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.
With Or Without U2
Jawbreaker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
See the stone set in her eyes.
See the thorn twist in her side.
And I wait without you.
Sleight of hand and twist of fate.
On a bed of nails she makes me wait.
And I wait without you.
With or without you.
With or without.
With or without you.
I want your skulls.
I need your skulls.
I want your skulls.
I need your skulls.
I've got your picture. I've got your picture.
I'd like a million of them all 'round my cell.
I asked the doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well.
You've got me turning up and turning down and turning in and turning 'round.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women.
No sin, no fun, no you, no wonder it's dark.
Everyone avoids me is a total stranger.
Everyone treats me like a psyched lone ranger.
Everyone.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
Jawbreaker's song "With Or Without U2" is a mashup of two famous songs: U2's "With or Without You" and The Misfits' "Skulls." The lyrics are scattered and disconnected, with lines from multiple songs overlapping with each other. The first part of the song is a tribute to U2's classic hit, "With or Without You." It starts with the lines "See the stone set in her eyes. See the thorn twist in her side." These two lines are borrowed directly from the U2 song. However, the rest of the stanza is more disjointed, with the lines "And I wait without you. Sleight of hand and twist of fate. On a bed of nails, she makes me wait. And I wait without you." The repeated "with or without you" suggests the singer of the song is singing about a person, and they can't seem to make up their mind if they want them with or without them.
The next stanza alludes to The Misfits' song "Skulls." The repetitive lines "I want your skulls. I need your skulls." are taken from this song. The following stanza has a mix of images and verses from different songs. The line "You've got me turning up and turning down and turning in and turning 'round" comes from The Beatles' song "A Hard Day's Night." The next lines "I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so." is from The Vapors' 1980 hit, "Turning Japanese." The final stanza is a complete from the song "Turning Japanese," with the repeated line "I'm turning Japanese, I really think so." The overall effect is a rather nonsensical mashup of different song references.
Line by Line Meaning
You know, there's been a lot of talk about Dublin.
There is a lot of discussion surrounding the city of Dublin.
See the stone set in her eyes.
Her eyes have a hard, unfeeling quality to them.
See the thorn twist in her side.
She is suffering from a painful situation that won't go away.
And I wait without you.
I am waiting for you, but you are not here.
Sleight of hand and twist of fate.
My situation has been influenced by some kind of trickery or fate.
On a bed of nails she makes me wait.
She is causing me to suffer while I wait for her.
With or without you.
I am willing to be with you, whether or not you reciprocate my feelings.
With or without you.
I am willing to follow my heart, with you or without you.
With or without.
I will pursue my destiny, even if I have to do it alone.
With or without you.
My love for you is unconditional, and I will love you regardless.
I want your skulls.
I desire something dangerous or violent.
I need your skulls.
I feel an intense, desperate need for something dangerous.
I've got your picture. I've got your picture.
I have a picture of you that I cherish deeply.
I'd like a million of them all 'round my cell.
I would love to see your picture everywhere I go, even if I am confined.
I asked the doctor to take your picture.
I have gone to great lengths to obtain more pictures of you.
So I can look at you from inside as well.
I want to be able to see you even when I am trapped or isolated.
You've got me turning up and turning down and turning in and turning 'round.
You are making me feel unstable and uncertain, unable to find a sense of direction or balance.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
I am feeling a sense of cultural disorientation, as if I am becoming someone or something else entirely.
No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women.
I am living a life of total abstinence, free of any pleasures or indulgences.
No sin, no fun, no you, no wonder it's dark.
The absence of you has left my life empty and devoid of any light or happiness.
Everyone avoids me is a total stranger.
Nobody wants to be around me, even if they don't know me personally.
Everyone treats me like a psyched lone ranger.
Everyone sees me as some kind of crazy, isolated individual.
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.
My sense of confusion and disorientation is growing stronger.
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Felipe Di Bella
love it
4ur3liu5
No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women. No sin, no fun, no you, no wonder it's dark. Everyone avoids me is a total stranger. Everyone treats me like a psyched lone ranger. Everyone.
highonangeldust
Pre poet status😂 I had the of 7”
Curt Turdle
kinda wish this just a full U2 cover
leewardstyle
only one of the best 7inches EVER.
miro lund
That’s what she said”
dick Lugosi
Then they go into Misfits Skulls, crazy.
dick Lugosi
Then they go into Misfits Skulls, ha.
Drew Bludd
Then The Vapors
Jeremy Stauffer
@leewardstyle That's what she said! Haha, sorry. Had to.