Song Of The Day 4/5/2014: Rollins Band - "Just Like You"

They All Scream: Kind of inconceivable to do a whole week of songs featuring screaming in its various guises and not have something by Henry Rollins. He doesn't scream that much anymore. The transformation of Henry (one of the 15 or so famous Henry's I tell people my son Hank was named after) from X-Man punk singer to knowledgeable, thoughtful man of letters has been a slow and interesting process to see. Nobody's ever been more sure of themselves as a speaker, which considering the remarkable admission he makes in "Just Like You," eleven minutes of primordial anguish that closes his album The End Of Silence, which is inaccurate only in that Rollins -- whoops, almost forgot my rule, I'm supposed to call him ROLLINS! -- has never had a silence about him to end.

I have a particular memory about "Just Like You" as well, as it played a small part in the history of Seattle radio that I now find myself not terribly thrilled about reliving these days. Suffice to say once there was a Seattle radio station (which in name no longer exists) who had a much-beloved afternoon DJ (who thankfully still does exist) who slapped this song -- the chorus of which contains the Wilde-ean lyric "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!" -- in the middle of afternoon drive. The station manager was not fond of this song selection. And it sort of became a lightning rod (there were others) in the battle over whether a Seattle radio station should leave its programming up to the DJ's if it resulted in hearing more "harsh and abrasive music." I was in favor of. I was around and wrote stuff down. I took notes. Other people made T-shirts. It was such an innocent time back then.

Anyway, that's the end of screaming. Tell your parents you can speak to them now.