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.
Driven
Jawbreaker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Thick blood inside a flower.
A beast who preys on love,
Love?
The need is there.
It supersedes the care.
Driving the flesh to merge this urge.
It's come to killing.
The reckless ones who need fulfilling.
Doesn't matter much.
A senseless murder.
Anything for a laugh,
Only in death will she forget.
You meant to love but found you hurt her.
Everyone is out of touch.
And no one wants to learn.
What I'm talking about is a city full of fear and doubt
And I'd like to see it burn.
He has a larger plan.
She moves his hand.
The end.
He thinks she'll like it in the end,
It was the screaming.
A part of her got too close.
I understand it.
A drowning man grabs all he can.
The kind of truth that hurts the most.
Just tell it to her friend,
Friend.
It makes us kill and then it soothes us.
Some call it a right.
Hunger moves us.
I call it a wrong.
The lyrics in Jawbreaker's song Driven describe a darker power that lurks within. This power is represented by "thick blood inside a flower" and a "beast who preys on love". The force is so strong that it leads individuals to neglect their own well-being and disregard the care they ought to provide. The urge to fulfill this need intensifies, driving people towards reckless behavior, even if it means taking another's life. The lyrics suggest that it is only in death that the victim can forget the torment and pain that this power inflicts. The lyrics create a feeling of despair and loss of control, as though the darkness within is an inevitable force that cannot be tamed.
The song also deals with the idea of a city full of fear and doubt. The lyrics express a desire to see it burn, indicating a belief that the darkness within is not confined to individuals but is endemic within the broader society. Another theme that emerges later in the song is the idea of truth and how it can hurt the most. The lyrics recognize that the truth can lead people to do terrible things, and it highlights the hunger that motivates them. However, rather than accept this hunger as a right, the lyrics denounce it as wrong.
Line by Line Meaning
A darker power.
There is a sinister force at work.
Thick blood inside a flower.
Something beautiful can harbor something dangerous.
A beast who preys on love,
There is a destructive force that thrives on emotions.
Love?
Is love really worth the pain?
The need is there.
The desire is strong.
It supersedes the care.
It overpowers any sense of caution.
Driving the flesh to merge this urge.
It compels actions that are dangerous and irrational.
It's come to killing.
It has escalated to an extreme act of violence.
Laugh.
Take pleasure in the pain of others.
The reckless ones who need fulfilling.
Those who are willing to do anything to satisfy their desires.
Doesn't matter much.
There is no concern for the consequence.
A senseless murder.
A life taken without reason or justification.
Anything for a laugh,
Willing to go to any length for amusement.
Only in death will she forget.
Only through the finality of death can one escape pain.
You meant to love but found you hurt her.
Intention does not negate harm caused.
Everyone is out of touch.
Nobody truly understands the situation.
And no one wants to learn.
No one is willing to see things from a different perspective.
What I'm talking about is a city full of fear and doubt
This is a societal issue, not an individual one.
And I'd like to see it burn.
The desire to see everything destroyed.
He has a larger plan.
There is someone with an agenda driving this destructive force.
She moves his hand.
There are those who manipulate others to carry out their will.
The end.
This story ends in death and destruction.
He thinks she'll like it in the end,
The delusion that there will be satisfaction in the aftermath.
It was the screaming.
The horror of the violent act.
A part of her got too close.
The emotional investment was too much.
I understand it.
I can empathize, but not condone.
A drowning man grabs all he can.
Desperate actions in a time of crisis.
The kind of truth that hurts the most.
Truth can cause immense pain.
Just tell it to her friend,
Sharing the burden of truth and pain with others.
Friend.
The importance of a support system.
It makes us kill and then it soothes us.
The cycle of violence and addiction.
Some call it a right.
There are those who justify violence as necessary.
Hunger moves us.
Desire can drive people to do the unthinkable.
I call it a wrong.
The acknowledgement that violence is never justified.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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