If I’d listened to everything that they said to me, I wouldn’t be here[1]This song is an anti-suicide pep talk; not a trivial concern, when you consider that suicide rates among all demographics have been on the rise for over a decade now—or that calls to suicide … Continue reading
And if I took the time to bleed from all the tiny little arrows shot my way, I wouldn’t be here
The ones who don’t do anything are always the ones who try to put you down[2]I never much cared for Rollins Band when I was a kid in the ’90s; his lyrics always felt like the same sort of embarrassing High School-level poetry that I was writing—which I could forgive … Continue reading
And you could spend your entire life walking around in the nowhere land of self-doubt[3]Besides, how can I hate on an artist who was obsessed with Miles Davis’s electric period when he recorded this album?
Cause when you start to doubt yourself the real world would eat you alive[4]“Be not afraid, only believe.” -Mark 5:36; note that the Savior here doesn’t even say believe in me in this passage, but “only believe.” It’s the doubt itself, in any form, that does you … Continue reading
It’s time, it’s time
It’s time to align your body with your mind[5]An important reminder that your body is as essential in Eternity as your mind and soul—something that, unsurprisingly, a body-builder like Henry Rollins would intuitively understand (this album … Continue reading, it’s hero time
It’s time, it’s time
It’s time to align your body with your mind, it’s hero time[6]Henry Rollins has, among a certain subset of younger Millennials and Gen Zers, become memed of late as a sort of motivational speaker–primarily due to this song, in fact. Such is ironic, … Continue reading
Cause when you start to doubt yourself the real world would eat you alive
And you know it’s true
I’m talking to you: hero time starts right now. Hey, hero time, yeah
Time to shine[7]“Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come … Continue reading, hey, hero time
If you think you’ve got 100 years to mess around, you’re wrong[8]As our own Alma 34:33 declares: “do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve … Continue reading
This time is real, your time is now, it’s hero time
Yeah, hero time, hey, time to shine[9]“And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” -Matt. 17:2, yeah, hero time, yeah
Hard times are gettin’ harder, the liars are acting strong[10]A line that hit even harder in 2024 than in 1994 (and that also makes crystal clear, in case there was even the slightest confusion, that Rollins does not remotely endorse or excuse the subject of … Continue reading
You better get a grip on yourself or you won’t be around too long[11]Also a line even truer in 2024 than in 1994.
It’s hero time, hey, time to shine[12]“And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.” -Acts 6:15; it was hero time for the martyr Stephen, time to shine., yeah, hero time, yeah, hero time, yeah
It’s hero time, it’s hero time, time to shine, shine, shine, shine, shine[13]“Now it came to pass after Abinadi had spoken these words that the people of king Noah durst not lay their hands on him, for the Spirit of the Lord was upon him; and his face shone with … Continue reading
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time
No such thing as down time
All you got is life time, go[14]As you can probably guess, this is the passage that has been getting memed of late, earning Henry Rollins a belated reputation as a motivational speaker of sorts. While perhaps kinda cheesy on the … Continue reading
Cause it’s hero time, cause it’s time to Shine[15]“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” -Matt. 5:16; 3 Nephi 12:16
Cause it’s time to go, go, go. yeah, hey
When you’re gone, you’re so gone
When you’re gone, you’re so gone
You’ve got it now, it’s time to go
Hero time starts right now. Yeah, a-ha, change it
I got grace in times of friction, I got truth in times of fiction[16]“Truth Will Prevail”
I’ve got no time for the hype
Suicide? I’m not the type[17]When you consider that this song debuted the same year that Kurt Cobain killed himself—and that after Cobain had listed Black Flag’s Damaged as one of his Top 50 favorite albums of all time—you … Continue reading
I’ve got no time for drug addiction, no time for smoke and booze[18]Much like his old Straight-Edge friend Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi fame, Henry Rollins keeps the Word of Wisdom without even realizing it!
Too strong for a shortened life span, I’ve got no time to lose
It’s time to shine, yeah, it’s hero time, yeah, it’s hero time, yeah
Yeah
Yeah
When you start to doubt yourself the real world will eat you alive
Yeah
You could spend your entire life walking around, coward,[19]“…arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity.” -2 Nephi 1:21 or you can get up
Get up, get up, get up, get up, it’s time to shine[20]“And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” -John 1:5, yeah!
References
| ↑1 | This song is an anti-suicide pep talk; not a trivial concern, when you consider that suicide rates among all demographics have been on the rise for over a decade now—or that calls to suicide hotlines spiked by something like 125% the day after the ’24 election, especially among LGBTQ youth. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | I never much cared for Rollins Band when I was a kid in the ’90s; his lyrics always felt like the same sort of embarrassing High School-level poetry that I was writing—which I could forgive when Henry Rollins was literally fresh out of High School himself and singing for Black Flag in the early-’80s, where the stupidity was the point. But now here he was well into his 30s, fronting a band of genuinely-skilled Heavy Metal and Jazz-Funk musicians that he had personally assembled, yet was still shout-singing the same simplistic, too-slow-for-Hip-Hop lyrics he did as a recent college dropout. I frankly felt second-hand cringe watching him.
Case in point: Their one minor-hit “Liar” (never a ringing endorsement when Beavus and Butthead loves your video) seemed a good representation of Rollins Band’s shortcomings for me: some painfully earnest lyrics are spoken-word delivered by a 30-something bodybuilder at a plodding pace, all while he’s backed by an overqualified Rock band that performs a very predictable soft-loud dynamic, before he shouts the chorus, trying to make up with volume what he lacks in vocal chops. The fact that the track was all about how liars are bad seemed even more eye-rollingly obvious: what was next, a song about airplane food? But then, I suppose it’s a sign of how sheltered my upbringing was that I didn’t realize till much later in life just how spot on Rollin’s psychological profile of a compulsive liar really was–of someone who narcissistically manipulates others at their most vulnerable, not out of weakness or cowardice or even desire to spare other’s feelings, but solely for their own sadistic, self-serving pleasure–nor just how depressingly common and seductive this sort of compulsive liar is in real life (just look at the last election). There is a reason why 2 Nephi 9:34 has to bluntly state: “Wo unto the liar for he shall be thrust down to hell.” Likewise, whereas as a teen I found Rollin’s bluntly-obvious lyrics to be a liability, I have over the past decade been forced to recognize that the sorts of liars he’s parodying here are themselves bluntly obvious (as again, this most recent election cycle taught us for the umpteenth time). Seriously, the worst—and sadly, most successful—liars are not the subtle, Iago-from-Othello ones at all, but those who are the most brazen and flagrant and obvious about it. Indeed, it’s their very brazenness and obviousness that lets them get away with it in the first place! (How many people were willing to believe that Haitian refugees in Ohio were eating people’s pets, no matter how many times that slander got debunked? How many innocent people got death threats because of an obvious lie?) As no less than Joseph Goebbels purportedly said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” In times like ours, subtlety is no longer a virtue; perhaps it never was. Henry Rollins was only slightly ahead of the curve when he recognized in 1994 that the blunt obviousness of liars needed to be countered with equally blunt obviousness, if we want to stand any chance of resisting them at all. (Perhaps this is why Alma felt no other way to reclaim his people save by bearing down in “pure testimony”—he had to take on the lies head on.) All of which is to say, it has ironically only been as a full-grown adult that I have come to better appreciate the bluntness of Rollins Band lyrics—including the lyrics to “Shine,” which is where he at last explains how to resist the liars. |
| ↑3 | Besides, how can I hate on an artist who was obsessed with Miles Davis’s electric period when he recorded this album? |
| ↑4 | “Be not afraid, only believe.” -Mark 5:36; note that the Savior here doesn’t even say believe in me in this passage, but “only believe.” It’s the doubt itself, in any form, that does you in. |
| ↑5 | An important reminder that your body is as essential in Eternity as your mind and soul—something that, unsurprisingly, a body-builder like Henry Rollins would intuitively understand (this album does admittedly make good workout music). |
| ↑6 | Henry Rollins has, among a certain subset of younger Millennials and Gen Zers, become memed of late as a sort of motivational speaker–primarily due to this song, in fact. Such is ironic, because Weight, the album that it appears on, straight up bullies the listener for nearly an hour straight–repeatedly calling you weak, a fool, a pig, “played like a deck of cards,” etc.–it’s the same album that “Liar” appears on, which also openly laughs in your face.
This track, then, is actually the hard-earned silver lining that concludes the CD, wherein Rollins clarifies that he has only been relentlessly mocking you in order to get you angry, fired up, pushing back–in short, to finally have some self-respect. (It’s a cliche to the point of truism that the people most likely to fall for a serial liar are the ones who lack all self-respect in the first place—again, just look at this last election). And now that you’re finally standing up for yourself and pushing back, Rollins wants to flip the switch and pump you up for a change. It’s tough love, but it is love. He whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Whosoever hath ears to hear, let them hear. |
| ↑7 | “Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.” -Exodus 34:29-30 |
| ↑8 | As our own Alma 34:33 declares: “do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.” |
| ↑9 | “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” -Matt. 17:2 |
| ↑10 | A line that hit even harder in 2024 than in 1994 (and that also makes crystal clear, in case there was even the slightest confusion, that Rollins does not remotely endorse or excuse the subject of “Liar”—nor should you).
Note also that he does not say the liars are becoming strong, but only acting strong. They only have as much power over us as we consent to give them. An important fact to remember going forward. |
| ↑11 | Also a line even truer in 2024 than in 1994. |
| ↑12 | “And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.” -Acts 6:15; it was hero time for the martyr Stephen, time to shine. |
| ↑13 | “Now it came to pass after Abinadi had spoken these words that the people of king Noah durst not lay their hands on him, for the Spirit of the Lord was upon him; and his face shone with exceeding luster, even as Moses’ did while in the mount of Sinai, while speaking with the Lord.” -Mosiah 13:5; it was certainly hero time for the martyr Abinadi, too, outnumbered but unafraid. |
| ↑14 | As you can probably guess, this is the passage that has been getting memed of late, earning Henry Rollins a belated reputation as a motivational speaker of sorts. While perhaps kinda cheesy on the surface, this passage actually conveys a great and terrible truth: that the day is far more advanced than we realize; or, as a brief article on this very site once reminded us, “Whatever You’re Going To Do, Do It Now, Because there is always less time than you think.” |
| ↑15 | “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” -Matt. 5:16; 3 Nephi 12:16 |
| ↑16 | “Truth Will Prevail” |
| ↑17 | When you consider that this song debuted the same year that Kurt Cobain killed himself—and that after Cobain had listed Black Flag’s Damaged as one of his Top 50 favorite albums of all time—you can appreciate the staggering level of Punk Rock provocation on display here.
But then, Rollins himself had engaged in some suicidal ideation back in his Black Flag days; when he sneers at suicide, I deeply suspect he’s doing that as much as for his own sake as anyone’s. As noted above, this isn’t a trivial concern: calls to suicide hotlines increased by something like 125% after Election Day, especially among LGBTQ youth. He wasn’t kidding at all when he said “the liars are acting strong/You better get a grip on yourself or you won’t be around too long.” But Henry Rollins doesn’t want you to give up, but to rise up, fight back, and shine. |
| ↑18 | Much like his old Straight-Edge friend Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi fame, Henry Rollins keeps the Word of Wisdom without even realizing it! |
| ↑19 | “…arise from the dust, my sons, and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things, that ye may not come down into captivity.” -2 Nephi 1:21 |
| ↑20 | “And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” -John 1:5 |