Very proud of ya still suck

Like I said in another thread in here, during 1995/1996 I lived in Oakland for a year, and I got to see AFI play live numerous of times, mostly at Gilman Street but also at this place called the Trocadera in San Francisco. I had actually heard them before since I, by chance, had picked up a seven inch with various artists – among them AFI who performed ”Love is a many splendored thing” – at a local record store in Sweden where I’m from. During my year in California, I picked up AFIs first full length album ”Answer that and stay fashionable” in a record store in Berkeley called Rasputins – and I loved it immediately. Their music seemed different from a lot of ”skate punk” bands at the time; the vocal was more snotty, the songs a little more hardcore, but most of all there was a lot of more energy in their music. Also, the little dude with the suspenders sang with a conviction that was rare at the time – and still is. In a way, even though very different, it reminded me of earlier bands like Stiff Little Fingers which I also love.

The second record from AFI – ”Very pround of ya” – was a big let down for me. It sounded sort of the same but with less soul. Many of the songs were just boring – and the best ones were the ones that was re-recorded from ”Answer that and stay fashionable”… Well, I quit buying AFI records after that. I lost interest in the band.

Years and years later I picked up ”Sing the sorrow” from a second hand store for a dollar or so. I put it in my CD player… and I thought it kinda sucked. It wasn’t the AFI that I remembered!

Years and years later I put it in my CD player again… and I kinda liked it. It grew on me. So I went to the record store, and I bought some more AFI records, and today I have pretty much all of their music, and I like all of their different eras and styles. My favourite records, except the ones already mentioned, is probably ”Shut your mouth”, ”Black Sails”, and ”Art of drowning”. I also like a lot of their rarer songs from seven inches etcetera. The only one record I still feel suck is ”Very proud of ya”.

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I disagree with this. :+1:

You mean you like “Very proud of ya”?

I like VPOY but I definitely think “Answer That and Stay Fashionable” is better. Less filler, more concise.

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I love vpoy. I just wish sometimes it was better sounding like “answer that”. But I’ve heard from multiple band members saying that the recording process for vpoy was really bad and everything wasn’t sounding how they wanted it. But the song writing is great, just wished it was better recorded

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I love those albums. Once I discovered AFI through AOD I wanted to go to the roots. I wasn’t a kid with a lot of friends so these albums basically acted like my friends at the time. They’re all sentimental for me.

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Taking about Very proud of ya. I read somewhere that the cover for the record was made by the then guitarist in the band. Interstingly enough, I saw the exact same illustration - the guy escaping the woman - on a postcard in a store at Height street (San Francisco), without any connection to AFI. Who knows, maybe he sold it to some postcard company.

By the way, I don’t hate Very proud of ya. It was just a turn off for me.

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The one who designed the cover for VPOY was Geoff Kresge, who was the bassist at the time.

The reason VPOY sounds kinda flat and there are many re-recordings is because they had little studio time, and some songs ended up without guitar solos. This has been talked in interviews and it is on the Nitro box set as well.

I don’t know about this album sucking. The music video for he who laughs last with the spoken word by Davey “ever since i can remember I always wanted to be in a hardcore band” hits to the core. It might have been a little long but I think that’s cause they put tracks from fly in the ointment or one of the previous albums/lp. Very proud of you was a killer album and set the tone for shut your mouth and open your eyes. Honestly, I’d still chose that album over their newer stuff, not to say I don’t love everything they put out because everything those dudes touch turns to gold.