Beauty Of the Pool Hall - Rancid

Beauty Of the Pool Hall - Rancid

2:16

Trouble Maker, 2017

Written by Tim Armstrong

A paean to a lady named Angel, a rough beauty whom the narrator pined for, or was involved with.  He would always see her around the workin-class gin joint, before she left abruptly one day.  "Kindness, a language that she always spoke / Lord, the way she could communicate."  It's got all of Rancid's trademark bits: breakneck solos, singalong choruses, Armstrong's mumbled raspy rap-singing, fragmented lyrics.  Not their greatest  song but a fair representative.

Brixton - Rancid

Brixton - Rancid

2:26

Rock Stars Kill, 1994

Written by Tim Armstrong

This relatively lower-energy Rancid single imagines Oakland in a series of disasters — riots, police brutality, bombs, and tidal waves.  And out of the chaos and carnage, perhaps a reimagined society.  "Two-fifty dead the Tribune read / Oakland's going off like a bomb / I saw a new generation coming / Under the smoke over Oakland."  What does this have to do with Brixton, other than Tom Armstrong's Clash fixation?  He takes inspirations from British hooliganism.  "Thirty cops beaten, another one dead / The fight lasted on through the Brixton night / A thousand angry looters who knew they were right."