ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Face Down" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

thats an amazing idea.

Hey, I am WAY past the release date on this, but as a Christian guy who grew up on Christian Rock in the 90s, we called it "JPMs" or Jesuses Per Minute." We joked about it all the time, mostly because people in radio and churches would scan lyric sheets before giving their approval. I mostly ignored them on that. Anyway, no idea these guys would have been "Christian Rock" - good song tho. FWIW, Christian bands like REZ and Steve Taylor were condeming apartheid and Bob Jones University back in the 70s and 80s. Taylor had a lawsuit threatened by the school. There was certainly political/social commentaries that slipped under the radar during Christian Rock's heydey -- even the referenced band One Bad Pig slammed anti-gay attitudes in one of their songs some 30 years ago.

Justin V

Have you considered doing aptly named The Final Cut by Pink Floyd for a Trainwreckord

Morpheus

I've never heard of either the band or the song, but I avoided emo etc. like the plague while it was going on.

Raymond

What’s up? Awesome video!!! Have you looked into doing Lupe Fiasco Lazers for a trainwreckords review?? Feel like once you learn about everything that happen to this album it would be the perfect candidate for this video. Thanks for the content!!

Justin Wood

Ooh, Mötley Crüe trainwreckords teased

James Robertson

Finally: MY GENRE

waywardlaser

It might be because I'm still emo but I still really like this song

Athena Alexandra

OMG Todd - I had no idea that RJA was/is a Christian band, which is phenomenal because you might remember that I used to listen to Christian rock and hang out with Liberty kids. In the aughts they were in this weird middle ground where they were in-between genres - too emo to be post-grunge but too post-grunge to be emo. I don’t know if you knew this but RJA had a concert at Lynchburg in either 2008 or 2009 but it was a flop because it was the first concert where the college charged ticket fees - $15. They paid the big bucks thinking that they were bringing in the next big thing but they were only known for the one song and no one wanted to pay to see a one-hit wonder, lol. I didn’t go but apparently it was a good show. Anyway it looks like they went full-blown Christian rock band after I stopped listening to Christian music. But I get why they didn’t brand themselves as a Christian band - they didn’t want to write the majority of their music about Jesus or even have the majority imply that it was about Jesus. They wanted to follow the path that bands like POD and Mae made with the occasional Jesus-y reference rather than the path where every song has a hidden Christian reference. Even know you had Relient K and the like that have very secular songs they were the exception and not the rule. They basically followed what Switchfoot did - was a Christian band that started almost completely secular but then went full blown Christian later.

oh boy, a one hit wonder that I was into when it was popular. Does this make me old?

Sammy

Please do a one hit wonderland on Kreayshawn's Gucci Gucci. Her story is a tragic one that would do good with your format. Plus she has a real good follow up non-hit

BMJ614

I do think that pop-punk benefited greatly from crawling back underground: the 2010s were full of great albums from artists like The Wonder Years, The Smith Street Band, Jeff Rosentock, Laura Stevenson, The World is a Beautiful Place…, as well as excellent comebacks from older bands like The Lawrence Arms, Against Me! and American Football (I know that calling some of these artists pop or punk might be contentious…and I don’t care). A lot of these artists focus on mental health and exploring their own failings as people, and while it could be argued they’re trying a little too hard at times, I’ll still take them over the overproduced “Hot Topic” sound of the mid-2000s. A lot of them were just boy bands with an ax to grind, and we really don’t need that shit to return in the 2020s. Anyway, thank you for teaching me about this pretty okay band I sort of remember existing.

Oisín Harrell

I don't like how wishy-washy the end of the song is with the whole "oh maybe things will get better" spiel, as Nickelback already did a much better song on that exact subject matter years earlier with "Never Again" where the woman actually gets justice by shooting her abuser.

RedBedroomRecords

Yeah i immediately thought of that too, that was a ballsy move on Nickelback's part as you'd heard rock bands tackle a subject head on like that before and I refuse to believe RJA didn't take at least some influence from that song. I think Never Again is definitely the better song on that subject matter as it's much angrier and it has an actual concrete ending with the women getting revenge as opposed to this song's wishy-washy "maybe things will get better someday" ending. I definitely disagree on Nickelback doing the same song over and over, Lullaby was an amazing anti-suicide song that's saved a lot of lives(just look at any Youtube comments on that song) "Edge of a Revolution" is about political unrest and "Silent Majority" is about how you shouldn't just sit around complaining about how bad things are and should instead do something about them, and oh boy did a lot of us need to hear a song like that in the Trump era.

RedBedroomRecords

I knew about "I Love College" due to Rap Critic doing a review of that song ages ago.

RedBedroomRecords

The lead singer looks a lot like early Ozzy Osborne to me

That's CanCon regulations for you.

Neil

It's admirable for the band to tackle this subject, but I think Nickelback did it better with "Never Again" several years earlier as that song sounds much angrier and in that song the woman actually does get justice by shooting her abuser which makes it more satisfying. P.S. Never Back Down is actually a pretty good movie, I could relate to the main character a lot as I was also an outcast in school and got beat up and picked on a lot.

RedBedroomRecords

Yeah I heard that song there too, never heard it outside of that game though.

RedBedroomRecords

I found that song kinda bleh, it was used well in the movie "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" i'll give it that much, but I still can't exactly call it good.

RedBedroomRecords

Oh wow! I will always remember when the buttrocky but honest Arizona Metal radio stations kept telling me that the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus were going to be the next BIG, BIG THING…. but it just never happened and I always had to wonder why. Thank you Todd.

Christian Reiswig

I've heard this song before in the video game Saints Row 2 on one of their in-game radio stations, though I never once actually heard it on the radio in real life.

RedBedroomRecords

When I saw the artist and song title this didn't ring a bell at all until I checked it out on Youtube and I was like "oh yeah this was that one song that was on Generation X Radio in Saints Row 2!"(and it was also in MX vs ATV Untamed)

RedBedroomRecords

Wow that takes me back. I haven't thought about Relient K in years. I was surprised to find out they were a Christian band.

Maybe it didn't quite fit into the structure of the video so it was left out but does anyone remember when a photographer accused them of using his images without permission? https://petapixel.com/2014/04/21/band-responds-worst-way-possible-stealing-photographers-work/

I turned 47 yesterday, my daughter just finished her first year of high school, and this is the first One Hit Wonderland about something I had no idea existed before now. I don't feel old. Not at all.

Kristopher Bluth

I remember and love this song. It's a pity the band didn't do better...just not enough guyliner to make it.

Well, both bands are from the same city (Jacksonville)

Tim Mackie

I spent a decade convinced this song was by Yellowcard, and I'm pretty sure that was entirely because "Red Jumpsuit Apparatus" was just too lame a name to remember.

Home Theater of Cruelty

Why does Vimeo hate phones so much 😭

Cash Nelson

holy shit I 100% forgot this song existed. real solid episode!

matt

I had heard this song and of this band, but completely separately. Had no idea this band made this song, or that the song was such a hit.

Martin Sternelius

I was a huge fan of RJA's first album when I was a 15 year old kid who wore too much black, but they will never leave my brain due to this youtube video a friend stumbled onto in 2009 and which I have been... essentially rickrolling people with ever since. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkhRyUwW24

Katherine Elmore

I think Simple Plan does have one good song. "Perfect". All of their other songs just give off the vibe of "My life is a disaster even though I'm a suburban middle-class white boy", but "Perfect" is about something that is actually worth angsting over. It's about failing to live up to your parents' expectations, and honestly, who can't relate to that?

Ryan Storey

I don't remember this song and band at all despite being into pop-punk at the time. I'm guessing it was less popular on the coasts. I was more aware of The Soviettes, Epoxies, and Damone in 2005-2006.

Juan Nunez

The only pop-punk act from the peak '00s era that managed a #1 hit was the Plain White T's which is the classic rock band move of getting big with a sensitive ballad after establishing your rock cred. That'd be a good One Hit Wonderland to watch!

I'm honestly a bit stunned that the whole "art thievery" thing didn't come up once. That's basically all I know this band for past 2009. I'm also a bit shocked that we finally had a talk about Christian pop-punk and Relient K didn't get a shoutout. In my memory, Mmhmm was a really sizable album - though maybe that was my backwater Christian-conservative hometown trying to express itself. Either way, this song and video have been a LONG time coming. I've been thinking of this as a prospective video since I started watching OHW.

Colton Moore

Only know this song from Saints Row 2. Same with "Hate (really don't like you)", coincidentally

Neil

This isn't an error exactly, but I will say that in terms of Face Down charting unusually high for a pop-punk song, Fall Out Boy had a few top ten hits - This Ain't a Scene even peaked at #2. None of them had screaming though, you might be right about this being the highest-charting song with screams.

Gordon Stearns

I had a very Christian friend who liked this band so I always kind of figured that it had to have religious roots otherwise she wouldn't be listening to it. I actually think "Your Guardian Angel" is one of those unsung (and probably entirely unintended) anthems to abusive codependent relationships ala Lovefool. I mean, it goes fairly normal until they drop in, "Use me as you will, pull my strings just for a thrill." I don't really care if you take that line as Jesus-y or secular, that's not a really healthy mindset.

AstarothLuLz

yeah that’s what i mainly remember them from too

Nic Pruitt

I was legitimately waiting for you to open up requests for OHW, so I could pay money I don't have to make you do this one. Saw these guys at Warped Tour '07, owned the album, my best friend who I was in love with had their song "Cat and Mouse" on her Myspace page for a hot sec, and somehow your vid is how I learned they were Christian? Honestly, most of the Christian emo/post-hardcore bands from that time were a lot edgier than these guys were. Underoath songs were 80% screamo vocals and unusual time signatures, blessthefall and The Devil Wears Prada were pure metalcore. They were skilled enough that they even had a ton of non-christian fans. I think RJA were too poppy to get the cred those other bands got, and so didn't have an intense enough fan base to push them onto the rock charts, which may have led to another crossover hit. But who knows.

I still look forward to every episode. THANKS TODD!

plusmin

I know this isn't the point of anything, but, I have no idea what you mean about the "ma-an" line. It doesn't sound like there's another syllable to me at all, just that the one syllable is being extended. But wow, I never would have guessed this was from a Christian rock group at all.

Adam Violet

That second album was a disaster; after they followed it up with a so-so EP, I stopped paying attention. But after a few more albums, they released their entire discography for free; I downloaded everything, but I clearly never listened to most of it, because I didn’t even realize they had a song called “Jesus Is My Rockstar”.

Cameron Cook

Don't feel bad. I was deep into my Christian cups in 2006, and the name BARELY registers in my brain, if at all.

Charles Arthur

Huh, I'd never heard of this one.

MJS

God I remember listening to this song over and over again on Now That’s What I Call Music

Landon Miracle

Lol. Me and my Canadian ass sitting here while you talk about RJA being the most mainstream screamo ever got and I'm like "Well, American radio in 2007 clearly was not Canadian radio in 2007, because Alexisonfire was all over the damn place back then." XD

Angela

you don't bring it up (though you play the instrumental in the background at one point), but "Damn Regret", one of their songs from the first album, was one of those songs that Sirius Hits 1 used to play all the time in 2008 despite it never charting or... even being released as a single apparently. Still, it's worth a listen cause it's cut from the same cloth as "Face Down," though not as heavy a subject matter.

The Hand Of The People

Went to one of their high schools and it makes PERFECT sense that they went hard on the Christ rock angle, regardless of the cursing etc. There were just a torrent of screamo type christian bands in Jax at the time and like two venues that bothered with them. One was a coffee shop/auditorium run by one of about 500k baptist churches in the up and coming, indie-hip part of town. I had a friend lose a gig there for having a picture of them in a freebie paper holding a bottle of liquor. It was like that. But allowances were made for stated christian bands. For Christian Screamo cursing is a lesser sin than being a FUCKIN POSEUR. Its just another way of trying to have it both ways. Cursing and so on helped them feel more legitimate, being a stated christian band helped them get more shows in a wasteland of a music scene. Great video Todd!

When I saw "Face Down" the first thing I thought was Prince's Face Down

I'll admit I'm a bit surprised you didn't take more issue with that second verse, which I've always thought crossed the line into being embarrassingly clumsy, but I definitely agree that the hook's biting sarcasm is just amazing. And it's definitely interesting to see another Christian band that actually channels their religious convictions without either smugness or complete blandness. They seem better than I expected overall.

Teddy Haines

I had never heard of this song. Bit after my time, I guess. Great video, as always! BTW, if it's not too much work, could you keep the advertising out of the Patreon version of the video, please? Feels weird being advertised to on Patreon, when you've paid... just a thought. Anyway, keep up the good work!

user no. g_{64}

one of the things that I always appreciated about this m/v is they never actually show the actress being hit. i feel like whenever there's like a ''psa" song the m/v can be pretty heavy handed and upsetting especially to those who have been in that situation. this feels like that was taken into consideration. this band was one of my favorites as a kid and makes me laugh I still know most of the words to false pretense.

Will E.

Man, I know the pop punk boom of the mid-aughts basically missed me in my high school years, but I have never heard of this one. EDIT: I guess THAT might explain it. Anyway, I think if you're a Christian and a punk and you're doing it right, you're probably a Tolstoyan anarchist or something along those lines. That'd be my guess, anyway, I know nothing about the scene.

maruhkati

Oh man, that Vitamin String Quartet cover to close out the video. This was a nostalgia trip from minute one but that closer sent a visceral Shockwave of high-school memories through me. Great video as always!

I Fight Horny Patron Names

Same.

KBucky

Maybe I just have super-ears but I heard it as "Do you feel like a man" first time.

Chris Renwick

I learn a lot watching your videos. I had never heard of this band or the song, but this is a solid, really interesting video. I'm also glad you stepped into the whole Christian rock thing since I know next to nothing about that genre.

Jennifer Layton

You know it's funny you mention nickleback, because when you were praising them for putting out a domestic violence song in the early 2000s my brain shot back to a nickleback song called "never again", which I still remember the lyrics pretty well to despite how long it's been because it ended in shooting the abuser. I only got the one album by them when I was 11 because they just remade the same songs after that, but I did think that one and the one about poverty had decent things to say. This song probably was more helpful wrt inspiration to get out though through the nature of christian inspired salvation vs revenge even if the latter feels more satisfying to listen to in a rock song though.

Katastrophe

I was pleasantly surprised to hear you liked this song! And I'm adding "False Pretense" to my rotation now, it sounds a bit like Coheed and Cambria. And wtf was that second album single video 😂

Cody Baird

I think this is the first OHW since "I Love College" where I have no familiarity with the song. (The Buoys singing the title in "Timothy" sounded vaguely familiar...) PS: With regard to Christian punk, didn't MxPx start out as Christian?

Jon Heiman

Thanks for covering this song! Haven't heard it in a decade lol what a blast from the past :)

Sierra Reppert

I think I actually like these better when, as in this case, I don't know the song. This was fascinating.

Beau Dure

I'd suggest adding subtitles at about 6:57 since you're discussing the lyrics and I can't understand what they're saying. Unless that's the point there?

Cassandra Gelvin

I....did not realize this was a one hit wonder I listened to this album a ton 0_0

Meg Galuardi

Back in my emo days, I used to gripe about this song and call them Red Jumpsuit Crapparatus. Then I'd secretly play their lamest, cheesiest song, "Your Guardian Angel", on repeat. Ah, memories.

NYC Pigeon

OH SHIT A VENTURE BROS REFERENCE DOUBLING MY SUBSCRIPTION

Cody Baird

I'm torn because I know this song is cheesy as hell but there's something about it that gets me every time, and I'm afraid to hear it get eviscerated 🥺

Cody Baird

I remember Buckley covered them on Scumbags of The Internet after they stole work from a photographer and passes it off as their own.

Fuck I can't watch rn cuz of work but I'm very excited for this

Str00p