I’ve often wondered when “Alternative” music quit being alternative.  Some who fancy themselves as experts say it was when Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder put their bands on the map with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Jeremy” respectively.  Others might go back a little farther to when U2’s Joshua Tree took the music world by storm.  Punk purists argue that it happened when certain bands sold out for money.  Maybe it was when this music became popular enough for Weird Al Yankovic to start doing parodies. 

In my opinion there’s no specific point in time.  But I do know this: I knew the term “alternative” was empty in music when “alternative” bands started releasing songs with lyrical content that reflected what “Pop” music had been putting out for the past thirty years.  “Your love is like blah blah blah,”  “Blah blah blah when you touch me,”  “Hey, hey, blah, blah, yea, yea.”  No more social challenge, no more emotional depth, no more lines that made you wonder what the heck the songwriter was smoking.

So when a band with some lyrical depth comes along, I’m surprised, intrigued, and a little bit hopeful that the art of songwriting hasn’t completely gone away.  Case in point: Fighting Jacks. 

I’ll admit that on my first couple of listens to their recently released The Dying Art of Life I was a little bored musically.  Good stuff, really – just nothing terribly groundbreaking or unique about their sound.  Similar rock influences as so many other flavor of the month bands out there (take your pick from the similar sounding list of bands: Incubus, Lit, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World).  I did catch myself humming the hooks from a couple songs, though.  Then I actually stopped to read the lyric sheet.  “Hmmm, maybe there’s something to these guys.”

What they’ve produced here is worth lingering over and questioning.  Not that you’re going to necessarily understand whether their songs are intended to be political or just poetic, but just by contemplating them, you’ve been drawn into the artistic process.  They do get political at times – “Rob your third world country/Deny first world poverty” (from “Commons and Robbers”), and they do question what life has to offer at times – “God send me a message/find my way/Show me/Find my way while my heart bleeds for you” (from “Chercher”).  But they do it in ways that are challenging, entertaining, and creative.

The lyrics draw the listener right back into the music, which suddenly becomes a much more enjoyable experience. The driving rhythm section of bass and drums create throbbing moods for passionately delivered vocals.  The guitar work is layered in very naturally, never making a spectacle of itself.  The band shows its punk attitude musically, while allowing the production values to smooth out some rough edges.  It is definitely a radio friendly package. But again, the lyrics make it well worth listening to.

And just for the sake of telling the truth: they’re on a Christian record label, Tooth & Nail.  Get over it.  It doesn’t automatically mean the music sucks.  Give this band a shot (and while you’re at it, give their label-mates a shot too).  I’m guessing if you listen to much rock radio, you may not have a choice for very long.  They’re likely to be in regular rotation.