Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes

Infobox Album |
Name = Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes
Type = studio
Artist = Propagandhi


Released = February 6, 2001
Recorded =
Genre = Pop punk, hardcore punk, heavy metal
Length = 33:21
Label = G7 Welcoming Committee, Fat Wreck Chords
Producer = Ryan Greene
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:39ftxql0ld0e~T1 link]
Last album = "Where Quantity Is Job #1"
(1998)
This album = "Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes"
(2001)
Next album = "Potemkin City Limits"
(2005)

"Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes" is the third album by Canadian punk rock band Propagandhi, released February 6, 2001.

One of the album's tracks, "Back to the Motor League", indirectly refers to two songs by the Dead Kennedys, "Triumph of the Swill" and "Chickenshit Conformist", as well the year of their release on the 1986 album "Bedtime for Democracy". The "Back to the Motor League" lyrics state: "fifteen years later it still reeks of swill and chickenshit conformists". Both the Dead Kennedys songs and the Propagandhi track concern the co-opting of punk ideology by the corporate record industry.

"Purina Hall of Fame" is a reference to the Nestlé owned pet food company, The Ralston Purina Company. The title is cynical take on the Purina Animal Hall of Fame, a site that celebrates animals who have saved human lives. [ [http://www.purina.ca/halloffame/|The Purina Hall of Fame] ] The lyrics of "Purina Hall of Fame" obliquely outline Propagandhi's concerns about animal cruelty.

Track listing

# "Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An" – 3:03
# "Fuck the Border" – 1:31
# "Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes" – 2:37
# "Back to the Motor League" [http://www.g7welcomingcommittee.net/mp3/motorleague.mp3 (mp3)] – 2:40
# "Natural Disasters" – 2:04
# "With Friends Like These, Who the Fuck Needs COINTELPRO?" – 3:23
# "Albright Monument, Baghdad" – 2:27
# "Ordinary People Do Fucked-Up Things when Fucked-Up Things Become Ordinary" – 2:17
# "Ladies' Nite in Loserville" – 1:45
# "Ego Fum Papa (I Am the Pope)" – 1:38
# "New Homes for Idle Hands" – 1:44
# "Bullshit Politicians" – 1:33
# "March of the Crabs" – 1:56
# "Purina Hall of Fame" – 4:43

Cover art

The album art is credited to the painting "The Unfinished Flag of the United States" by American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Propagandhi continued this motif of using established artists to provide their cover artwork on their next album, "Potemkin City Limits", using the anarchist artist Eric Drooker.

Legacy

Lyrical mention by NOFX

The song "The Marxist Brothers" from NOFX's EP "Never Trust a Hippy" and their 2006 album "Wolves in Wolves' Clothing", mentions this album; however, the name is a mistake, as Fat Mike sings it as "Today's Empires "are" Tomorrow's Ashes". ["Never Trust a Hippy", by NOFX, on Fat Wreck Chords. Released March 14, 2006.]

The song was played on G7 Radio's third podcast (April 4, 2006); Chris Hannah, a G7 co-host and Propagandhi founding member, proceeded to credit the song by purposefully adding an incorrect word to the song title ("The Marxists are Brothers"), mispronouncing "NOFX", and replacing a word in the EP title ("Never Trust the Hippy"). [ [http://www.g7welcomingcommittee.net/radio/g7radio_ep3.mp3|Episode 3, April 2006 - "The People's Revolution is gonna be a..." podcast] , from G7 Radio.]

The theme continued with the fourth podcast (May 5, 2006), when Derek and Chris played another NOFX song: "One-Celled Creature" from "Wolves in Wolves' Clothing". The album title was not mentioned on the podcast itself, but on the G7 Welcoming Committee Records website, the album is called "Wolves are in Wolves' Clothing" in the episode's music credits. [ [http://www.g7welcomingcommittee.com/radio/|Radio // G7 Welcoming Committee Records] . Taken August 20, 2006.] In the podcast itself, while talking about Chumbawamba's album "Tubthumper" (which is also mentioned in "The Marxist Brothers"), Hannah pretends that he's looking for it on the studio wall (another reference to the song), saying "The Battle of Los Angeles", "Today's Empires are Tomorrow's Ashes"... Ah, "Tubthumper"!" [ [http://www.g7welcomingcommittee.net/radio/g7radio_ep4.mp3|Episode 4, May 2006 - "You're so vain, you probably think this show is about you"] , from G7 Radio.]

References

External links

* [http://www.propagandhi.com/lyrics/empires Album lyrics] at the official Propagandhi website
* [http://www.g7welcomingcommittee.com/discography/g7015.php Album information] at the G7 Welcoming Committee Records website