Confessions of a Fanboy

Switchfoot had their breakthrough success in 2004 with The Beautiful Letdown. TBL was their major label debut, but fourth album overall. “Company Car” is a great song from their 1999 record New Way to Be Human and is one of the best songs to come from that pre-TBL era. It is a powerful indictment of crass commercialism written by a band before they had banked any serious amount of money.

My favorite phrase from the song is “capital hills and lowercase people.” One of the most offensive things I ever saw was when I worked for a major video rental chain. There was a placard in the managers’ office with the slogan “People Produce Profits.” The underlying text encouraged managers to make five minutes of small talk with their employees in order to make the employee feel valued. This, in turn, would make the employee want to go the extra mile to help the store make more money. According to this brilliant outfit, the only reason to take an interest in your employee was to move more product. That’s vile.

If this were a straight-up punk song, you might not hear lines like “I’ve become one with the ones that I’ve never believed in” from the chorus and “I’m the king of things I’ve always despised” provide another interesting insight. This is what sets Switchfoot and this song apart. The lyrics indict greed more than they do the greedy. The greedy are still people, and people can change. Most of the ones who make the climb up the ladder of success don’t set out to lose touch with reality. Maybe the reason it happens so often has something to do with the definition of success. We’ve recently been spellbound by the troubles of Britney Spears and the death of Anna Nicole Smith. That says a lot about our society and the state of pop culture, but let’s leave that discussion for another day. These are a couple of the examples of the dangers of excess.

Even in our current presidential campaign, former Sen. John Edwards has said Jesus would be appalled at America’s lack of concern for the poor while at the same time he is building a 29,000-sq. foot home worth $6M. Do I think Edwards is a bad guy? No. I don’t know the guy and I don’t have a problem with anyone enjoying the fruits of their labors- Fanboy is a non-partisan, non-politcal site. He might be very genuine in his concern and generous of heart, but it is tough to think he hasn’t lost touch when he can say one thing and do this other.

Musically, the song has a catchy “California” punk/rock/ska sound, blending a cool beat and some nice horn work, but it is the lyrical theme that sets this song apart. Jon Foreman was in his early 20s when he wrote this song and it shows, but that is not such a bad thing. There is enough maturity to do more than empty a spleenful of undirected or misdirected rage and enough youthful naiveté to be idealistic and hopeful.

Filed under: Billboard Beatdown, Switchfoot