Tag Archives: the used

#1338: The Used – The Taste of Ink

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I had a whole paragraph set out for this post where I was going on about the mix in this song’s music video being different from how it actually sounds on the album. Had a feeling Bert McCracken’s vocal was way more upfront. It may just be down to how the audio on YouTube videos is compressed automatically upon upload. So I guess it does sound different in a way, but not incredibly. But anyway, it was through the video for The Used’s ‘The Taste of Ink’ that I got to know the tune. It was just one day I was on the computer, MTV2 was on in the background, and there was ‘The Taste of Ink’ on the TV. I wasn’t really paying attention to it, but that “Here I am / It’s in my hands” chorus kicked in. It pricked the ear, I turned around and began to pay attention to the song. I write this and it sounds like it was this sort of cliché movie moment. Im pretty sure that’s how it all went down, though. And I think by that point I was into In Love and Death, so it was cool to hear another song by the band from another period of their time together.

‘The Taste of Ink’ is the second song on the band’s self-titled debut album from 2002 and was selected to be the band’s very first single. Quite suitably too ’cause of the song’s whole statement. McCracken sings about being stuck in a deadbeat town where there’s nothing to do and where chewing the tip of a pen is a choice of activity that helps pass the time. Hence the song’s title. But he’s had enough of it all, he’s ready to get out of there and just live life, do whatever he wants to do and have a good time while doing so. It’s a strong message. If you want to get things done, it’s all up to you. And I think it acts as a little love letter to fans too, as kind of a “If you’re with us for the ride, we’re gonna give you all we have” thing. Could also be a reach out to a person he was seeing, but I’m throwing something out with that suggestion. Musically, I’ve always dig the stop-start pattern in the instruments. The guitars and drums all play each downbeat and then all-out for the choruses. Cool dynamics going on. And it’s quite funny how they start to mess around with the chord progression just as the song begins to fade out. There’s probably a radio edit that edits that part out, but it’s all essential, I think.

So I really like ‘The Taste of Ink’. Not so much that I’ve gone on to check out the whole album it’s on, though. Am I missing something from not listening to The Used? Answers on a postcard, please. I don’t think it could get much better than In Love and Death. Even then, there are tunes on there I enjoyed a whole lot more in my adolescence than I do now. Another song from that album will be featured on here one of these days. But it would be interesting to hear how the band started out. By the time I heard ‘…Ink’ for the first time, I want to say Artwork was the band’s most recent album. Maybe Vulnerable. But by then, the type of music the band were making was on a completely different path from what I would have been listening to. Their original guitarist who had a huge hand in writing the songs was kicked out. It’s a whole story. What am I trying to say here? Maybe I’ll listen to The Used, maybe I won’t. It’s not something to dwell on.

#786: The Used – Lunacy Fringe

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‘Lunacy Fringe’ is a track that has always stuck out to me from The Used’s 2004 album In Love and Death. Instead of the standard rock-band performance with all guitars blazing and pummeling drums, ‘Fringe’ is instead carried by what sounds like a string quartet. There are theses buzzing violins that set the tone from the start; I’m sure that a bass guitar is swapped out for a double bass on here; and, although you can hear some electric guitar vamps throughout, there are a lot more licks carried out on the acoustic guitar. The change in style makes the song sound like it’s really coming out from the darkness. Except for the major-key choruses which sound like the sun’s come out.

Bert McCracken’s vocals sounded like an almighty force to me when I was 13 and hearing this album for the first time. I would try and sing along but, obviously, couldn’t. 12 years later and the results are still the same. I still like his vocals now. He can shout, whisper and then yell all in a matter of seconds. He’ll let his voice crack right at the end of a lyric… you can tell he really gets into it when he’s behind the microphone in the studio. His style definitely hit me a lot more in my adolescent years but, however emo it may be or whatever, I still think it’s a brilliant track. So atmospheric with its production choices too.

I’ve always sang along to it but because of its title and the descriptive lyrics, I’ve never come to the conclusion on what it’s about. Though looking at them now, I think I’ve just figured it out. Hear me out. It’s about a narrator who hasn’t had sex in a long time (“So far gone/Running on empty/Do you know how long I’ve waited?”), finds someone who wants to do the dirty (“Do you want to take me on?” and does (“Look up from below“) and falls hopelessly in love with this girl so hard that he could kill himself if things went wrong. Is that fair? Makes sense to me. It all seems so clear now.

#742: The Used – Light with a Sharpened Edge

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It’s been a while since I’ve discussed The Used on here. The last time I did was concerning the song ‘Hard to Say’ from In Love and Death. Though that is still my favourite album by the band, I removed that track from my iPhone quite a while ago. Plus there’s something about the tone of my writing before that two year break I did from here that I cringe about. Seems to me like a completely different person.

In that post I say “I don’t know how it happened, but I somehow listened to [this album]”. Thinking about it now, I remember exactly how I came across Love and Death. The video for ‘Take It Away’ was on MTV2 once upon a time and I thought it was one of the greatest songs I’d ever heard, being the teenager I was at the time. I downloaded the album not too long after. It was my go-to for a some time. Now, there are a few songs that I can’t make it through seriously. There are some tracks on the record where a lot of screaming is involved and I’m not emotionally attached to those in the same way I was in my adolescence. But some songs on there are just great and I have no problems with listening to them today. Two of them I’ve already written about. ‘Light with a Sharpened Edge’ is another.

This is my favourite track from that album. It’s that piercing guitar riff of the introduction that just gets me every time, it’s an instant hook. It’s in 6/8 (or 3/4, however you want to look at it). The strings on here are a thing of beauty. Vocalist Bert McCracken sings really nicely on top of it, easily reaching those higher notes with the natural register of his voice. Again, it’s another case where I’m not too sure what he’s singing about. Skimming through the lyrics in my head as I type, I’ll say it’s him having some sort of self-identity crisis and trying to find a place for himself in this world. And another thing I’ve always admired about this album is its production. It is an emo album to the full; there’s no two ways about it. But there are these little oddities and samples thrown into each track that make themselves apparent with each listen. Very atmospheric too. If there was another album I would compare it to – t’would be Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance. The same themes of love and death are explored in both albums. They were released a few months apart from each other. It’s a strange coincidence. I’ve always preferred The Used’s album by a mile.

My iPod #488: The Used – Hard to Say

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Can’t remember how it happened, but I stumbled upon The Used’s album In Love and Death and listened to it for the first time in 2009 or so. And I really liked it. I don’t listen to the band that much, I wouldn’t call myself a massive fan of them. I can guarantee that it is their probably their best album though. Written at a time when the good times were not on for singer Bert McCracken – his pregnant girlfriend had died as did his dog during the making of the album – In Love and Death is an album filled to the brim with emotion with lyrics detailing self-hatred and anger as well as joy and wonderment.

“Hard to Say” is one of the reflective and sombre tracks from the album, providing a laid-back and calmer atmosphere directly after three and a half minutes of shouting and straight-up loudness. On the song, McCracken sings about the sadness brought onto him when he remembers the moments he had with someone who has passed away and has trouble coming to terms with the fact they are no longer living. He does so with a great vocal take amidst a sound-scape soothing strings, organs, relaxing percussion and a ‘wooshing’ wind sound effect which plays throughout.

Have a listen. Quite sad.

My iPod #228: The Used – Cut Up Angels

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“Cut Up Angels” is a track from The Used’s second album “In Love and Death“. I already gave my thoughts about it when I wrote a post for “All That I’ve Got” last year, and so this whole sentence will be linked to it.

The track actually comes right after that song. After a sample of what appears to be amusement park music, someone counts-in, a lone guitar plays with some backwards singing (which reversed is Bert yelping out “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” by The Beatles) before the rest of the band joins along.

The lyrics mostly concern the themes of love, sex and suicide. Lines such as “going out at the same time” and the loss to the brain “feeling like a gun” probably reinforce the last of those three a greater amount. They could also refer to a ‘petit mort’ (something my English teacher taught us when he went off at his daily tangents during his lessons) which is describes the state of unconsciousness one goes through after ‘sexual experiences’. Maybe the double suicide that is hinted at is actually a thought of a couple having an orgasm at the same time. I don’t know what “cleaning up the mess” would mean though. You know what, this is too weird. I’ll stop there.

I do like this song though. Obviously, otherwise why would I type about it? It was one I added to my iPod straight away after listening to the album in full before I started Year 10. The last minute or so is glorious when Bert starts shrieking out the repeated choruses before the track mellows out, all except for a noise which repeats and segues into the next song.