Day After Day #41: Low Self Opinion

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Low Self Opinion (1992)

The early '90s were an interesting time for music fans. One minute, there was dopey shit like Warrant's "Cherry Pie" and the remnants of hair metal clogging the airwaves. And then within a year, a guy like Henry Rollins is shirtless and shouting, not just on MTV but even on mainstream talk shows. 

As much as people like to retroactively credit Nirvana for changing everything, it had been building for years. Bands like R.E.M. and the Ramones (and to a lesser extent Husker Du and the Replacements) were gaining mainstream acceptance in the late '80s with varying degrees of success. Then in the summer of 1991, Jane's Addiction headlined the first Lollapalooza touring festival and brought along an interesting bill: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Living Colour, Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T and Body Count, Butthole Surfers and the Rollins Band. The success of that tour showed and the growing popularity of so-called alternative bands was a natural transition into the alt-rock explosion in the fall of '91 led by Nirvana et al. 

So it was in early 1992 that I started seeing the video for "Low Self Opinion" by the Rollins Band on MTV. I had been growing disenchanted with metal and hard rock for years; U2 and R.E.M. were my favorite bands by the early '90s. But I still liked the heavier stuff, so the massive stomp of the Rollins Band was very appealing. On "Low Self Opinion," though, it wasn't the usual dumb metal subject matter. Rollins plays the role of drill sergeant/psychoanalyst, barking at his subject while his killer band blasts away behind him: Chris Haskett is a masterful lead guitarist, while Andrew Weiss on bass and Sim Cain on drums provide a thunderous bottom end. Of course, Rollins was well known for fronting punk icons Black Flag in the '80s before he started his own band.

"The hatred you project/Does nothing to protect you/You leave yourself so exposed/You want to open up/When someone says lighten up/You find all your doors closed/Get yourself a break from self-rejection/Try some introspection/And you just might find/It's not so bad and anyway/At the end of the day/All you have is yourself and your mind."

As great as seeing the video was, it was when the Rollins Band appeared on the Dennis Miller Show, a syndicated show airing on Fox locally and starring the former SNL Weekend Update dude, that I became a big fan. You could see how much Rollins puts into his performances, all sweat and fury, channeling his rage into blasting his music right through your head. It was pretty intense and put to shame a lot of those metal acts that would act tough as they sang about smoking in the boys room or whatever. It was sort of an amalgamation of punk and metal and dammit, I was there for it.

Rollins started showing up on MTV, hosting 120 Minutes and doing interviews, while still playing his brand of uncompromising music. Ironically, Rollins Band videos were starting to get played on MTV's metal show Headbangers Ball. Then a few years, they had a minor hit with "Liar" off their next album Weight, played Woodstock '94 and got nominated for a Grammy of all things. Rollins released a few more albums with different lineups before putting the band on hiatus in 2003. He reunited the mid-90s lineup for a short tour in '06, but since then has focused on his spoken word tours, writing and hosting his great radio show on KCRW. He's also done some acting in a variety of projects, including Heat and the show Sons of Anarchy. 

I saw the Rollins Band play several times, including on that last tour, and caught his spoken word tour last year when it came through Beverly. He does spoken word like he did music: intense, sweating profusely and really well. He also turns 63 today, which is insane. So happy birthday, Henry.