I wrote this song in my car coming back from a show in Iowa City. I'm not sure why it struck me at that point but it did. It's about the passive crowd that always seems to be quick to judge but thinks too much and never does anything.  This song was written by Jay Burmet and myself in 94 or 95. He was trying to get us to play something that Brian and I thought was a little too complicated and we said we wanted something simpler. He jokingly began playing this song and of course it became one of the regular songs we did during this line up. The night that Jay was moving out of state after finishing college, Paul and Greg had come out to Brian's and we played this song. When a few months later, Paul asked about the song Brian taught him the basics and he reworked some of it and it became part of our set.

When I reworked the lyrics in 95 the target was the local been there done that music scene that had hit it's active peak and then had retired to the dive bars that lined Ingersol Ave in Des Moines. Reaction is a reaction to a majority of them boycotting 2nd Foundry and then Safari because they were some how above showing up unless it was a band they knew members of or were members of. 

I was also trying to express a discontentment with the glory that could be had by how much you could drink, how stoned you could get and how much sex you get. Thus riding the self indulgence express. Which seems to have been celebrated in western culture since the beginning of time. It was also a thumb in the ass to the old Mary's scene that seemed too cool for their own good. I mean I remember when of a majority of them were shadow dancing at the Z International Disco to Depeche Mode's Master and Servant before they bought all those flannels and discovered Rock and Roll again.

Lyrics:

Like the partisans of yore
and the generations before
content but wanting more
as your life become a bore

chorus
I t's the self indulgence express
that's what you represent
your only carnal need is to impress
and lie about your success

They March dress like fools
to a bar fly world
to the dumps on Innersole
where they'll drink until last call

Getting sick of contentment
finding room for improvement
but there's no need to repent
when you live a life so bent

Bridge:
There you are sitting in the back. Arms crossed mind a blank. What are you going to do?
I need a reaction.