With Schwarzenbach on guitar and vocals, Bauermeister on bass, and Pfahler on drums, the band gained recognition in the late eighties and early nineties for their melodic yet driven sound built on the foundation for Schwarzenbach's poignant, bleeding-heart lyrics and signature rasp.
The band's first full-length release Unfun was put out by Shredder in 1990. On this, the band stuck close to the sound coming out of their contemporaries in the nascent pop punk scene in their sound, with the exception of Bauermeister's prominent bass lines and Schwarzenbach's lyrics, at times walking the line of the melodramatic.
Unfun was followed by Bivouac on Tupelo/Communion in 1992. Bivouac proved thicker and darker - both thematically and melodically - yet served to elevate the band above a crowd of previously similar acts. This more ambitious release also artfully used pieces of found-audio, in what was becoming one of the band's signatures, weaving it in and out of the ten minute title track, "Bivouac."
Their third release, 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, produced by the ubiquitous Steve Albini, unveiled a sparse pop-punk with more carefully crafted lyrics. This album also holds what has become arguably their best known song, "Boxcar."
Jawbreaker had seemed poised for critical and commercial success by the time of their fourth, and last album, Dear You. Despite a vigorous marketing push, Jawbreaker's album sales were anemic in the wake of a post-Green Day market, and was one of the causes leading to the end of the band's career in 1996.
The group recently reacquired the rights to Dear You and have successfully put the long out-of-print album back into circulation on Pfahler's label, Blackball Records.
The band's cult status as the definitive nineties proto-pop-punk band has grown since its breakup, and songs like "Kiss the Bottle" and "Jet Black" are referenced as influences by bands such as Sparta, Lucero, and Rocky Votolato. In 2003, a Jawbreaker tribute album, Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault was released on Dying Wish Records, and featured covers by 18 bands including Fall Out Boy, Nerf Herder, Sparta, and Face To Face.
Singer Blake Schwarzenbach went on to form the New York City-based band Jets to Brazil, who have also since broken up, and is now an adjunct English professor at Hunter College (CUNY). In the fall of 2008, he debuted his new band, Thorns of Life, formed with Aaron Cometbus of Crimpshrine and Pinhead Gunpowder on drums and ex-Gr'ups bassist Daniela Sea.
Drummer Adam Pfahler is currently drumming in San Francisco-based Whysall Lane, whose LP was released in 2006 on his own Blackball Records.
Bassist Chris Bauermeister has been playing in post-hardcore band Horace Pinker and pop-punk band Shorebirds, which was formed with Matt Canino, formerly of Latterman; Shorebirds split in the summer of 2008.
In 2021, Blake Schwarzenbach teamed up with Joyce Manor on a release.
In spite of the similar name, the band Jawbreaker Reunion is unrelated.
Condition Oakland
Jawbreaker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Thinking that they might sing to me.
But they just stared back.
Broken, trainless and black as night.
Climbed out onto my roof.
So I'd be a poet in the night.
Beat the walls off my room.
I saw the big room that is this life.
This is my condition:
Naked and hysterical,
Reaching to grab a hand
That I just slapped back at.
This is my condition:
Desperate, alone, without an excuse.
I try to explain.
Christ, what's the use?
Read and I felt so small.
Some words keep speaking when you close the book.
Drank and just about smiled.
Then I remembered us in that bed.
Put my ear to the door.
I just heard hot rods and gunshots and sirens.
People kill me these days.
There's keys in their eyes but they lock from the inside.
This is my condition:
Naked and hysterical,
Reaching to grab a hand
That I just slapped back at.
This is my condition:
Desperate, alone, without an excuse.
I try to explain.
Christ, what's the use?
Jawbreaker's song "Condition Oakland" is a poignant and introspective exploration of the human condition. The opening verse captures the singer's sense of alienation and disconnection from the world around him as he rides down to the tracks, searching for some kind of connection or meaning. The image of broken, trainless tracks staring back at him underscores his feeling of futility and despair. As he climbs out onto his roof to become a poet in the night, the walls of his room disappear as he sees the "big room" that is life.
The chorus of the song gets to the heart of his condition - "naked, hysterical, reaching to grab a hand that I just slapped back at." He is desperate, alone, and without an excuse. He tries to explain himself, but ultimately feels the futility of trying to express what he is feeling. The second verse continues to explore the singer's sense of isolation and fear, as he reads and feels small, drinks and remembers a past love, and listens to the sounds of violence outside his door. The final lines - "there's keys in their eyes but they lock from the inside" - suggest that perhaps the true source of his condition lies within himself and his own inability to connect with others.
Overall, "Condition Oakland" is a haunting and powerful song that captures the angst and confusion of youth, as well as the universal human struggle to find meaning in a confusing and often hostile world.
Line by Line Meaning
I rode down to the tracks.
I rode down to the railroad tracks.
Thinking that they might sing to me.
Expecting my surroundings to inspire me, to provide me with some creative fuel.
But they just stared back.
But instead they offered no inspiration, just emptiness.
Broken, trainless and black as night.
The tracks were broken, with no trains passing through, under the cover of darkness.
Climbed out onto my roof.
I climbed onto the roof of my house.
So I'd be a poet in the night.
To gain inspiration from the stillness of the night to better my poetry.
Beat the walls off my room.
I metaphorically removed the walls holding me in, and freed myself mentally.
I saw the big room that is this life.
In breaking free from perceived limitations I realized the vastness of life and possibilities.
This is my condition:
The following verses are an account of my current state.
Naked and hysterical,
Completely exposed and overwhelmed by my emotions.
Reaching to grab a hand
Searching and reaching for someone to help me get through this.
That I just slapped back at.
But when someone reaches out to me, I push them away.
This is my condition:
The following verses are yet another account of my present state of mind.
Desperate, alone, without an excuse.
Feeling hopeless, abandoned, with no apparent explanation for my suffering.
I try to explain.
I try to make sense of it and relay it to others.
Christ, what's the use?
But what good does it do? What purpose would it serve?
Read and I felt so small.
Reading something profound made me feel insignificant.
Some words keep speaking when you close the book.
Some powerful words will continue to resonate with you even after you have finished reading them.
Drank and just about smiled.
I had a drink and almost felt happy, if only for a temporary moment.
Then I remembered us in that bed.
Then, a memory of an intimate moment brought back the pain and desperation.
Put my ear to the door.
Listening intently to the outside world, trying to find something to distract me from the turmoil brewing within.
I just heard hot rods and gunshots and sirens.
But instead of beauty, I heard sounds of violence surrounding me.
People kill me these days.
The people in society are diminishing me, killing me emotionally.
There's keys in their eyes but they lock from the inside.
The people in society seem to have some form of solution, but are unable or unwilling to help others out of their own locked emotional state.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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