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Rollins Band

Weight (1994)
Henry Rollins

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Contributed by: Brandon Sideleau
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Published on May 5th 2006

In honor of the recently reunited Weight-era Rollins Band, I thought I would review the album itself, as no one else has yet. Weight was without any doubt the high point, commercially, for the Rollins Band, in no small way thanks to the heavily rotated "Liar" video on MTV. But what many people fail to remember is just how much this album really rocks as a whole, and that "Liar," as great of a song as it is, is not the best track on the album.

This album sees former bass player Andrew Weiss leaving the band and allowing new, more jazz-oriented bassist Melvin Gibbs to step up and get some. Musically speaking, this album was a bit of a departure from their previous album, The End of Silence. Where that album featured very long, intense and beautifully structured punk/blues jams, this album tightens up the song length and delivers a more hard rock / punk metal type of crushing tunes. Both albums are fantastic and both enjoyed a marginal amount of mainstream success, a first for Rollins.

This album is full of gems -- the brutal "Volume 4" and "Step Back," or the surprisingly funky "Wrong Man" and "Fool." My personal favorite is the very positive and extremely inspiring "Shine," a song which seems to be Henry's own personal motto with lines like "I ain't got no time for drug addiction, no time for smoke and booze, too strong for a shortened lifespan, I've got no time to lose, It's time to shine..." Well, you get the point. And then, of course, we have "Liar," an often misunderstood song with Rollins singing from the perspective of, well, a liar. He has mentioned in interviews that he simply wanted to "write the meanest love song ever" and the song is about someone else lying to him, not vice versa.

The only other real difference between this album and his previous ones is that Henry doesn't "scream" at all, which isn't a bad thing since he makes up for it with plenty of angry yelling, but some people may have missed that. Anyway, this is a classic album and one of the greatest albums of the 1990s by far.

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feeeding5000 (May 11, 2006)

Punky chip ahoy! Oi Oi Oi! And also, every band should release one EP, record 10 or 11 demos, and record 3 live tracks, and then put out a discography CD 7 years later.

wyzo (May 11, 2006)

i like henry, but never cared for his band until I saw them play "starve" on an SNL repeat for the 10th time, and it clicked. I love that song.

wyzo

Anonymous (May 7, 2006)

More like lmao records amirite?

Anonymous (May 7, 2006)

I write all the songs on guitar and then the guitar player tries to play them and usually messes up and I just sing. I'd do both, but I don't feel like it. The drumming is an impressive mix of Keith Moon and even more drugs, resulting in a mess of blandish thrash.

Don't worry, we will never record or release anything except for our cover of Punky Chips Ahoy.

-Will

Anonymous (May 7, 2006)

Are you a Benoit fan, Will?

feeeding5000 (May 6, 2006)

Oh, Will, what do you play in the band?

Anonymous (May 6, 2006)

Liar is a godawful song, but the video is great, especially during the chorus with guest vocalist Hellboy.

rinjonjori (May 6, 2006)

This is classic Rollins, I just did a review myself a couple of weeks ago. http://rnanothersunnydayinpop.blogspot.com/2006/03/retro-review-r ollins-band-weight-is.html

If they record I look forward to them making up for Come In and Burn

Anonymous (May 6, 2006)

Hell yeah, probably my favorite record of the 90's.

Anonymous (May 6, 2006)

Feeding-

Are you kidding? YB D.C. are cool and all and that EP is solid, but they are so fucking clunky and wannabe Oi sounding compared to SOA.

Youth Brigade could never write a song like "I Hate the Kids."

-Will

dazed (May 5, 2006)

This is a good Rollins Band album, their stuff usually seems over the top to me but if I'm in the mood for something like this it's pretty great to bellow along to.

feeeding5000 (May 5, 2006)

Will -- Your band is called Crossface Crippler? That's quite an...interesting name. Oh, and instead, cover "It's about time that we had a change" by Youth Brigade (DC). "Possible" kicked "No Policy"'s proverbial ass.

Anonymous (May 5, 2006)

Amen to that. Great album.

-ACE

Anonymous (May 5, 2006)

I haven't listened this for about 6 years, but I remember it being a huge shitpiece

SlackMFr (May 5, 2006)

A very solid album, but "Get Some, Go Again" is my favorite Rollins Band disc.

Icapped2pac (May 5, 2006)

Will, I've always thought you were an assneck based on your comments, but I have newfound respect for you because of the name of your band. It's one of my favorite submission holds (I realize the words are transposed) along with the STF and Texas Cloverleaf.

sprainedsoul (May 5, 2006)

"Disconnect" is one of Rollins' best tunes.

Anonymous (May 5, 2006)

Yeah, it rocks 1 and a 1/2 stars.

-Will

ghostmonkey (May 5, 2006)

score is for 'Civilised' - that tune rocks

Anonymous (May 5, 2006)

its funny how everyone overlooks the rerason he is upset. he is an angry gay man living in a straight hardcore world. i mean we all know he slept with maynard. i just hope we dont hear in a couple years rollins has hiv (like maynard) because he will be missed. also black flag was better without henry. i saw henry pull this girl up on stage during a flag gig. he then started dry humping her wich made the poor girl fall down. she then screamed in terror and a bouncer helped her get away. that seen has always made me think less of him. but i now understand the point he was making. scary. love ya henry!

Anonymous (May 5, 2006)

Johnny Mnemonic was on last night. I sampled a part of Henry Rollins saying "Is that your name, JUST JOHNNY?!" cuz my band Crossface Crippler is gonna cover "Gonna Hafta Fight" by SOA.

Anyway, solo Rollins is not nearly as bad as everyone pretends it is. It's just middle aged frustration and anger music.

-Will

Dante3000 (May 5, 2006)

WOOT!
Ah Henry, he's like a little Teddy bear with a rage problem.
Who can't love that?
-Dante

joeg (May 5, 2006)

"I know they are doing a show with X in LA but I don't know if the whole tour is with X"

what a show...

Anonymous (May 5, 2006)

The tour is actually supposed to be in August. I know they are doing a show with X in LA but I don't know if the whole tour is with X.

This is one of the best Rollins Band albums followed closely by Come In And Burn.

-Frankthep