by chuck bell
Refused are fuckin dead. Ironically, when the band initially issued this famous statement on their third and final LP, The Shape of Punk to Come, this was certainly not the case. However, despite the fact that it was their finest creative effort to date, the album directly led to the band’s demise. Refused formed in Umea, Sweden in 1991, when vocalist Dennis Lyxzen and drummer David Sandstrom, finding inspiration in 80s NYC hardcore and Swedish death metal, decided to fuse the two genres into their own unique sound. After numerous lineup changes between 1991 and 1994, the band released their debut album, This Just Might Be The Truth. This record leaned more toward the NYC hardcore scene, but was also heavily influenced by fellow vegan-straightedge hardcore group Earth Crisis. Lyxzen’s lyrics were devoted to anti-establishment from the outset, out-crying his socialist and sometimes anarchic views over the band’s rigid, distorted riffs.
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In 1996, the band released their sophomore LP, Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent on Burning Heart Records, the Swedish subsidiary of Epitaph Records. This album found the band altering its sound quite a bit, adhering more to the standards of American speed metal – most notably Slayer. This record was a landmark for the band, in that it established their permanent lineup, although they never did find a permanent bass player. It was not until 1998 that they made their lasting impression on punk and hardcore with their masterpiece, The Shape of Punk to Come. The title proved to be quite prophetic, since this album forever changed the face of punk music, shattering the conventions of what the genre had come to be. This record found the band expanding their creativity to entirely new levels, playing around with studio production and electronics quite a bit, as well as introducing some unusual instrumental elements, such as violins and an upright bass.
Despite its large success and reputation in the world of punk and hardcore, this album was the cause of Refused’s breakup. The band have said that the first shows in support of the record went horribly, which made them decide to disband and cancel the remaining dates on the tour. They played their final show in an American friend’s basement, which was apparently shut down prematurely by local police. Refused posted a farewell note on Burning Heart’s Web site, in which, among other things, they implore all news publications to burn any photographs they might have of the band. Lyxzen went on to work on numerous projects, including the (International) Noise Conspiracy, a more straightforward rock band that maintained his anti-establishment ideals. The rest of the band went on to form the band TEXT, who were not hardcore at all, but a more avant-garde group that released several works of ambient music and spoken word. In 2008, Lyxzen and Sandstrom reunited to form a new hardcore group called AC4, who have played several shows, but have yet to release any new music. Guitarist Kristofer Steen has since become a film director, most famous for his 2006 documentary on the final days of Refused, appropriately titled Refused Are Fucking Dead.
2 Comments
Hmm, I think you’re mixing up a little of Refused’s retroactive fame with their time line here. “The Shape of Punk to Come” was released in Sweden in ‘98, but didn’t get a US release until a year after that, well after their break-up.
When Refused was touring the States, they were still seen as a standard hardcore band on Victory, which, at the time, the label and sound was losing some of its credibility. The tour went poorly because it just didn’t live up to the expectations of shows they had in Sweden. There must have been around 50 people at their last two shows, when we had heard they played to crowds of thousands in Europe.
When I first heard the album, I didn’t think of it to be this drastic, groundbreaking piece of work. The San Diego emo sound (Swing Kids, Mohinder, or any of that lot of bands influenced by Nation of Ulysses and 50s jazz) was really big back then, and it just seemed that Refused was falling in line with that sound and aesthetic. However, they did it *very* well. But, in these retroactive pieces, everyone neglects that huge element in their sound.
I recently started listening to Shape of Punk To Come again, like, a lot. Classic.