Lyrics for Rock N' Roll Lifestyle as interpreted by Ice

Rock N' Roll Lifestyle Lyrics
Well, your CD collection looks shiny and costly.
How much did you pay for your bad Moto Guzi?
And how much did you spend on your black leather jacket?
Is it you or your parents in this income tax bracket?

Now tickets to concerts and drinking at clubs,
Sometimes for music that you haven't even heard of.
And how much did you pay for your rock'n'roll t-shirt
That proves you were there,
That you heard of them first?

How do you afford your rock'n'roll lifestyle?
How do you afford your rock'n'roll lifestyle?
How do you afford your rock'n'roll lifestyle?
Ah, tell me.

How much did you pay for the chunk of his guitar,
The one he ruthlessly smashed at the end of the show?
And how much will he pay for a brand new guitar,
One which he'll ruthlessly smash at the end of another show?
And how long will the workers keep building him new ones?
As long as their soda cans are red, white, and blue ones.
And how long will the workers keep building him new ones?
As long as their soda cans are red, white, and blue ones.

Aging black leather and hospital bills,
Tattoo removal and dozens of pills.
Your liver pays dearly now for youthful magic moments,
But rock on completely with some brand new components.


How do you afford your rock'n'roll lifestyle?
How do you afford your rock'n'roll lifestyle?
How do you afford your rock'n'roll lifestyle?

Excess ain't rebellion.
You're drinking what they're selling.
Your self-destruction doesn't hurt them.
Your chaos won't convert them.
They're so happy to rebuild it.
You'll never really kill it.
Yeah, excess ain't rebellion.
You're drinking what they're selling.
Excess ain't rebellion.
You're drinking,
You're drinking,
You're drinking what they're selling.

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  • 21 Comments
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semicharmedgirl
04-27-2002

Rated 0 
it's about posers... people who are trying to pay to be what they're not

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riverscuomorocks
03-04-2003

Rated 0 
it's about america, and how capitalist society allows for wasting things that are wasteful to begin with.

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blasto724
03-27-2003

Rated 0 
It is about people who don't have a clue on how to enjoy music responsibly. He is obviously criticizing the people who change their entire lifestyle in order to conform to the image of a "true fan." Yet the musicians themselves could care less about how much these people think they like a band more than everyone else. The apparent ideal image to achieve is independance ("Is it you or your parents in this income tax bracket?") yet if you try too hard to acheive an image, you yourself are not an independant, rather you are being controlled by the false idol you now worship. ("You're drinking what they're selling")

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code6productions
07-05-2004

Rated 0 
Blasto is right. I'm just gonna go into it a little more.

the guy (the singer) is confronting this kid ("you or your parents...") who is wearing a bands t-shirt but doesn't know anything about them.

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ieatcotten
01-25-2005

Rated 0 
“Excess ain’t rebellion…” starts probably the best verse I have ever heard in a song. People often get confused when they walk down the street in a Marlin Manson t-shirt w/ blue hare. They think because people turn there heads and give them snotty looks that they are different from those people, and in a very superficial meaningless way they are. For some reason they do not realize that black sheep are still sheep. The problem with rebelling from the other sheep is that they are not the ones who shape the herd, that is the work of the shepherd and his dogs. In our society the shepherd is commercialism, desire for acquisition, and the American Dream. Big business are the dogs.
So “Excess ain’t rebellion” is basically saying that you are not getting away from the herd by following the shepherd. “You’re drinking what there selling ” is reemphasizing the fact that you are doing what they want you to do. You are still just another good consumer to them.

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Johnde08
02-02-2005

Rated 0 
i agreee with i eat cotten but waht does he mean by "As long as their soda cans are red, white, and blue". What is he getting at?

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1 Reply
repete
03-17-2005

Rated 0 
And how long will the workers keep building him new ones?
As long as their soda cans are red, white, and blue ones.
--This means that they'll keep getting things as long as they have their sponsors (Pepsi--red, white, and blue soda cans).

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theantisuck
04-06-2005

Rated 0 
As long as their soda cans are red, white, and blue

=

america.
riverscuomorocks was right. that line is about american wastefulness

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MikeLeg
07-27-2005

Rated 0 
the red white and blue soda cans is referring to a pepsi can, as long as there soda cans are red white and blue ones.

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billvmc2000
09-29-2005

Rated 0 
Yes.. It's a Pepsi reference... Remember Van Hagar and their Pepsi promos?

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GoatboyX2
02-07-2006

Rated 0 
I would like to applaud ieatcotten for the use of Pink Floyd metaphors.

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jasper1
03-10-2006

Rated 0 
definitely capitalism and america/western society needlessly wasting the world's natural resources

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billvmc2000
08-01-2006

Rated -1 
This song is about posers, not capitalism, you retards. I don't know how it can get anymore obvious.

Capitalism rules. If you don't agree with me, respond to me with your computer. You know, the one that capitalism made possible

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BurtonRocks
12-24-2006

Rated 0 
hey man.. my fav line from the song is "rock on completely with some brand new components" makes me laugh every time..

CAKE RoCKS!!!!

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wilsonmja
02-28-2007

Rated 0 
I love the song, but hate the hypocracy. Come on, Cake, how can you stand on your high-horse and complain about the way you are paid. You are an intrical part of the corporate machine and there's nothing wrong with it, so quit bitching about it. I drive for FedEx, you don't see me knocking on people's doors and saying, "You know, by making this purchase you contributed to the hole in the O-Zone layer by keeping my truck on the road, you bastard." Why? Because I chose this profession and if I have a huge problem with what it does to the world I should get the fuck out of it or keep my mouth shut. I wouldn't do that, though, because it pays pretty well......hmmmmmmmmmm.

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pikaboo
06-18-2007

Rated 0 
We can all agree that, at least on the most superficial level, this song is a a criticism of 'posers' living a particularly wasteful rock'n'roll lifestyle. But, I think it is a double entendre with some comment on how the American capitalistic society at large tends to be wasteful and living in excess. Don't get so defensive Billvmc -- they're just saying what they think it's about, not that they're communists.

Also, "Rock on completely with some brand new components" is truly a genius line. I think he's talking about the new accesssories that are earned by a lifetime of hard living -- liver problems, medical bills, faded tatoos, etc.

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cosmic bullfight
10-03-2007

Rated 0 
wilsomnia misses the point. It's not about Cake being hypocrites. I'd argue that they're not, in large part because:

1. They're not even remotely a part of the kind of tattoo-leather jacket-scene they seem to be alluding to.

2. They've had *modest* commercial success at best. I've never seen Cake sign an endorsement deal with Pepsi.

3. They're not complaining about how they're paid. They're complaining about how music has degenerated from being about the music itself to being about the image, and an especially consumption-based one at that.

All they're saying through their criticism is: listen to the music if you want to, but don't let yourself fall into the trap of being a part of a scene to the point that you care more about the peripheral crap and your status more than the music itself.

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music1994
02-25-2008

Rated +1 
I really don't see how you can take this song to be anything but a critique of capitalism. It's all about how 'rock n roll' went from being anti-authoritarian and dangerous to becoming just another fashion for people to buy into and for the big corporations to make money off of. The idea is that people believe the propaganda and think that they're 'rebelling against society being outlaws' when in actuality they are just shelling out cash to the same thugs who own Disney, time-warner etc. Killing yourself with drugs is what they want, because it kills you and makes them money. (if you don't think that this song is about true rebellion then who is the 'they' in 'you're drinking what they're selling'?)

As for the Pepsi can theory I think that the "as long as there soda cans are red white and blue ones" refers to the workers stupidly continuing to manufacture guitars brainwashed into subservience by nationalism.

And the Einstein who thinks that computers are a purely capitalist invention might wonder how the USSR launched sputnik, MIRR etc. into space without computers.

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DreamGenius
06-28-2008

Rated 0 
Personally, I felt this was about teenagers (rich ones, maybe) living off their parents money and pretending they're cool and being a bit wasteful. But I'm not sure how accurate that is.

But then I got confused about the red white and blue cans. Maybe he's referring to Pepsi like some people have mentioned, but at first I thought t was a hit at America. I don't know witch one.

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AspectOEternity
07-10-2008

Rated 0 
Alright billvmc2000, before you talk you should check to make sure the words don't come out your ass. Capitalism is a wide ranging idea, but this song is most certainly drawing attention to the waste and corruption in our present State/Corporate capitalist system, hence the references to workers, and afford being in the chorus, excess not being rebelling and drinking of what "they" are selling. As for my computer, it runs on microchip, you know the kind that were developed through the pentagon system throughout the 50's 60's and 70's with massive public subsidy, largely through grants to universities like MIT RIT ect, long before they were even close to being something that could expect a profitable return on such an investment. So yeah if by capitalism you mean one of the largest socialistic programs in the 20th century, then thanks for my computer capitalism. Sadly I doubt you're intellect goes much deeper than dividing things into prejudged categories of 'rules' and 'sucks' which probably makes the universe a lot simpler and easier to cope with for you but it probably also means you'll just label me 'sucks' and I just wasted 5 minutes trying to explain something to you. Please prove me wrong.

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ShamOn
03-09-2009

Rated 0 
i think i see a little bit of myself in this song... thats sad.
but yeah its definately about the whole mix of music and economy, with the whole aspect of how the rock scene is "cool" even if you have no idea what youre saying you listen to is really like.

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