The original lineup consisted of vocalist Jason Cruz, guitarists Jake Kiley and Rob Ramos, bassist Jim Cherry and drummer Adam Austin. After releasing a self-titled 7" record, they became one of the first bands to be signed to Fat Wreck Chords, the record label owned and operated by Fat Mike of the band NOFX. Austin left the band in 1992 and was replaced by Brad Morrison who also left the band and was replaced on drums by Jordan Burns, formerly of fellow Simi Valley natives Ten Foot Pole. Their first album, Another Day in Paradise, was released in May of 1994. Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues followed in 1996. In 1998 they released The Skinny Years...Before We Got Fat, a compilation album of their pre-Fat Wreck Chords material.
The band showed notable musical growth on their 1998 album Twisted by Design, which was both speedy and technical but also punk-based and with darker overtones. The album established a mixture of the fast, poppy sound the band had established with Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues but mixed it with more atonality and more abstract song structures. Bassist Jim Cherry left the band in 1999 and went on to play in Pulley and Zero Down, but died of heart failure in 2002. He was replaced by Chris Aiken, whose musical background had a strong impact on the 2000 album The Element of Sonic Defiance, which continued in the fast, melodic punk tradition of the band while introducing more hard rock and metal elements.
In 2002 the band released their fourth full-length album An American Paradox, their first release to appear in the Billboard Top 200. The initial production run contained a bonus song entitled "Don't Look Back". A video was filmed for the song "Cemetery" and was included on several punk rock video compilations. In 2003 they recorded and released a live album as part of the Fat Wreck Chords Live in a Dive series. Exile in Oblivion, was released in 2004, with a video filmed for the song "Analog." Strung Out released their sixth full-length album, Blackhawks Over Los Angeles on June 12, 2007.
In March 2009, Strung Out released a compilation of B-sides, demos, and covers called "Prototypes and Painkillers" with material from all eras of the band's history. Many of these tracks have been on various punk compilations and/or were included in their "Live in a Dive" recording.
On September 29, 2009, Strung Out Released a their 7th studio album titled Agents of the Underground.
Rotten Apple
Strung Out Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Alone. The wrinkles on you face, a map
Of all your pain.
Your expression becomes an open book
Of time, filled with pages of forgotten
Hopes.
Good intentions, regret, disillusion with
Life, animosity, unbridled purity.
And your eyes tell me all you could
Never be.
So many times I've stared
Into the eyes of the young, the old,
The lonely and the wise.
Just to find a glimpse of all I
Have not seen
Just to find some peace for my
Jaded mind.
Don't wanna live my life
By the second hand of a clock that's
Long since past me by
You say I've got to stay in line
We'll your line is going nowhere and
So are you.
Choices decisions made smokin' away
The pain inside,
Sit back and watch it all go by
We could never find the peace
Of mind we need,
We hid it all away for another day
Sit back everything's gonna be alright.
Rivers of pain map your agin'
Skin your expression a journal
Of where you've been.
All your dreams and your chances
Lost
You walk along that dotted line
Do you remember a time
When you used to dream?
Do you remember a time when
You used to live?
All your dreams and chances they're
All gone.
So you gave it all away unable
To say all you wanna say
Look at you now - turned our to be
Face of misery
Look at you now a rottin apple's
All I see.
The song "Rotten Apple" by Strung Out is a melancholic portrayal of life's disappointments and the pain that comes with failed dreams and lost opportunities. The singer in the song is a tired and lonely man, his face a map of pain and his eyes filled with regret and disillusionment. The lyrics suggest that he is a man who once had hopes and dreams, but life's circumstances have made him cynical and bitter. The lines "All your dreams and your chances lost/ You walk along that dotted line" imply that the man has given up on his goals and is now just going through the motions, living a life without purpose or passion.
The song also speaks to the artist's personal struggles with finding peace and meaning in their own life. The lines "Just to find some peace for my jaded mind/ Don't wanna live my life by the second hand of a clock that's long since past me by" suggest that the artist is grappling with feelings of disillusionment and frustration, but is still searching for a way to find peace and fulfillment. The song's theme of lost dreams and missed opportunities is a common one in punk rock music, but Strung Out's lyrics are particularly poignant due to their emphasis on regret and the weight of past mistakes.
Line by Line Meaning
Hey tired man I see you walk
I notice you walking and can see that you are tired and most likely alone.
Alone. The wrinkles on you face, a map
Of all your pain.
You are alone and the wrinkles on your face reflect the pain you have experienced in your life.
Your expression becomes an open book
Of time, filled with pages of forgotten
Hopes.
Your facial expressions speak volumes of the passage of time and the many hopes you have lost along the way.
Good intentions, regret, disillusion with
Life, animosity, unbridled purity.
I can see a mix of good intentions, regret, disappointment with life, resentment, and unfiltered purity in your eyes.
All these things I swear I see
And your eyes tell me all you could
Never be.
I can see all these emotions and feelings in your eyes and they show me that you could never be who you wanted to be.
So many times I've stared
Into the eyes of the young, the old,
The lonely and the wise.
I have looked into the eyes of people of all ages, with different experiences and personalities.
Just to find a glimpse of all I
Have not seen
Just to find some peace for my
Jaded mind.
I look into their eyes in search for something I haven't seen before and to find some solace for my cynical mind.
Don't wanna live my life
By the second hand of a clock that's
Long since past me by
I don't want to lead my life based on a clock that has already long passed me by.
You say I've got to stay in line
We'll your line is going nowhere and
So are you.
You tell me I have to stick to the rules, but your rules won't take me anywhere and neither will you.
Choices decisions made smokin' away
The pain inside,
I make choices and decisions, but I deal with the pain inside by smoking it away.
Sit back and watch it all go by
We could never find the peace
Of mind we need,
We hid it all away for another day
I just watch everything go by and I never find the peace of mind I crave. So, I hide it all away to deal with another day.
Sit back everything's gonna be alright.
I sit back and hope that everything is going to turn out okay.
Rivers of pain map your agin'
Skin your expression a journal
Of where you've been.
Your pain seems so deep and etched, like rivers on aged skin, and your facial expressions document all where you have been.
All your dreams and your chances
Lost
You walk along that dotted line
You have lost all your dreams and opportunities and now you just walk along a path without any clear direction or purpose.
Do you remember a time
When you used to dream?
Do you remember a time when
You used to live?
Do you reminisce about the times when you had dreams and ambitions, and when you actually lived life?
All your dreams and chances they're
All gone.
All your aspirations and opportunities are lost and gone.
So you gave it all away unable
To say all you wanna say
You've given up on your dreams and couldn't even express everything you wanted to say.
Look at you now - turned our to be
Face of misery
You've come to this point where you are nothing but a face of misery.
Look at you now a rottin apple's
All I see.
You're nothing but a rotten apple now.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHRISTOPHER CHARLES LLOYD, MICHAEL J. CLERVOIX, KEJUAN WALIEK MUCHITA, CURTIS JAMES JACKSON, ALBERT JOHNSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
StarSn1per
My favorite Strung out track!! I'll never get tired of it!!
BenDrinkin1
I’m tired of you. Jk came jere for this
brotheroftheboyz
One of the only bands that released an album that was always different, and arguably better, than their last.
AKAMUSICkeepit100
I was raised on this and proud of it
uncle ruckus
U should be, the best band nobody cares about
Samson N
This dude is a genius lyricist.
Adrian Blackburn
amazing song! great lyrics
Takumi Sugiyama
still best band for me!! i wanna be their live
The Background Noise
I remember being strung out and listening to strung out...ahhh the 90's.
Trashmanzero
This was the first strung out song I ever heard and I loved it back then, but to borrow a phrase from the new generation, this shit hits different now