Randy "The Human Atom Bomb" 2001****

Today is a day of grave mood in my country, Greece. Six months of incessant diplomacy and negotiation between Greece's left-wing government and other governments and Eurocrats culminated in a weekend of brutal aggression on the part of Germany and EU. Monday morning found prime-minister Tsipras succumbing to blackmail and signing his surrender: 3 more years of crushing austerity for the poor in return for yet another "rescue" package to ensure that the banks keep working and that the IMF, ECB and other creditors get their loans back with interest. For those who believed that change is possible, it feels like a shattering defeat, but the only thing shattered here is illusions. The illusion that people are free to make their own choices, that we live in a democracy and that the EU is actually a union based on cooperation, solidarity and equality (Boy, did I choose the wrong time to go and live in the proverbial belly of the Beast!). We were basically told that our opinion doesn't matter, the governments we choose are voiceless and powerless and that we're forever chained in perpetual debt bondage. In truth, there can only be one answer to that: The fight must and will go on! If elections cannot change anything, so be it - The fight will move from the parliament halls and government buildings back to the streets! And Randy is one of the bands that can help provide the soundtrack, with their music being both joyous and rebellious and lyrics full of conviction and certainty that If we unite we can break them ("If we unite"). As they say "Come on everybody sing with me/This is a song about being free/Days of submission, oh no, won't last long/This is a freedom song"(Freedom Song). Sloganeering, you say? I guess so, but I'd still rather sing that tune than the poor man's blues.

Randy come from Sweden and their brand of melodic punk rock is as populist (and as good) as that of their American counterparts Green Day and Rancid. Like them, they draw inspiration from the Ramones, Clash, Who and Stooges. And like them, they write catchy choruses that can easily be chanted back at them by huge crowds at football stadiums - only in this occasion, they won't. It doesn't matter how commercial their music is, they come from the wrong continent. And, more crucially, their subject matter isn't one the public is very likely to warm up to: Swedes can get Americans to sing about Dancing Queens but Proletarian Hop? Isn't that a bad word? Frankly, it never seizes to amaze me that so many bands of the Marxist persuasion (e.g. Randy, International Noise Conspiracy) come from this moderately socialist country with the smallest class differences in the world. How do you get radicalised growing up under the comfort and security of the welfare state? On the other hand, a good education, free time and access to information via books and the Internet can also be an eye-opening combination. You don't have to see your neighbour searching for food in the garbage cans (like it's happening in Greece lately) to draw the conclusion that there's something wrong with capitalism. Of course, Randy's not all about politics: They also sing about the thrills of rockin' out (the rockabilly/hardcore of "Chicken Shack", Rancid-meet-AC/DC of "Punk Rock City", Dropkick Murphys-like of "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Punk Rock Flu", Eddie Cochran-referencing "The Heebie Jeebies/Dial 911"). They sing the praises of early rock'n'roll idol Little Richard ("The Human Atom Bombs"), male friendship ("Summer of Bros") and modern slackerdom (the double-speed rockabilly of "Shape Up"). The Buzzcocks-like "Addicts of Communication" is a satirical jab on their generation's mobile phone and Internet fixation. "I Don't Need Love" reverses the Beatles' message to adjust it to the 21st Century, while the Hives/Stooges garage punk of "Keep Us Out of Money" accuses stock market-types for the perpetual poverty of the working class. The Green Day-ish "Karl Marx and History" is about turning protest marches into a joyful celebration driven by the certainty of final victory, because "...so says Karl Marx and history". Thankfully they don't forget to exhibit some self-mocking humour with lines like "We got all kinds of freedom fighters gathered here/We got our friends in the corner over there drinking beer". But the real gems here are a trio of songs that sound as if they've come right out of The Clash's London Calling (and I can't think of any higher praise than that). The same mix of punk rock, ska, latin and rockabilly licks and left-wing sloganeering. On "If We Unite", you could even mistake singer Stefan Granberg for Joe Strummer himself as he sings with conviction "If we unite we can break them". "Freedom Song" is another Clash carbon copy (in the best sense possible) and a mighty enjoyable one, complete with bells chiming and singalong Rama lama ding dong's . "Proletarian Hop" has a ridiculously catchy chorus and guitar riff that would be guaranteed to make it the ultimate frat party anthem, if it wasn't for the lyrics. The song draws a straight line from the Spanish Civil War to today, effectively equating the fascists to today's neo-liberals and urging us to continue the fight: "They say it ended that last year/But the fascists are still here/The war ain't over and the battle ain't won/The struggle, baby, has just begun/It's a war between the classes/The privileged few against the masses/Spanish anarchists said: No pasaran!/I say we stick to that until the war is won". Amen to that!

**** for Addicts of Communication, Karl Marx and History, If We Unite, Proletarian Hop, Rockin' Pneumonia and the Punk Rock Flu, Freedom Song, The Human Atom Bombs

*** for Punk Rock City, Keep Us Out of Money, Summer of Bros, I Don't Need Love, Shape Up, The Heebie Jeebies (Dial 911)

** for Chicken Shack, Whose Side Are You On?, Win or Lose, I Believe in the Company