Hitler Bad, Vandals Good
Hitler Bad, Vandals Good is the seventh studio album by the southern California punk rock band The Vandals, released in 1998 by Nitro Records. Much of the album is characterized by the pop-punk music and humorous lyrics for which the band is known, and it became their most popular and commercially successful album to date. While the band has utilized humor as a basis for much of their lyrical content throughout their career, the humor on their previous album The Quickening had been rooted heavily in sarcasm and dealt with themes of nihilism, anarchism and apathy. By comparison, the humor in Hitler Bad, Vandals Good is more lighthearted, dealing with subjects such as girlfriends, fast food and hairstyles.
| Hitler Bad, Vandals Good | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 23, 1998 | |||
| Recorded | 1997-1998 | |||
| Studio | NRG Studios, North Hollywood, California | |||
| Genre | Pop punk Punk rock Skate punk Melodic hardcore comedy rock | |||
| Length | 36:40 | |||
| Label | Nitro | |||
| Producer | Warren Fitzgerald | |||
| The Vandals chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
The album contains two cover songs. "Come Out Fighting" was originally performed by fellow southern California punk rock band Pennywise and is dedicated to the memory of Pennywise bassist Jason Matthew Thirsk, who had committed suicide the previous year. "So Long, Farwell" is a Rodgers and Hammerstein song from the musical The Sound of Music, which has here been re-interpreted using electric guitar, bass and drums as the closing song on the album.
An independent music video was later filmed for the song "My Girlfriend's Dead." Two different videos were released: One features the band members and was filmed as part of the Kung Fu Films movie That Darn Punk in 2000, while the other is a fan-created animated video that was included on one of Kung Fu Records' DVD releases.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "People That Are Going to Hell" | Warren Fitzgerald | 2:14 |
| 2. | "Café 405" | Josh Freese | 2:11 |
| 3. | "My Girlfriend's Dead" | Fitzgerald | 2:41 |
| 4. | "I Know, Huh?" | Joe Escalante | 2:55 |
| 5. | "Money's Not an Issue" | Fitzgerald | 3:02 |
| 6. | "I've Got an Ape Drape" | Escalante | 3:30 |
| 7. | "If the Gov't Could Read My Mind" | Fitzgerald | 2:22 |
| 8. | "Too Much Drama" | Dexter Holland, Escalante, Freese, Fitzgerald | 2:47 |
| 9. | "Come Out Fighting" (originally performed by Pennywise) | Jason Thirsk | 2:52 |
| 10. | "Euro-Barge" | Freese | 1:56 |
| 11. | "Fucked Up Girl" | Fitzgerald | 2:36 |
| 12. | "An Idea for a Movie" | Escalante | 2:38 |
| 13. | "OK" | Dave Quackenbush | 2:05 |
| 14. | "So Long, Farewell" (cover of song from The Sound of Music) | Rodgers and Hammerstein | 2:51 |
| Total length: | 36:40 | ||
Personnel
- Dave Quackenbush - vocals
- Warren Fitzgerald - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
- Joe Escalante - bass, backing vocals
- Josh Freese - drums, cymbals, backing vocals
- Gabe McNair - trombone on "F'd Up Girl"
- Jason Freese - saxophone on "F'd Up Girl"
- Stan Freese - tuba on "I Know, Huh?"
- Adrian Young - bongos on "If the Gov't Could Read My Mind"
- Dexter Holland - co-wrote "Too Much Drama"
Technical
- John Ewing - engineer
- Steve Mixdorf - engineer
- Elvis - assistant engineer
- Craig Neep - engineer
- Warren Fitgerald - engineer
- Warren Fitzgerald - engineer
- Greg Koller - engineer
- John Tyree - engineer
- Jerry Finn - engineer
- Warren Fitzgerald - producer, artwork
- Mackie Osborne - design
- Lisa Johnson - band photo