*** Artificial Life ***

hes got a song about a love thats gone away
sometimes his eyes shed tiny teardrops when he plays
his touching ballads are just there sitting to buy
they call it music but it seems more like a lie
artificial life in the marketplace
epic ballads by the musical whores
life is so boring project theirs onto yours
hear the anthems of the pepsi generation
see the martyrs of our spiritual degradation
artificial life in the marketplace
american culture disneyland freak show
screen in your living room
a window for your tomb
if you cant compare to the world sitting there
repress your insecurities watch and escape
give me artificial give me superficial
give me a commercial life that can't be bought
this I say to you what I say is true
emotions aren't a product to sell and cannot be consumed
coming attraction its coming real soon
prince is having lunch with pat boone
want to know where all the bullshit goes
it goes down the sewer to be disposed

*** Bad Town ***

they call it a scene I call it disaster
down here the kids grow up faster
scared they're scared to the bone
like a pack of wolves they don't run alone
one on one they won't look you in the eye
but when the pack's together there's a battle cry
I saw it fifteen on one
when the crowd dispersed the kid was done

chorus:
no (no more)
no (bad town)
no more bad town

yeah down there you gotta have a label
just like a cattle in a stable
knee jerk reaction I call it violence
why speak out when you could be silenced
down there on the dance floor
too much violence I dont want more
down there out on the street
I can see the air I can see the heat

(chorus)

*** Big City ***

concrete and chaos rise up
spiderweb across the land
like a giant rash
forests lie down below
foundations of buildings in a bed of ash
some people here got it real good
cuz the glass towers bring prosperity
other people starve in the street
because concrete knows no sympathy
big city its a wishing well,
big city its a living hell
this town its fucking insane
how one will starve and another will gain
like a giant mechanical brain
and the people are cells and the streets are veins
it thinks only of itself
a thousand limbs crawling as it expands and grows
and still the concrete sits there
sits there stark grey and cold
and I think I wanna be a brick layer
so I can put another brick in the wall
its sanitary rational happy and sane
growing like a flower to surround us all

*** Bombshell ***

down in south Oakland
off east 14th it's raining
six a.m. on sunday and the bums are praying
met her at a party we were drunk now were sober
she said it's cold got a long walk home come over
she's a bombshell
I've retraced my steps a thousand times
seems I've spent hours asking all my freinds about her
been six months but I'll never be the same
nobody remembers her name
she's a bombshell

*** Caution ***

caution is a word that I can't understand
c-a-u-t-i-o-n was a word I could not understand
walked the dog with a real short leash
turned around saw the dog walk me
stainless steel and painted glass give me
a pulse like a hammer and a mind to match
no relief no food no sleep
when you're king for a day
you're a whore for a week
I didn't get it then
I think I got it now
caution my freind
dont step in the water 'til you know you can swim

*** Freeze Up ***

empty factories to the east and all our waste
the shape of things that came shows on the broken workers face
to the west you'll find our silicon promised lands where
machines replace our minds for systematic profit plans
the course of human progress staggers like a drunk
its steps are quick and heavy and its mind is slow and blunt
I look for optimism but I just dont know
its seeds are planted in a poison place where nothing grows
its 1989 stand up and take a look around
weathers bitter tension it seems is sinking down
drunk with power and fighting one another
every hour shows the winter getting harder
theres a freezeup coming
one nation stands the tallest radiating blinding light
plastic and fluorescent energy robbing us of sight
set in our way content with our decay
we wave the flag of freedom as we conquer and invade
ever ask yrself wheres my place in this hell
but no ones there to tell you cuz they dont know that themselves
the well rehearsed lines from our elated politicians
no longer offer solace we can see the self destruction
just one political song to drop into the list that is years and years long

*** Gonna Find You ***

well i saw this kid get beaten down because he was out of luck
in the lottery of acceptance in the school of growing up
saw a bunch of convicts doing time inside a cage
got locked in factories w/in the school of paid wage
(chorus)
saw this boy so strung out that his body sweats and shakes
from his field education in the school of cheap escapes
got told the school of human thinking teaches only truth
and one of its educations is gonna find you
(chorus)
saw a civilization where grabbing onto wealth
was the only guarantee of freedom peace and health
dollar sign value system upheld as the truth
and if you cant find a place its gonna find you
(chorus)
saw the paranoid response to all of the examples
of the ones that dont fit in this way of living geting trampled
success is obedience to a structured way of life
you cant ignore the structure because were all within its sight

*** Hangin' Out ***

The Bricks
construct
the place in which I self destruct
my eyes
they see
the zombies limp abreast to me
structues ascend
channelling wind
we beg for change in the valley within
waste away
hanging out
coffee acid cigarets and matches
stairway
cafe
were adrift for another day
how far we surpass the nameless mass
in endeavors so meaningless I look for some kind of meaning
all my actions seem so self-defeating
waste away
hanging out
two friends
some pens
sixty five cents
real life brings it to an end
how far we surpass the mass
in endeavors so meaningless

*** Hedgecore ***

what happened to your bush
it's not the same
something in your hedge
made a violent change
we come we see
we dive and destroy
and anhilating shrubs is what we enjoy

hedge core hedge dive hedge hedge core
we're (doin?) hedges to stay alive

it's anarchy night every night of the year
with chaotic mayhem
we keep your bush in fear
terrorist assasins of creative gardening
fucking up your hedge here's what we sing

*** Here We Go Again ***

it's not the ending
it's the beginning
the ground is moist and it rained last night
smells like smoke and it smells so clean
the sun is shining down like a freindly white light
here we go again
analyzed the world I was born into
but I could never understand
knew I never wanted to grow up if that meant being a "man"
dominating strict competition is the meaning of our lives
stomping on the weak keeps us the winner of the battle in our minds
tensions in our lives that are attacking our minds
unite themselves together to make our conciousness blind
conditioned to self-interest with emotions locked away
if that's what they call normal i'd rather be insane
relax yourself from giving what you want to do with your life
ease up from giving up things like control of yr own mind
if you never ask any question
then you're never gonna get no answer
always be wondering what do you want
while you keep getting older faster
here we go again
another test of manhood just when you thought youd won
the more we keep competing
the more the battle has just begun

*** Hoboken ***

i'm in this prison built for you
in this situation I don't know what to do
can't make a connection get a reaction
there's this wall and I can't get through
you're dying some guilt with no words
what did I say what did I do
youth hostels I lodged
kept seeing you as a mirage
flashesof you were everywhere
hoboken new jersey
I'm in this prison built for you
in this situation I don't know what to do
always something makes me think
things dont have to be so wrong
you put up walls with nothing spoken
in your weakness you're so strong

*** Jaded ***

something breaks inside of you
with the spectacle of all the shows
with fifteen fights and your six bucks
has gone up some promoters nose
jaded eyes see clearly but only half of whats there
good old days are left behind whats left is boredom and despair
but sometimes every once in a while
it's beautiful I would say, I wouldn't have it any other way
if I said different it would be a lie
what was once rebellion is now clearly just a social sect
but are you just upset because your own social clique has left
leave when you want because I know that someday I will too
but I wont burn my bridges and be just another jaded fool

*** Junkies Running Dry ***

I always looked up on the ones who walked away
choosing themselves over preset
ways of looking at a future that had no room for the
questions they lived for
always knew i never could have walked away myself
my self worth was beyond any help
and i didnt care to test it against the rejection i had seen before
but those i loved so much they underwent a change
they're working fourty hours they got caught in the game
like junkies running dry, the vulnerability
they're always there on time
we're never satisfied like junkies running dry
this wonderful generosity
a third of our lives to do what we please
doesn't look that great to me
in fact it doesnt even look fair
they call it youthful idealism
and even I would have to agree with them
except some of us grow up and its still there
I grow up too slow I don't wanna go
but now i'm working just like everyone else
but ill get out of here

*** Knowledge ***

I know that things are getting tougher
when you can't get top off from the bottom of the barrel
wide open road of my future now...
it's looking fucking narrow
All I know is that I don't know nothing
we get told to decide
just like as if I'm not gonna change my mind

all I know is that I don't know nothing

whatcha gonna do with yourself
boy better make up your mind
whatcha gonna do with yourself boy
you're running out of time
this time I got it all figured out

all I know is that I don't know nothing...
and that's fine

*** Missionary ***

I start it, I end it
I kill and words will defend it
got big plans
blood stained hands
wanna see my name on the map
on my way to save the world
got a brand new set of words the going rate is cheap
unconditional devotion unquestioning belief
words carved in stone chiseled in with sharpened bones
of the ones who thought my righteousness was something to oppose
can you see the flag rising up beyond the smoke
of dying authors burning books there was a problem with what they wrote
the flag is hard to read because all flags start to look the same
when covered w/the blood of the faithless and insane
man of many names but the motives stay the same
my actions are a means to an end
my actions are a means to...

*** Plea For Peace ***

it wasn't my decision, I was a victim of circumstance
it wasn't right, I knew I never had a chance
my anger grew so fucking large it almost overcame
my independence almost got lost to the violence chain
pieces of a machine called education (I was desparate) I plea for peace
victim of the cycle of intimidation (I was separate) I plea for peace
they'll find you (running hiding)
way down inside you
and I plea for peace
certain jocks sought control instead of escape
from pain inside, with stupid violence formed by hate
power and strength, but no power in their own lives
ignorance with the knowldge they're always right

*** Room Without A Window ***

the position being taken is not to be mistaken
for attempted education or righteous accusation
only a description just an observation of the pitiful
condition of our degeneration
walls made of opinions thru which we speak and never listen
ceiling made of pride vicious and self satisfied
door thats made of rage hard and slowly aged
always closing tighter with every war that's waged
room without a window cant see out...
floor is made of lives wed gladly end to stay inside
corners made of borders, borders made of law and order
painted with the words of politicians and religion
plastered with the wreckage of our cultural division
room without a window cant see out...

*** Sleep Long ***

one day I saw a man asleep
in a doorway on the street
thru walls of sheltered
inhibition I perceived his
condition dying of hunger
and exposure, food and shelter
two blocks over within
this place we breed and
dwell in we've created living hell
sleep long sleep well
only to awake in hell
city sleeps and pigeons flutter
vagrant dies in the gutter
pride

*** Smiling ***

at the party at the bus stop at the bar
you're looking at women because your score is under par
when you find her it doesn't mean anything
you wonder why yourr life is so boring
a mind is a terrible thing to waste
you would gladly waste it just to save face
her desire is your wish with out it you are lost
integrity is fragile but you ignored the cost
smiling when your freinds are watching you
one night stand car keys in hand
you've fullfilled your gender's sexual demand
are you feeling insecure and empty
when you're rushing to report it to your peers!?!?

*** Someday ***

sometimes I unwind
look back to the passing of time
sometimes I feel
those days become unreal
our lives are fashioned by things that come from outside
control so indirect we don't even realize
someday my instincts will be things I can trust
someday too much conditioning could make me self destruct
someday I'll fall back on values I've created in time
someday I'll have the chance to take back what's mine
sometimes I say
it's just gonna be that way
sometimes I hear
my own words come out unclear

*** Sound System ***

chorus
sound system gonna bring me back up
one thing that I can depend on
try to describe to the limit of my ability:
its there for a second
then it's given up what it used to be
contained in my music somehow more than just sound,
this inspiration coming and twisting things around

Because you always know that its gonna have to go.
you always know that you'll be back in the cold.
point of depatrure sublimated in a song
its always coming to give me that hope for just a second
then its gone but

(chorus)

static pulse inside of music bringing us escape
its always temporary changing nothing in its wake
just a second where were leaving all this shit behind
just a second but its leaving just this much in mind:
to resist despair that second makes you see
to resist despair because you cant change everything
to resist despair in this world is what it is to be free

(chorus)

wake up turn my box on
bust the shade let the sun in
times getting tougher bout time to start runnin
box in my hand music by my side
skanking to the rhythm of the music by my side

*** Take Warning ***

stand by your freinds, wrong or right
can't call that justice when its just a stupid excuse to fight
single out and attack the ones who got no defense
you call that a new way of thinking i call it regression to ignorance
take warning
theres a new generation coming
and we really gotta stand up to them
nobodys got a thing against you
unless youve got something to prove
we dont need no set of standards,
we dont need a new set of rules
heard all that shit before
about stomping out any difference
we say stand together
(not to fight just to exist)
take warning
intimidation coming
and we really gotta say no to them
enough is enough is enough
why dont you just ease up
I saw another beat down last nite take warning
who's the next to hit the ground tonite take warning

*** The Crowd ***

wrenched into the world, deanaesthetized
blurry images fiht their way through halfway opened eyes
awakened by alarm fifteen minutes of hygeine
twenty minutes of eating thirty seconds to the door
I looked outside I looked into the eyes
of the impersonal mob I've seen a thousand times before
feeling under covers like books on a shelf
if we're scared of one another
must be scared of ourself
more than just another crowd
we need a gathering instead
drink drink in the badland liquid bread for the poor
another member of the crowd goes down to drown at the liquor store
choose your escape in the heartland
of product and demand when you feel like a wasp in the swarm
you gotta get away anyway that you can

*** Troublebound ***

I'm old enough to know the score
I'm yound enough to want more more more
there's a demon deep inside of me
some times I let the old boy run free
don't think twice when the sun goes down
I'm troublebound
try to make a living during the day
deep in the night I throw it all away
there's a demon deep inside of me
sometimes I let the old boy run free

*** Uncertain ***

authority is wrong
authority is right
humanity in turmoil in the circular fight
outside and far beyond these walls we've built
I've learned to see the beauty we've killed
I hate you
you hate him
unfocused hatred seeks a victim
outside, I'm looking in, I'm uncertain
the world is black
the world is white
why think one way
why see the light

*** Unity ***

theres a war going down between my brothers tonight
I dont want no war going down tonight
civilization ha I call it as I see it
I call it bullshit you know I still cannot believe it
our evolution now has gone the way of hate
a world evolved resolved in this stupid fate
stop this war
all so different yeah I say were all the same
all caught you know in the division game
self destruction fast impending like a bullet
no one can stop it once its fired no one can control it
stop this war
a final word, wait it's not a call to action
we aint no sect we aint no fucking faction
unity unity youve heard it all before
this time its not exclusive we want to stop a war
unity as one stand together
unity evolution's gonna come

*** Vulnerability ***

I saw this guy go down
wasn't time for fear
before his body hit the ground

chorus:
our vulnerability is all our insensitivity

car that hit him pulled to a stop
driver hid the bottles
he anticipated cops

(chorus)

crowd assembled to take a look at death
shattered skull fragile body
blacktop running red

(chorus)

people looked bored
like expecting more
people looked bored like expecting more

(chorus)

and sympathy is only freindships whore you know
and maybe we dont know who we are anymore
another spectacle and its respectable
to take it lightly like another tv show
so desensitized so dehumanized
why stop and think when you can find someplace to go
were drowning

(chorus)

and it's gonna be the death of us just you wait and see

*** Yelling In My Ear ***

never had a reason for the attack
it's impulsive and insane
when I wanna talk sense to you
it's like spitting back at rain
I've come to know that when I first saw you
I should have ran away
I've kicked myself a thousand times
but now it's too late
yelling in my ear you try to control me
you look but you don't see
yelling in my ear
you got a big mouth are you ever gonna get a clue
you're loud obnoxious when you're gone I still hear you
always spewing shit with you irritating voice
I dont wanna listen but I got no choice
quit acting like you're nuts, just shut the hell up