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End Is Forever is the third full release on Kung-Fu Records by The Ataris in 2001. Along with Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits, End Is Forever is usually considered one of the best albums by The Ataris. The album features a mix of punk and pop punk similar to the bands previous works along with catchy pop rhythms. It contains lyrics that span nostalgia, growing up, love, relationships, and singer Kris Roe's childhood. End is Forever is notable for its many pop culture references and numerous lyrics that Roe describes as having "hidden meanings" encoded within. Some of these are mentioned in the "Miscellena" section below. It was #14 on the Billboard Top Independet Album chart.
[edit] Track listing
All songs by Kris Roe except where noted.
- "Giving Up on Love" (Roe, Jasin Thomason) – 2:53
- "Summer Wind Was Always Our Song" – 3:56
- "I.O.U. One Galaxy" – 2:00
- "Bad Case of Broken Heart" – 1:58
- "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start" – 3:01
- "Road Signs and Rock Songs" – 2:45
- "If You Really Want to Hear About It..." – 2:45
- "Fast Time at Drop-Out High" – 3:39
- "Song for a Mix Tape" – 3:08
- "You Need a Hug" – 3:49
- "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" – 3:22
- "Teenage Riot" – 2:58
- "Song #13" – 2:25
- "Hello and Goodbye" – 2:22
[edit] Miscellanea
- The Ataris were the inspiration for an independent film in 2003, also titled "End is Forever". The movie was written, produced and directed by Adam Johnson and has a brief photograph cameo of Kris Roe with the director.
- The music to "Giving Up on Love" was actually one of the first songs ever written by the Ataris back in 1995 (hence the credit to co-founding member Jasin Thomason, who had long left the band). However, at the time it had different lyrics and was called "Going Back to Madeira," a reference to the Ohio hometown of Thomason. The song, which was only ever played live, saw Roe and Thomason alternating the vocal parts on the song.
- "If You Really Want to Hear About It" is largely inspired by Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The title of the track is borrowed directly from the novel's first sentence. The last lyrics in the song are: "Don't ever tell anyone anything or else you'll wind up missing everybody". This closely resembles the last lines of the novel, (which read as: "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.")
- The lyrics at the start of the song "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start" are an allusion to the Ice Cube song "It Was a Good Day." *The title of the track is a list of the buttons needed to be pressed on a Nintendo Entertainment System controller to activate the Konami Code.
- "Fast Times at Dropout High" contains a clip from the movie "Good Will Hunting" while the title of the song plays off the 80's film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The lyrics of the song tell the story of Roe's childhood and are continued in the song "Secret Handshakes" on their fifth album "Welcome the Night"
- "Song for a Mix Tape" begins with a distorted clip of the song "Silly Girl" by the Descendents. The Descendents song is also referenced in the lyrics.
- "Teenage Riot" refers to a show the band played in Denton, TX that was shut down by the police, in addition to a string of memorable shows the band played in basements and firehalls across Pennsylvania that they dubbed "The Pennsylvania World Tour."
- "Song #13" was featured in the video game Aggressive Inline (although it was mistitled as "Track 13").
- The movie Clerks is referenced twice on the album, with a clip at the end of "Bad Case of Broken Heart" and again with a mention in the lyrics of "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start."
