21st Century (Digital Boy)

"21st Century"
Song

"21st Century (Digital Boy)" is a song by the punk rock group Bad Religion. It was originally recorded in 1990 on their fifth full-length studio album Against the Grain and rerecorded on the 1994 album Stranger Than Fiction.

Although the Against the Grain version was not released as a single, the Stranger Than Fiction version was a popular hit.

History

"21st Century (Digital Boy)" was most likely written around mid-to-late 1988, while Bad Religion began writing songs for Suffer's follow-up. "21st Century (Digital Boy)" was intended to appear on the band's fourth studio album, 1989's No Control, but did not make the final cut. It is believed that this song left out because it sounded different from their faster sound. The song finally ended up on their 1990 album Against the Grain.

In 1994, Bad Religion re-recorded the song for their eighth studio album Stranger Than Fiction. Guitarist Brett Gurewitz claimed that Bad Religion re-recorded it because their then-label Atlantic Records said they didn't "hear a single" in that album and thought the song was a hit so they asked the band to redo it.

When also asked why "21st Century (Digital Boy)" would be re-recorded for Stranger Than Fiction, bassist Jay Bentley replied:

[We re-released the song] because we were playing it every night since 1989, '90. It wasn't that we weren't happy with it. I was thrilled with it. I thought it was a great fucking song. Brett just happened to think that we were playing it better than we played it on the record. He just thought it was the one song of his that had a snowball's chance in hell of being popular. I think one of Brett's quests as a song writer was to write a pop hit. That’s hard to do when you’re in a punk rock band. He always thought that song could be a pop hit, and he fought for it to get on the record and to be a single. I eventually got tired of saying 'that's not what we do'. That's what he wanted to do when he was a member of the band at the time and we all went 'well, OK, if you feel that strongly about it, we'll put it on the record'. We have a very democratic process which is that if 3 members vote one way, then it's going to happen, unless one member feels so strongly about it, then we all just concede and say that's cool.

Song meaning

The lyrics of the song could be interpreted as a rejection of modern consumerist culture, as exemplified in the lyrics "I'm a 21st Century Digital Boy / I don't know how to live, but I've got a lot of toys". This alienation and rejection of consumerism and mainstream culture is a common theme in the music of Bad Religion. The bridge includes references to the group's two previous records (as of the original recording), Suffer and No Control. It is possible the song is at least a respectful parody of "21st Century Schizoid Man", a song by progressive rock legends King Crimson. Towards the end of the Bad Religion song, lyrics from King Crimson's song are sung in the background:

Cat's foot iron claw
Neuro-surgeons scream for more
Innocents raped with napalm fire

The line "Everything I want I really need" that follows is also a reference to King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man," in which the original lyric is "Nothing hes got he really needs." Immediately after that line as the song fades out, Greg Graffin actually sings "21st Century Schizoid Boy".

Cover versions

Main article: 21st Century Digital Girl

The song was covered in 2006 as "21st Century Digital Girl" by German trance/dance group Groove Coverage.

Charts

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1994	"21st Century (Digital Boy)"	Modern Rock Tracks	11