Over a decade and a half later and no one put an interpretation of the song's meaning, lol. This song seems to be Bemis illustrating the frustrations of late stage capitalism. At the beginning, you have the "slumming it with johnny," where Bemis places himself outside of his bubble and witnesses the commonplace extremes of wealth inequality (aka the definition of "slumming it" with someone). Later on, he returns to his life and holds disdain for the social norms and rituals adopted by the benefactors of the system he has witnessed. He points out how mundane he believes wealthy life is, and how that life breeds consumption/consumerism of anything and everything, but still leaves you feeling empty. At the end, he sort of condemns humanity as a plague to the earth, seeing as though we solely act as such under capitalism. He urges everyone to "free yourself from mental prostitution," because we are all fooled into mindlessly perpetuating and never recognizing the systems around us. Capitalism is mental prostitution, and this is one of the most straightforwardly punk songs Bemis has written. I love it. Also, I think Max being from california really drives this point home, because the wealth inequality there is extremely palpable; one block may be "marble mansions" while a camp of homeless people sit around the corner, only separated from the wealthy by a golden fence and security code number pad.
Over a decade and a half later and no one put an interpretation of the song's meaning, lol. This song seems to be Bemis illustrating the frustrations of late stage capitalism. At the beginning, you have the "slumming it with johnny," where Bemis places himself outside of his bubble and witnesses the commonplace extremes of wealth inequality (aka the definition of "slumming it" with someone). Later on, he returns to his life and holds disdain for the social norms and rituals adopted by the benefactors of the system he has witnessed. He points out how mundane he believes wealthy life is, and how that life breeds consumption/consumerism of anything and everything, but still leaves you feeling empty. At the end, he sort of condemns humanity as a plague to the earth, seeing as though we solely act as such under capitalism. He urges everyone to "free yourself from mental prostitution," because we are all fooled into mindlessly perpetuating and never recognizing the systems around us. Capitalism is mental prostitution, and this is one of the most straightforwardly punk songs Bemis has written. I love it. Also, I think Max being from california really drives this point home, because the wealth inequality there is extremely palpable; one block may be "marble mansions" while a camp of homeless people sit around the corner, only separated from the wealthy by a golden fence and security code number pad.