were having a religious experience while watching the band play. I’m not one for nostalgia tours- I’ll always remember Jawbreaker in the sleazy basement of ABC No Rio- but if the band can somehow arrange to have Christopher Walken get up on stage with them and recite his lines during “Jet Black” then I’m there. Grade: A