''Hitler Bad, Vandals Good'' is the seventh studio album by the southern
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
punk rock band
The Vandals
The Vandals are an American punk rock band, established in 1980 in Orange County, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums, two live albums, and have toured the world extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped ...
, released in 1998 by
Nitro Records.
Composition
Much of the album is characterized by the pop-punk music and humorous lyrics for which the band is known, and it became their most popular and commercially successful album to date. While the band has utilized humor as a basis for much of their lyrical content throughout their career, the humor on their previous album ''
The Quickening'' had been rooted heavily in sarcasm and dealt with themes of nihilism, anarchism and apathy. By comparison, the humor in ''Hitler Bad, Vandals Good'' is more lighthearted, dealing with subjects such as girlfriends, fast food and hairstyles.
The album contains two cover songs. "Come Out Fighting" was originally performed by fellow
southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
punk rock band
Pennywise and is dedicated to the memory of Pennywise bassist
Jason Matthew Thirsk, who had committed suicide the previous year. "So Long, Farwell" is a
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...
song from the musical ''
The Sound of Music
''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...
'', which has here been re-interpreted using electric guitar, bass and drums as the closing song on the album.
Release
''Hitler Bad, Vandals Good'' was released in June 1998. In November 1999, the band toured South America with
the Offspring
The Offspring is an American rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, lead guita ...
.
An independent
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
was later filmed for the song "My Girlfriend's Dead." Two different videos were released: One features the band members and was filmed as part of the
Kung Fu Films
Kung fu film () is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in ''wuxia'', a related martial arts genre that uses historical ...
movie ''That Darn Punk'' in 2000, while the other is a fan-created animated video that was included on one of
Kung Fu Records
Kung Fu Records is an American independent record label founded in 1996 by Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald of the punk rock band The Vandals. Founded in order to release a record by the Riverside, California band Assorted Jelly Beans, the ...
'
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
releases.
Track listing
Personnel
*
Dave Quackenbush
The Vandals are an American punk rock band, established in 1980 in Orange County, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums, two live albums, and have toured the world extensively, including performances on the Vans Warped ...
- vocals
*
Warren Fitzgerald
Warren Fitzgerald (born September 15, 1968) is an American punk rock guitarist, songwriter, and record label owner. He is best known for being the guitarist of The Vandals and Oingo Boingo. He is also co-founder of Kung Fu Records, along with ...
-
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
,
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, backing vocals
*
Joe Escalante
Joseph Patrick Escalante (born January 30, 1963) is an American television writer, film and television director, musician, radio host, and former television executive. He is known professionally as the bassist and songwriter for the punk rock ...
-
bass, backing vocals
*
Josh Freese
Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American session drummer. He is the son of tuba soloist Stan Freese and the older brother of musician Jason Freese.
He is a member of the Vandals (since 1989) and Devo (since 1996), having forme ...
-
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
,
cymbal
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s, backing vocals
*
Gabe McNair -
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
on "F'd Up Girl"
*
Jason Freese
Jason Freese is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist. As a professional studio musician he has performed on over 50 albums, including for artists Green Day, Dr. Dre, Pitbull, Avenged Sevenfold, Goo Goo Dolls, and Jewel. He is the son ...
-
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
on "F'd Up Girl"
*
Stan Freese
Stanford Freese is an American tuba player and musical director who is the talent casting and booking director with Disney Entertainment Productions (The Walt Disney Company).
Born in Minnesota, Freese has worked as a musical director at the ...
-
tuba
The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
on "I Know, Huh?"
*
Adrian Young
Adrian Samuel Young (born August 26, 1969) is an American drummer and member of the rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar.
Biography
When not performing, in the studio or touring, Young likes to spend his time out on the golf course, as he is an ...
-
bongos
Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...
on "If the Gov't Could Read My Mind"
*
Dexter Holland
Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland (born December 29, 1965) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, primary songwriter and last remaining original member of the American rock band the Offspring. He is also the creator of th ...
- co-wrote "Too Much Drama"
Technical
*John Ewing - engineer
*Steve Mixdorf - engineer
*Elvis - assistant engineer
*Craig Neep - engineer
*Warren Fitgerald - engineer
*Warren Fitzgerald - engineer
*Greg Koller - engineer
*John Tyree - engineer
*Jerry Finn - engineer
*Warren Fitzgerald - producer, artwork
*Mackie Osborne - design
*Lisa Johnson - band photo
References
{{Authority control
1998 albums
Nitro Records albums
The Vandals albums