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| GoldfingerOpen Your Eyes2002 Jive 
  Review by: greg0rb See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
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Published on October 11th 2002 The first thing I want to say is that this album is good, but not great. If you like Goldfinger, get it. If you are just getting into them, buy their self-titled (most people will agree with me there). I am not sure whether I like this more than “Hang-Ups”, but definitely more than “Stomping Ground.” It’s a good straight-up punk album, it does not seem to be as diverse as their others, especially the first two. It may be the lack of ska, and though I may get some nasty comments for this, I miss it! There is a teeny bit in “It’s Your Life,” but not much. They were pretty good at ska in my opinion and they should have kept with it since it kept the albums mixed up a bit. Well, my favorites on this album are “Spokesman” of course, and “January,” even though it’s kind of cheesy lyrically. I’ve noticed that quite a few of these songs’ lyrics are cheesy- were they like this in past albums and I just did not notice it because I was younger then? I’ll have to go examine the earlier CDs. Another song I get a kick out of is “Woodchuck”, especially the ending, which reminds me of Thursday. Even though I like Thursday, the gasping for air at the end of “Woodchuck” kills me! Some of the rhyming in this album gets to me, and I usually don’t have a problem with that kind of thing, it just seems a bit overdone at times. Like in “Happy:” “ If that was then/ We could pretend/ our differences would be the end, / I take it back/ Full-blown attack/ And now it all just fades to black.” Another thing that bugs me is the political stuff. It’s fine that John’s vegan, but it is presented in kind of a rude, pushy manner. Even the enhanced CD has a section with pictures to show the horrors of eating meat. I always thought songwriters were supposed to convey their message in, well, a song maybe?
The music on this CD is enjoyable for the most part, and I would suggest picking it up. If you haven’t already, take a look at FatTony’s review.
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last guy had it right. except, even when the non major corporations have the cash to put out their adds, they still get veto'd by basically all means of communication. Examples...see www.moveon.org and www.peta.org 's non-offensive super bowl adds that were canned for voiceing an opinion. Please tell me that some of you are either 11 years old or just fuckin' trollin' with some of these comments. Go ahead and shoot your grandpa in the back of the head. I'm sure he won't feel pain either. "how is slaughtering living animals different from slaughtering living plants? its all liveing, its just the plants are not cute and they cannot scream. if carrots screamed ill bet you they would not be eaten by vegans" Some people are vegetarians just because meat actually makes them sick [my friend Terra being one of those people]. She tells me all the time she could care less about the animals. plants may not feel pain or have brains.. but they are living oragnisms and they are being killed on a daily basis. Horrible. This band hasn't put out a good album in years. It's still not okay to be a human. Eating is still wrong. Like the worms as our ancestors we will continue to eat and sh!te until we die. Live to consume. That below comment reminds me of "Tale of Two Cities" from S/T. That's good stuff. never, ever, ever put goldfinger in the same sentence as propagandhi. Goldfinger is another band jumping on the trendy band-wagon of annoying acts that pretend to stand for something but really don't. John Feldman is a fag. I wasn't trying to piss you off waste. Apparently I did anyway. Lighten up. "the best argument against being a vegetarian/vegan ive come across is that the conditions that migrant workers toil under every day in order to provide us with our glorious vegetibles is just as bad as anything we do to cows. you get 10 year old kids working all day in fields and not getting a chance to go to school. never get to fall in love. never get to be cool........sorry, just had to throw in some neil young. how can somebody sit there and preach to you about treating animals in a humane way when they themselves are inadvertantly supporting the inhumane treatment of people?" the funny thing is goldfinger know people don't like any way they have never gone plantinum. what do you people listen to here any way. Least they enjoy what they do the best argument against being a vegetarian/vegan ive come across is that the conditions that migrant workers toil under every day in order to provide us with our glorious vegetibles is just as bad as anything we do to cows. you get 10 year old kids working all day in fields and not getting a chance to go to school. never get to fall in love. never get to be cool........sorry, just had to throw in some neil young. how can somebody sit there and preach to you about treating animals in a humane way when they themselves are inadvertantly supporting the inhumane treatment of people? gold finger are really, really old. you're not an asshole for liking meat, you'are an asshole for attempting to piss me off with your ignorant comments. i don't eat meat because i am poor. i am on the fucking computer at the library. now thats poor. i can afford a dollar sandwich at carls jr, which is the shit, if you can afford it. and this album is lame. my friend burned it for me. (cd's cost too fucking much). yeah and thats another thing about goldfinger is they are signed to mojo. mojo charges 18 dollars for their cds. that pisses me off. everyone needs to be poor. I was unaware that enjoying meat qualified me as an asshole. And on an unrelated note, I love that chicken from popeye's. You can eat humans if you want. I am not gonna stop you. In fact I just bit my fingernail. why would i give props to someone who got a shitty band signed It's not ok to eat humans? Shit. "and why is it ok to eat plants? i dont get it.. please explain" Regardless of how much this guy tries to be punk or not, noone will ever respect him because he got Mest signed to a label and brought them on tour. God help us all. it's not okay to eat plants. Its not okay to eat anything. In fact, unless you are being fed the dead introveniously, then the only thing that is okay is to point a gun at your own head after signing all your worldly posessions over to greenpeace and other such charities. i eat meat becasue i liek the taste.. if i didnt liek the taste i would eat soemthing else. im hungry so i eat I like this album even though I usually hate pop punk... "how come we see commercials for got milk and beef it's what's for dinner, but no catchy tofu commercials?" "Reel Big Fish still plays plenty of ska, and very little pop-punk." hey wasted elite if we didn't eat the cows they'd eat us so that is if they had opposable thumbs i heard tofu speeds up cancer growth if being vegan is so dead awesome, how come we see commercials for got milk and beef it's what's for dinner, but no catchy tofu commercials? just wondering i like goldfinger but this cd is poop. With all this talk about meat...have you guys tried dots?????????? Man it's like the best candy. Ever. You all gotta try--i'm addicted. oh yeah, the record has some good music, very cheesy lyrics, and lacks ska. "woodchuck" is hilarious, the rest of the songs get boring after 2 listens however. "dad" is the most annoying song (think "bro" from stomping ground). oh yeah the guy who said "this is what i give the steak i just ate" was funny so was the guy who said the stuff "i was a longtime goldfinger fan..." i agree 100% Did I read that post correctly...you went to fuck cows? It's funny, because everyone that hates this new album, also posted that they like the early ska stuff the best, and that they sholdve stayed in the style of the first two albums. The same people then go on to say that Charlie was the best part of goldfinger, we miss him yadda yadda yadda... you, my prepubescent friend, are missing the point entirely. "just eating it cos u like the taste bugs me" "fuck cows what else can they do but eat grass, and give us milk/meat" my buddy has a why vegan video we watched it for kicks and then went out for some hamburgers and fuck cows what else can they do but eat grass, and give us milk/meat why is it that people rarely bitch about intensely political bands (dead kennedys, propagandhi, crass, etc.) but they are always up in arms over vegan bands? fuck, i RARELY eat meat but i'm not vegan. assholes like you make me want to become one though. This score is for the steak I had for dinner tonight. mmm good. waste_elite "if the GF guy keeps ehoving his vegan opinions down my throat in an attempt to gain more "punk" cred, I am gonna shove a big raw steak down his throat" Does anyone have the "Darrin's Coconut Ass" video? It contains the video for (I believe) "Only A Day" in which the band goes to Burger King, shoves Whoppers in it's face and then goes around stomping on flowers. I know that was awhile ago, but quite a change it attitude since then I'd say. I eat meat On another note, I watched the drummer on the TSN show "OTR" and he is possibly one of the dumbest men I've seen. Steak is pretty much the single best thing you can do for body building without doing drugs. Look at the diet of anyone who has put on a lot of muscle in a short time and then look at their diet...STEAK, BRUTHA. The idea isn't eating about eating cows....it's about health. Eating vegetables, tofu and fish is much better for you than eating beef or pork- which are trash for your body. Fish and chicken are high in protien, especially fish- therefore they are good for building muscle. But beef and pork are death for it. If you don't wanna eat the animals then fine, there is nothing wrong with that, I love animals too, I only eat fish and i respect and appreciate the sacrafice that fish made so that i could eat it. If you dont wanna eat it fine. You guys should stop bagging on other peoples way of life it's not like they're attacking you! "how is slaughtering living animals different from slaughtering living plants? its all liveing, its just the plants are not cute and they cannot scream. if carrots screamed ill bet you they would not be eaten by vegans" Reel Big Fish still plays plenty of ska, and very little pop-punk. bought the cd for 25$ for HMV sold for five the next day it hurt my ears to listen to. I hate the cover art I really can't stand looking at that cover art, for some reason. s/t was really good, hang-ups was OK, Stomping Ground was fucking amazing and one the best albums i own, open yours eyes was ok. If they keep this pattern up, the next one shoudl be really good. But its not bad considering the circumstances. 1. year strait of touring, its real hard to write an album on the road. 2. There label went under, so they didnt even know if there would be a next CD and where and when that would be. 3. charlie, one of the most insane lead guitarists ever, left the band 4. its the first album goldfinger recorded without a producer and in John's Home studio. 5. when the new deal went down with JIVE records, all record contracts were all of a sudden valid again. And the contract with MOJO said they have to release a Full length every 2 years. So they took whatever new songs they had, and everything that didnt make it on Stomping Ground, and taught it to there new guitarist during recording. I dont think many bands would be able to weather that storm and still come out with a decent album and get right back on there greuling tour schedual. i dont get vegans.. i mean what the hell holy shit, the guy who posted right b4 me was right on. ahhaha. hahaha. oh yea this cd sux. and mr. reviewer , i know u desperately want to still like this cd and hte band. but seriouly. half the songs on it are less than a minute long. woodcuck? ftn? liar? the opening song? wtf? this is shit! shit! fuck u feldmen, i want my money back. this cd feels like he wrote it in a weekend. or less. FUCK! i was a longtime goldfinger fan (well i got the s/t cd when it was new, adn i was about 17, just starting to really get into punk) and so i have a soft spot for them. BUT this album changed all that. it is shit. it is pop punk crap, still no ska cuz i guess its not cool, but when it was they made albums that consisted of 50% ska tunes, and they were good at ska. but not anymore. maybe if feldmen didnt spend so much time making bad 9/11 songs w/ gc, or producing albums by mest and the used he would have time to write another 'mabel', 'here in your bedroom' super man, this lonely place, etc. but no. this album is shit, save maybe one or two OK songs. and i am a lenient reviewer of music. i always am optimistic. i like pop punk. i like mest, gc, nfg. and this is still shit, anyway u cut it. and whats up w/ the sudden transformation into a militant vegan band, pumping his beliefs of not eating meat not only into the single, but the artwork, and a pathetic condecending essay in the linear notes? fuck u feldmen and fuck goldfinger. they just played a show here(pittsburgh) and guess who wasnt there? it's funny there are cd's i'll buy and cd's i'll burn and this is a burner cause i just need one more cd to finish my soldout vegan loser collection Well Charlie, I don't know what the hell that video's about, but it sure seems preferable to being in Goldfinger. Well done. WOOHOO! My review referenced in another review! I'm famous and shit. =P Not bad and not that great, but it does grow on you after awhile. Open your eyes,january,dad are great songs. Spokesman is crap why do vegans (at least the ones i know) feel the need to push thier lifestyle on everyone else? if they weren't so goddamned pushy then maybe people would listen to them Very mediocre. I miss the days when Goldfinger kicked ass.. I'm a goldfinger fan but this album is pure shit, damn i miss charlie |
