Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes
| Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Propagandhi | ||||
| Released | February 6, 2001 | |||
| Recorded | May-August 2000 at Motor Studios, San Francisco, California and Mid-Can Studios, Winnipeg, Manitoba | |||
| Genre | Punk rock, melodic hardcore | |||
| Length | 33:21 | |||
| Label | G7 Welcoming Committee, Fat Wreck Chords | |||
| Producer | Ryan Greene | |||
| Propagandhi chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes is the third album by Canadian punk rock band Propagandhi, released February 6, 2001. It was released on the band's own G7 Welcoming Committee Records label in Canada and Fat Wreck Chords elsewhere. It is the first Propagandhi release of new material on their own label. Released five years after its predecessor, the album marks the longest gap between two studio albums of the band.
One of the album's tracks, "Back to the Motor League", indirectly refers to two songs by the Dead Kennedys, "Triumph of the Swill" and "Chickenshit Conformist", as well the year of their release on the 1986 album Bedtime for Democracy. The "Back to the Motor League" lyrics state: "fifteen years later it still reeks of swill and chickenshit conformists". Both the Dead Kennedys songs and the Propagandhi track concern the co-opting of punk ideology by the corporate record industry.
"Purina Hall of Fame" is a reference to the Nestlé owned pet food company, The Ralston Purina Company. The title is a cynical take on the Purina Animal Hall of Fame, a site that celebrates animals who have saved human lives.[2] The lyrics of "Purina Hall of Fame" obliquely outline Propagandhi's concerns about animal cruelty.
Track listing
- "Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An" – 3:03
- "Fuck the Border" – 1:31
- "Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes" – 2:37
- "Back to the Motor League" – 2:40
- "Natural Disasters" – 2:04
- "With Friends Like These Who the Fuck Needs COINTELPRO?" – 3:23
- "Albright Monument, Baghdad" – 2:27
- "Ordinary People Do Fucked-Up Things when Fucked-Up Things Become Ordinary" – 2:17
- "Ladies' Nite in Loserville" – 1:45
- "Ego Fum Papa (I Am the Pope)" – 1:38
- "New Homes for Idle Hands" – 1:44
- "Bullshit Politicians" – 1:33
- "March of the Crabs" – 1:56
- "Purina Hall of Fame" – 4:43
Personnel
- Chris Hannah - Guitar, Vocals
- Jord Samolesky - Drums
- Todd Kowalski - Bass, Vocals
Cover art
The album art is credited to the painting The Unfinished Flag of the United States by American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Propagandhi continued this motif of using established artists to provide their cover artwork on their next two albums, Potemkin City Limits, using a piece by anarchist artist Eric Drooker, and Supporting Caste, which featured a painting entitled "The Triumph of Mischief" by Kent Monkman.
References
External links
- Album lyrics at the official Propagandhi website
- Album information at the G7 Welcoming Committee Records website