In Remembrance: Refused
If you only subscribe to one hardcore band, let that band be Refused.
Finding decent hardcore can be tough these days. I mean, good lord, Verse and Have Heart both break up within months of each other. What’s that all about? But bear with me as we go a bit further back than either of these bands. The band I want to talk about broke up before most of these bands were even conceived. Oh, and they’re from Sweden.
If you haven’t guessed it yet, (hopefully you have, their name is at the top of the page for christsakes) I’m talking about Refused. Now for those of you who haven’t heard of Refused, it’s all right. It’s all right because we’re talking bout a band nearly two decades old, and not only that, but THEY’RE FROM SWEDEN.
Refused started out in 1991 hailing from the hardcore capital of Europe, Umea, Sweden. The band then consisted of drummer David Sandström, vocalist Dennis Lyxzén, guitarist Pär Hansson and bassist Jonas Lidgren. Within a few months Refused had already recorded and started distributing their first demo, First Demo: Refused. Several months later they released a second demo, Second Demo: Operation Headfirst.
Following their first string of demo releases, Refused started to gain some distinction in Umea, known then as a veritable Hardcore Mecca the world around. In the advent of their rising fame the band recorded their debut EP, This Is The New Deal, in 1993. Magnus Björklund also replaced Jonas Lidgren at this point as the band’s bass guitarist.
1994 saw the release of the band’s first LP, This Just Might Be… The Truth. In typical first album fashion, This Just Might Be… wouldn’t live up to the band’s later albums. While promising, the album was a bit elementary in construction, and the political messages portrayed seemed rather generic, if not clichéd. It was released by Startrec, but would later be reissued after Refused signed onto the Burning Heart roster.
Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent, Refused’s second full-length offering, returned the band to the forefront of the hardcore movement. From the first track, “Rather Be Dead,” the chaotic, politically driven mayhem is much more structured and thoughtful here than in the bands prior releases. This album, while not a masterpiece by any standards, would come to foreshadow Refused’s final and greatest release, The Shape Of Punk To Come.
The panicle of Refused’s career is undoubtedly their 1998 album, The Shape Of Punk To Come. While somewhat more reserved than Songs To Fan The Flames…, The Shape Of Punk To Come makes up for with superb songwriting. Plagued with social and political messages, not only is The Shape Of Punk To Come incredibly intense album, but also profound and in a kind of arrogant way, a realistic foreshadowing of what thoughtful hardcore and punk music would become.
Refused broke up shortly after the release of The Shape Of Punk To Come. Band members felt as though a major change were inevitable, and despite the major success of their latest album, were weary to return to their creative endeavors. Refused announced their last show ever would be in the basement of a friend while on the U.S. leg of their tour. After disobeying police orders and starting into their final song, “Rather Be Dead,” police shut off the buildings power just short of the song’s climax. Refused Are Fucking Dead, a DVD released in 2006 documents the bands final weeks and features in depth interviews with the band members leading up to the breakup.
Dennis Lyxzén went on to form the band The (International) Noise Conspiracy. The remaining members (David Sandström, Jon Brännström and Kristofer Steen) went on to for TEXT. Lyxzén and Sandström reunited in 2008 to a band named AC4.
Posted by Andrew Scott on Sep 15, 2009 @ 9:00 am