Friday, August 07, 2009

Caught On Tape: Face To Face - 'I Won't Lie Down'

In case you were wondering what I was doing any random afternoon in the fall of 1996, there's a good chance I was playing roller hockey up the street with my friends.

It was sort of a ritual with us - we'd strap on our 'blades and scrap it out for hours, shouting, "Car!" and "Game on!" every 2 minutes or so.

I'd lug my boombox up to my friend's front porch and we'd all take turns broadcasting our favorite cds to the whole neighborhood. It was all about finding the best skating tunes - something hard and fast to get the blood flowing and the puck sliding.

Face To Face's eponymous LP - and in particular, the single "I Won't Lie Down" - was always one my favorite selections for such an occasion. The SoCal rockers played a brand of punk that was velocious and angry, yet not at the expense of tunefulness. Their songs had pop hooks without being part of a genre which has since been labeled "Pop-punk."

In the dozen or more years since I first heard "I Won't Lie Down," my musical tastes have shifted some and the old neighborhood street games have ended. However, I often long for those days, and the fond memories held in a song that I still consider to be one of my favorites.

Face To Face - "I Won't Lie Down"

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