The Vindictives are a Chicago-based punk pop group formed in 1990, and were… Read Full Bio ↴The Vindictives are a Chicago-based punk pop group formed in 1990, and were active through 1996. They are peers with Screeching Weasel, The Queers and other bands from the era, they are also heavily-influenced by the Ramones. Joey Vindicitive's characteristic nasal melodies often told the story of alienation, psychosis, social-ills, and contiunally rejected rules of politeness. The lyrics are often intelligent outrages communicated through intentionally immature self defeating soliloquies.

They began their career in 1991, cutting their first 7" record later that year with the lineup of Joey Vindictive (vocals), Johnny Personality (bass), Billy Blastoff (guitar), Dr. Bob (guitar), P.J. Parti (drums) and Erik Elsewhere (drums). The band would end up releasing 12 albums until July of 1996, when Joey Vindictive revealed that his health issues would prevent the band from going on. Luckily for him, he overcame his ailments to re-form the band in 2000, cutting a new album and overseeing the re-release of a significant part of their catalog. Dr. Bob died in 2003 due to a heroin overdose. Their song "The Invisible Man" was featured in the Ubisoft game Watch Dogs, where it attracted attention to restart the band once more in 2013, releasing a new EP titled Mono-Flexi, and to remaster most of their previous songs as Songbooks coming in volumes starting from I to III.

The Vindictives' website is currently down indefinitely.

Dummy Room
The Vindictives Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Feeling curious I started planning tests to mess up the local laws,
Pushing buttons wearing dirty gym shoes,
Fingerprints in the hallway walls, WOW!
Witness guidance formulate derangement.
I watched you lock the lock and lose your keys,
You're ignorance betrays out little arrangement.
Now you've got me locked up in your fucking dummy room.
A smiling friend prescribed a potion to keep me occupied while on parole.

Ten years later I saw the ceiling reflecting back in my toilet bowl, WOW!
Witness guidance formulate derangement.
I watched you lock the lock and lose your keys.

Your ignorance betrays out little arrangement
Now you've got me locked up in your fucking little dummy room

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to The Vindictives' song "Dummy Room" paint a picture of a person who is feeling curious and begins to plan tests to mess up the local laws. This person starts pushing buttons while wearing dirty gym shoes, leaving their fingerprints in the hallway walls. The witness guidance causes a mental breakdown, leading the person to watch as their captor locks the lock and loses their keys. The captor's ignorance ended up betraying their little arrangement and now they have the singer locked up in their fucking dummy room.

The phrase "dummy room" can be interpreted in many ways, but it tends to be associated with a padded cell where someone would be placed if they were deemed crazy or insane. The lyrics suggest that the person who is locked up in this room was put there by a smiling friend who prescribed them a potion to keep them occupied while on parole. Ten years later, the person sees the ceiling reflecting back in the toilet bowl, indicating they have spent a long time in this room. The witness guidance continues to cause derangement that eventually leads to paranoia and a complete mental breakdown.

The song's lyrics feel like they are a reference to the punitive measures sometimes taken to deal with those with mental health issues. The singer feels like their captor has betrayed them even though they were trying to help because the methods taken by the captor caused long-term damage. The song could be interpreted as a warning against ignoring mental health issues or using punishment to handle them. It also touches on the idea of the fine line between being considered insane or simply eccentric.

Line by Line Meaning

Feeling curious I started planning tests to mess up the local laws,
I became curious and started devising ways to violate local laws and regulations just for the sake of it.

Pushing buttons wearing dirty gym shoes,
I was intentionally pushing buttons while wearing filthy gym shoes to leave evidence of my presence.

Fingerprints in the hallway walls, WOW!
I left fingerprints on the walls of the hallways, and I was amazed at how easy it was to do so.

Witness guidance formulate derangement.
The guidance of the so-called witness was leading to a loss of sanity for me.

I watched you lock the lock and lose your keys,
I observed you locking the door but then losing your keys, which gave me an opportunity to carry out my plan.

You're ignorance betrays out little arrangement.
Your lack of knowledge or understanding has exposed our secret agreement.

Now you've got me locked up in your fucking dummy room.
As a result of my actions, you have confined me to a useless room with no way out.

A smiling friend prescribed a potion to keep me occupied while on parole.
A supposedly friendly person gave me a drug or potion to keep me occupied during my parole period.

Ten years later I saw the ceiling reflecting back in my toilet bowl, WOW!
Years later, I found myself in a terrible condition that was a surprise at first, but then revealed the sad reality of my situation.

Witness guidance formulate derangement.
The guidance of the so-called witness was leading to a loss of sanity for me.

I watched you lock the lock and lose your keys.
I observed you locking the door but then losing your keys, which gave me an opportunity to carry out my plan.

Your ignorance betrays out little arrangement
Your lack of knowledge or understanding has exposed our secret agreement.

Now you've got me locked up in your fucking little dummy room
As a result of my actions, you have confined me to a useless room with no way out.

Contributed by Bentley V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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