From what I can garner, this Norwich-based five-piece used to be called Fuck Dress and this song was originally released under the title 'Suburban Nietzsche Freak'. Somewhere along the way they've rebranded (but why?) and decided that the chorus line would make for a catchier or marketable title. Perhaps they got new management or a guy at the record label pointed out that most people wouldn't have clue who Nietzsche was. If so, that's pretty ironic, not least of all because this isn't music for the intellectually stunted.
That isn't because 'God is Dead' is overtly complex – quite the contrary – but because it takes some kind of mental engagement to appreciate what Scumbag Philosopher are doing. The genius lies in its simplicity.
Coming on with fuzzed out guitars with the treble up high and a solid display of primitive, simple drumming, the likes of which Mo Tucker or Bobby Gillespie might've hammered out, 'God is Dead' melds the sounds of early Jesus and Mary Chain to the relentless repetition of The Fall. The one-line chorus, repeated over and over is knowingly dumb, the song itself a sharp, barbed comment on disaffected outsiders – the 'suburban Nietzsche freaks' – who express their feelings of alienation and existentialism through the quotations of the all-too predictable roll-call of philosophers and bands.
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Delivered with a 'kiss my shades' deadpan cool by a bunch of players who look anything but, 'God is Dead' matches form and content perfectly to mirror the nihilistic sentiment of the keenly observed and wryly, dryly humorous lyrics. Oh, and it’s guaranteed to lodge itself in your brain in an instant.
Scumbag Philosopher Online
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