Suicidal Tendencies - You Can't Bring Me Down

Today's post is a one off.  I'll be hitting the Suicidal Tendencies, Exodus and Slayer show in December and thought I'd do a a few posts on awesome songs by these bands.  I'll start off with Suicidal Tendencies.  This is a band that helped bring together the punk world and metal world.  Starting off as a hardcore punk band, ST morphed into a killer thrash band and eventually molded into a heavy metal funk, punk band.

Suicidal is often considered one of the fathers of crossover thrash, blending awesome punk and metal into melodic aggressive thrash metal.  Robert Trujillo helped bring an element of funk to ST as well, which spawned the side-project Infectious Grooves.  However, Trujillo's influence stayed with the band long after he left.

I've been a long time fan of Suicidal Tendencies loving pretty much every album they've put out, but my favourite phase of the band would be the thrash years.  The song I'll be featuring today is off their 4th album Lights Camera Revolution and it's "You Can't Bring Me Down".  This song is a blistering thrash assault with a punk aggression, but does not sacrifice melody or emotion.  Mike Muir's vocals take on a very melodic tone and he sings with such conviction that one can't help but be moved.

Add to this the haunting guitar solos and melodic intro and this song just screams awesome!  Muir's lyrics are venomous, with a very punk aesthetic.  "You Can't Bring Me Down" is exactly what it says.  A song designed to pump up those who feel the pressure to conform.  This is probably the greatest song about self empowerment ever written.  Mike Muir's rant in the end is just brilliant too.  Be warned, there are plenty of swears!  So if you need a little boost and are feeling a little Cyco, give this a listen!