from the LP No Control, Epitaph Records, 1989Shooting dope never held any allure for me, thankfully, although virtually every other drug on the planet did, but opiates just never really made a lasting impression; this is perhaps atypical, considering my enthusiasm for almost all other downers, but smoking heroin a few times was enough for me to decide that I didn’t need to explore any further. To be totally honest, I was sort of like: really? this is what people throw their lives away for?! Not to judge those who love(d) it, seeing as how I quickly went about destroying my own life too (with a plethora of other substances), but I just never got it. Thus, excepting for the “…needle & a spoon…” reference, this mid-career burner from hardcore mainstays Bad Religion is pretty damn close to autobiography for me in my angsty youth, in more than one way (wink); believe me, I don’t take anything for granted, and I fully recognize that had any number of minor variables not worked in my favor along the way, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now typing this. I can only imagine how many peers the band’s founders Greg Graffin (vocals) & Brett Gurewitz (guitar) had lost in the decade leading up to this album and song; considering Gurewitz took a substance-related leave of absence from Bad Religion in the mid ‘80s, I’d guess quite a few probably. In any critical situation where there are survivors and also those who pass away, the people left alive are often crippled for years after with a strange form of guilt surrounding why it’s them still walking around and not X, Y or Z person. It leaves you questioning everything, “…so where is the justice when no one is at fault and a human life is tragically wasted…how fragile is the flame that burns within us all, to light each passing day, yeah…” I guess the only solace to be had for those of us left behind is trying to pass that good luck along, in word & deed, with the earnest (delusional?) belief that we can somehow atone for our continued existence in this way…
