Inside The Making of Alkaline Trio's Crimson and 'Time To Waste', a Dark Pop-Punk Classic

00:00 - Alkaline Trio's early output, inspirations like The Misfits and The Cure
02:38 - Recording with Jerry Finn, channelling heartbreak and anguish
07:15 - How the real-life horror of The Charles Manson murders inspired the song Sadie
10:37 - Legacy: How Crimson stacks up in Alkaline Trio's back catalogue

**

By the end of 2004, Chicago punk outfit Alkaline Trio were making a promising name for themselves, with their macabre, grisly lyrics setting them apart from other pop-punkers in an overcrowded scene. For their next record, they wanted to turn a corner in their songwriting, and looked inward to mine their own experiences of heartbreak, addiction and acrimony to write darker lyrics than their previous albums, jettisoning their trademark jet-black humour to detail their own experience of torment and anguish.

To tap this vein, they enlisted the help of the legendary producer Jerry Finn, who had similarly made a name for himself in the burgeoning pop-punk movement taking over America. With him, they were able to fine-tune their demos and maintain the warm, clear sound that had characterised their previous record, which Finn had also helmed.

In addition, the band would also turn to grotesque true-life tales in writing this new set of songs. In particular, the depravity of the Manson family murders and the trial of the West Memphis Three became the subject matter of the tracks Sadie and Prevent This Tragedy, respectively. And on the singles 'Time To Waste' and 'Mercy Me', the band would tap their own experiences of addiction and heartbreak to pen songs full of real-life torment in a way they had never done before.

It made for the trio's darkest record yet.

Let's dive into this record together - and how Alkaline Trio channelled the sounds of their idols like The Cure, Jawbreaker and The Misfits, with their songs remaining as catchy and hook-laden as ever.

Please comment, and like and subscribe for future videos and essays.

#alkalinetrio #mattskiba #poppunk #punkrock #musicdocumentary #musicessay #makingof #crimson #jerryfinn #danandriano

Thanks for watching this video, and please like and subscribe for more like this from The Title Track.

***

Note: None of the footage in this video is mine, and I do not own the rights, nor to the songs. Any copyright infringement is not intended, and this video should be considered as falling under 'fair use' classification.