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.
Kiss the Bottle
Jawbreaker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The first two lines of Jawbreaker's "Kiss the Bottle" set a bleak and lonely scene. The singer is at the liquor store in the middle of the night under a neon sky. The moonlight provides little comfort as they realize they are alone. The next lines paint a picture of a place that is infested and run down. The floor is alive with lice and the pan is so dry that the beans have hardened. The singer is hungry and leans on their companion for support. The physical situation is bleak, but the underlying emotional theme is about the need for human connection.
The chorus of the song, "I kissed the bottle, I should've been kissing you," indicates that the singer is turning to alcohol instead of their partner for comfort. The second verse further elaborates on this theme. The partner wakes up to find themselves alone with tears for two. The days are empty and the singer is jonesing, or in withdrawal from their addiction. They ask for spare change, hoping to buy some time or freedom. The singer's story is all they have, and they rely on their own brand of fiction to comfort themselves. The song concludes with the image of the singer shaking on the job and hoping that the white light coming up will pass. It's a bleak portrayal of addiction and the importance of human connection.
Line by Line Meaning
It gets lonliest (sic) at night. Down at the liquor store. Beneath the neon sky. Our moonlight.
The singer feels the most alone at night when they are at the liquor store, surrounded by the neon lights and moonlight.
Six a.m. the floor comes alive with lice. The pan's dried up so tight. With hardened beans. We're hungry.
At six in the morning, the singer is surrounded by filth and desperation, with no food to be found despite being desperately hungry.
So I lean on you sometimes. Just to see you're still there. Your feet can't take the weight of one. Much less two. We hit concrete.
The singer relies on someone for emotional support, but they are both struggling and unable to fully stand on their own, leading to a difficult and painful situation.
How were we born into this mess?
The artist questions how they ended up in their current difficult circumstances.
I know I painted you a prettier picture, baby. But we were run out on a rail. Fell from the wagon to the night train. I kissed the bottle. I should've been kissing you.
The artist acknowledges that they may have misled their loved one about their situation and choices, but ultimately recognizes that they have turned to alcohol instead of seeking comfort in their partner.
You wake up to an empty night. With tears for two. Cigarettes they fill the gaps. In our empty days. In our broken teeth. We're jonesing.
The singer's loved one is left struggling alone, turning to cigarettes to fill the emptiness and cope with their own pain and addiction.
Say mister, can you spare a dime? Some change could make a change. Could buy some time. Some freedom. Or an ear to hear my story. It's all I've got. My fiction beats the hell out of my truth.
The singer begs for someone to show them even the smallest bit of kindness or empathy, offering their own made-up stories as a way to escape their harsh reality.
A palm upturned burnt blue. Don't call it sunburn.
The artist's hands have been burned and damaged in some way, perhaps from hard work or living on the streets, and they are sensitive about it being referred to as just a sunburn.
You've been shaking on the job. Just one drink ahead of your past. There's a white light coming up. You draw the blinds hoping it'll pass.
The artist is struggling to hold on, barely keeping it together while working, and is haunted by their own past and the possibility of getting caught or experiencing negative consequences. They hope to avoid detection or judgment by hiding away from the world.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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