Talking To Ourselves

Album: Nowhere Generation (2021)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Rise Against aren't aren't here to entertain. They're here to provoke, to question, to drive change. But sometimes, especially during festivals when they're the only punk rock act on the bill, they feel like their message is getting lost, like they're just talking to themselves.

    "This song was an accidental way of not only talking about Rise Against, but also anybody that does something like we do, anyone who feels like they're standing in a crowd, trying to get everyone to pay attention and no-one's doing it," lead singer Tim McIlrath told Kerrang!. "Either they're not doing it, or they're just placating you, like, ?'Oh, how adorable, he's angry!' Sometimes you end up just feeling like an entertainer, like, ?'Oh, I guess this is just a transaction - this is your Friday night.' When it feels like that, it's so sad, it's like, ?'That's not why I got into this, this isn't punk rock - why didn't I just become a magician or juggler? This is supposed to be something more.'"
  • The video was directed by Brian Roettinger, who did the visuals for the Nowhere Generation album. The videos and album art use the same look: black and white with banks of monitors to imply both surveillance and an overload of mindless entertainment.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Gilby Clarke

Gilby ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

The Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist in the early '90s, Gilby talks about the band's implosion and the side projects it spawned.

Scott Stapp

Scott StappSongwriter Interviews

The Creed lead singer reveals the "ego and self-fulfillment" he now sees in one of the band's biggest hits.

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New York

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New YorkSong Writing

Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.