Song Review: "Kiss The Bottle" by Jawbreaker

---

Well, here it is. After about 10 years of thoroughly exploring punk rock and emo I have come to the conclusion that Jawbreaker’s much beloved song “Kiss The Bottle” is most likely my favorite song of all time. And that’s tough considering I am a massive Clash fan and I very much love “White Man (In Hammersmith Palais)”.

The political ferocity and sheer musicianship present on “White Man” is quite simply put otherworldly.; it will forever stand as one of punk rock’s finest tracks from punk rock’s finest band. But there is something more personal and moving that makes me favor “Kiss The Bottle” just a tad more.

All Jawbreaker fans know “Kiss The Bottle.” They all know the sludgy, almost grungy punk-emo cacophony the track opens with. They all know the blisteringly painful imagery frontman Blake Schwarzenbach espouses to the listeners.

And they all sure as hell know how harsh Schwarzenbach’s vocals are. It is very much the San Fran-based trio’s seminal song; an essential and vital piece to punk, the East Bay music scene, and emo.

Telling the story of two jittery burnt out drunks, “Kiss The Bottle” holds some of the best lyrics Schwarzenbach ever concocted into a song. They are so purely written that they sound as if they were pulled straight from his journal. There are few songs that so perfectly capture the surroundings of any scene, and “Kiss The Bottle” does just that.

Full of heart, pain, regret and emotion, the song continues to stand as a staple within punk and emo. In my unofficial analysis I chock it’s love and affinity to how well it appeals to the sensitivity in us all; we all have regrets, we’ve all fucked up relationships and we’ve all been fucked over in relationships, but moreover we’ve all struggled with love.

It seems so easy, but it’s hard. And heartache sucks. Mix heartache and booze and you get trouble, and “Kiss The Bottle” well, just take Schwarzenbach’s word for it “I kissed the bottle/I should’ve been kissing you.” If that doesn't strike a chord in most heartbroken, booze filled 20 something then I don’t know what will.

As for me, a 20 something who doesn’t drink that often but who has been heartbroken plenty of times in my relatively short life, I feel a closeness to the song. And even if I can’t exactly relate to the lice-ridden drunks described in the song, I can at least understand the feelings of emptiness and a desire to fill that hole with something, even if it is temporary and destructive.

Personal connections aside, “Kiss The Bottle” is also an amazingly performed song by a truly talented group of guys. With no lame fills and tons of cymbal crashes, drummer Pfahler punches his way through the song. Bauermeister, bass, sends out a beautifully concise and semi warbly bassline that lends itself nicely to the melody. And then there’s Schwarzenbach; a driving, sludge guitar mixed with raspy-as-fuck vocals.

Jawbreaker may have been a hair away from falling apart during the recording of this song, but one would never know. Everyone contributes, they’re on the ball, and they’re killing it. Nothing in the song reveals the growing struggles of the band, but it instead conveys the very scene they loved and lived in. As I said before, “Kiss The Bottle” lends itself heavily to punk and emo. Honestly, emo as we know it could be pretty different if Jawbreaker called it quits before recording the song.

“Kiss The Bottle” was the band’s last recording before Schwarzenbach underwent vocal surgery and before Jawbreaker went to work on “Dear You.” To many, but less now, “Kiss The Bottle” is the last time Jawbreaker was Jawbreaker, but even if that was true, it sure is a hell of a song to break up after releasing.

My love for Jawbreaker will likely never dissipate and my adoration for “Kiss The Bottle” will likely grow as I find more meanings in it’s blisteringly honest portrayal of lost love and regrets. I couldn’t be happier to have somehow stumbled across Jawbreaker during my senior year in high school as right now, about four year later, I have managed to grow closer to some of the best songs ever to be released.