21st Century (Digital Boy)

http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=14218

This song seems to me to have basically the same theme as 21st Century Schizoid Man. Honestly, I see the song more as a tribute to it/reimagining of it in a punk style with basically the same theme. Both songs are excellent, and definitely worth listening to.

I've been listening to this bad for nearly two decades and Stranger Than Fiction is by far one of their best albums. It's still in my playlist and forever will be. I believe this song isn't to be taken literally as 60% of Bad Religion's songs are written with ironic intentions. Greg Graffin has stated he love technology, but this song is an ironic twist characterizing the youth of today, which is 100% true even though this song was written in 1990.

i think this song is about, the way times are changing and how we have changed to match our environment. lazy slobs is what the kids are turning into, look around you, its plain to see, and how we are becoming dependant on technology.

I think its refering to the technological brainwashing of the youth via television and the internet, and the "modern" ages dependency on technology and the inevitable collapse of our society.

soowt's rite its about gurewitz and his mest childhood. i think its talkin bout how his parents didnt do shit for him, that meant n e thing. They stuffed him full of destractions to make him happy, but at tha same time theyre not teachin him n e thing. (i dont no how to read but i got a lot of toys)

Funny, I see that guy everywhere. Last time he was in the mirror

I think people take this song the wrong way. People assume that he's distracted and made complacent by his "toys". That since he doesn't know how to read or live then he's fucked. It's the opposite. He's rallying against conformity.

He's disapointed by what the world (or America) has become, and he rejects the invitation to conform ("Symbolized bar code, quick ID"). He rejects attempts to tell him how to live properly ("I can't explain it, the things they're saying to me, It's going yayayayayayaya").

He slams his parents as being lazy and ineffectual, it could be to explain his rebellion, show that they didn't have the power to stop him.

He a 21st Century digital boy. He's part of the new generation of malcontents. He doesn't know how to live or read, but he's got a lot of "toys" (instruments, maybe) that will help him get by.

"I tried tell you about no control, But now I really don't know, And then you told me how bad you had to suffer, Is that really all you have to offer? "

"No Control" and "Suffer" are the two Bad Religion albums that were released before this this album (Against the Grain). Nobody seems to pick up on that.

This song, to me, makes a political and underlying backslash at the way our technological society is upbringing newer generations. We do not expect people to accept their consequences anymore, which ultimately will lead to our country's greatest downfall. We are now focusing more and more on material advances than a whole-hearted, and stable family tie. The older generation was brought up with a mind set that they do not have to face their problems (hence the allusion to the parents), and the newer is even worse. This song, clearly coming from the more radical approach that the band members of Bad Religion, is what our ultimate society in America is coming to. Sad yet truthful.

this song is actually about brett gurewitz himself.

this song is actually about brett gurewitz himself. . . .