There are seriously some days when I don’t feel like doing anything but listen to Lifetime all day, and no, I’m not talking about that stupid television station that just shows women getting beat all the time. Maybe it’s my Jersey blood and maybe I’m a little bit biased, but I am willing to say that their second release Hello Bastards completely redefined hardcore and influenced a countless number of bands.
Released back in 1995 and consisting of 12 melodic hardcore tunes, Lifetime brought a completely new element to a scene that was at the time dominated by more tough guy bands from NY, and put NJ on the hardcore map.
Whether it’s desperately singing along to mid-tempo “I’m Not Calling You” or two stepping my brains out to “(The Gym Is) Neutral Territory”, I find myself returning to Hello Bastards again and again. I could probably make bittersweet, yet triumphant “Ostracized” the anthem of life with it’s chorus We are all alone, none of us don’t know, where to begin. / We’re doing for ourselves. Through Ari’s vocals and the melodic chord progressions and bass lines, the music manages to be emotional without ever losing it’s hardcore edge.
Under appreciated by many, a lot of people will always see Lifetime as “that band Dan Yemin was in before Kid Dynamite and Paint It Black”. Shit, even when I was an angsty teen listening to them, I didn’t appreciate them anywhere near as much as I should have, but I’ve grown much wiser in my (angsty) adult years. A gem in hardcore history, and a gem from my home state.
MP3:
Lifetime – Daneurysm
More:
Lifetime Live In Philly 2011
Saves The Day – Can’t Slow Down (Seriously. if you like Lifetime, listen to this first album by Saves The Day, straight up melodic hardcore)
Kid Dynamite, And The Art Of Moshing Everywhere
