''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 that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

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, three live albums, three live DVDs and have toured the world extensively, including performances on ...

, released in 1998 by

Nitro Records Nitro Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1994 and operated by The Offspring's Dexter Holland and Greg K. Nitro is famous for being an incubator for punk rock artists who have subsequently become successful, most notab ...

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 List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

punk rock band Pennywise and is dedicated to the memory of Pennywise bassist Jason Matthew Thirsk, who died from 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 musical ...

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''. ...

'', 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 music, rock band formed in Garden Grove, California, in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band currently consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Dexter Holland, Bryan "Dexter" Holland, ...

. An independent

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

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 l ...

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 ki ...

releases.

Track listing

Personnel

Band *

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, three live albums, three live DVDs and have toured the world extensively, including performances on ...

- 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 wi ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, keyboards, backing vocals *

Joe Escalante Joseph Patrick Escalante (born January 30, 1963) is an American musician, television writer, film and television director, radio host, and former television executive. He is known professionally as the bassist and songwriter for the punk rock ba ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, backing vocals *

Josh Freese Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American drummer. A member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, Freese has also been a member of new wave band Devo since 1996. He was previously a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

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 sou ...

s, backing vocals Additional musicians * Gabe McNair -

trombone The trombone (, 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 lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

on "F'd Up Girl" *

Jason Freese Jason Jeremy Freese (born January 12, 1975) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist. Since 2004, he has been the touring keyboard and saxophone player for the punk rock band Green Day. Freese has performed on over 50 albums, mainly on ...

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 p ...

on "F'd Up Girl" * Stan Freese -

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

on "I Know, Huh?" *

Adrian Young Adrian Samuel Young (born August 26, 1969) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar. He also serves as a producer in his free time. Biography When not performing, in the studio or touring, Youn ...

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

on "If the Gov't Could Read My Mind" *

Dexter Holland Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland (born December 29, 1965) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, main songwriter and composer, and only constant member of the punk rock band the Offspring. He co-found ...

- 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 Jermone Gregory Finn (March 31, 1969 – August 21, 2008), sometimes credited as "Huckle" Jerry Finn, was an American record producer and mix engineer. He worked with numerous punk rock and pop-punk artists such as Blink-182, AFI, Sum 41, Alka ...

- engineer *Warren Fitzgerald - producer, artwork *Mackie Osborne - design *Lisa Johnson - band photo

References

{{Authority control 1998 albums Nitro Records albums The Vandals albums