C. Thomas Howell as the "Soul Man"

The information above with the lyric meaning referencing 'Racetraitor' specifically is correct. It's also important to note that at their last live performance Botch dedicated this song to straight edge bands...it can be heard on the '061502' album.

The title of the song 'C. Thomas Howell as the Soul Man' actually is a reference to the guitar sound on the track. When recording the song was called 'Taps' which was a literal reference to the sound of the guitars on the track. 'Taps' is also a movie that stars C. Thomas Howell. Someone in the recording process then starting naming other C. Thomas Howell movies...and this song title was born.

Also, this is my favorite track from one of my all time top 10 favorite bands. At the time of this release Botch, Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge and Coalesce were unstoppable. An amazing time in hardcore.

Stop the show.

Hands down, THE best Botch song ever, in my humble opinion =)

If anyone was unaware, this song is about bands that use "messages" as a gimmick to gain fans. You know, like how Strife was straightedge, but now they've dropped it because they're a bunch of hypocrites. Specifically though, this song is referring to a band from Chicago called "Race Traitor" whose whole schtick is that everything in our society is inherently racist, but it's to such a point that it's just absurd. If you don't believe me, there's a popular newspaper in Seattle that did an interview with them where they said this (Sorry, I forgot the name of the paper). Hope I could help =)

i love this songs. one of my fav.i just found out abt the lyrics. and i do feel the same towards those band. im sick of it too.

orgasm. yep. thats how i feel.

"Soul Man" was an 80's comedy about a white guy, played by C. Thomas Howell, who pretends to be black to get a college scholarship. He's plays the character in black face. It's pretty offensive.

I guess that makes the song about being someone else for financial reasons.

members of race traitor went on to form fall out boy did they not?

Yes, they did go on to fall out boy Rymon.

^thus proving botch was right all along

Dave V was known for his ardent witticism in the lyric department, but he is also known for his level of self-deprecation.

I think the title alone shows the humorous side of how, yes, in fact this song was a bit of a scoff at bands like Racetraitor (if not specifically them, although not entirely) it also simply mocked the notion of a lot of heavy music, such as hardcore. Bands like 108, the Hari Krishna hardcore noise.

A lot of hardcore bands, early coalesce, were very preachy and this song was a little jab at the idea of preaching all these ideologies with stale music.

Botch always managed to expand their sound. Hardcore never sounded, nor ever will, sound like Botch (ignoring a lot of their first material which was nothing special - granted I love it).

You can also clearly see its a bit of a jab at themselves, you have to have a good sense of humor to be in a band where you yell like a big angry toddler.

I think the title was more a play on the idea of image-driven consciousness.

In the end, its your fault, for fucking up the kids.