21st Century (Digital Boy) – Bad Religion – Bass cover with tabs

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"21st Century (Digital Boy)" is a song by Bad Religion originally recorded in 1990 on their album "Against The Grain" and re-recorded on the 1994 album "Stranger Than Fiction". The latter version was also released as a single, and it's the one I use in the video.

Brett Gurewitz claimed that Bad Religion re-recorded it because their then-label Atlantic Records said they did not "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, Jay Bentley replied:

"...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 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 three 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"

The principal difference between the two versions is after the line "everything I want I really need" which is a play on King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". On the original "Against the Grain" version, as the song fades out, Graffin sings the title of the song four more times with a different word instead of "digital" (including "21st Century Schizoid Boy" in reference to King Crimson's song) backed with another guitar solo. "Stranger Than Fiction"'s version ends with one final "Ain't life a mystery?" line.

Lyrics:

I can't believe it, the way you look sometimes
Like a trampled flag on a city street, oh yeah
And I don't want it, the things you're offering me
Symbolized bar code, quick Id, oh yeah

'Cause I'm a 21st century digital boy
I don't know how to live but I've got a lot of toys
My Daddy's a lazy middle class intellectual
My Mommy's on Valium so ineffectual
Ain't life a mystery I'm

I can't explain it
The things you saying to me
It's going ya ya ya ya ya ya ya oh ya

'Cause I'm a 21st century digital boy
I don't know how to read but I've got a lot of toys
My Daddy's a lazy middle class intellectual
My Mommy's on Valium so ineffectual, ain't life a mystery

Tried tell you about no control
But now I really don't know
And then you told me how bad you had to suffer
Is that really all you have to offer?

'Cause I'm a 21st century digital boy
I don't know how to read but I've got a lot of toys
My Daddy's a lazy middle class intellectual
My Mommy's on Valium so ineffectual
That's what I yearn for
(21st century digital boy)
Neurosurgeons scream for more
(21st century digital boy)
Innocence raped with napalm fire
(21st century digital boy)
Anything I want I really need
(21st century digital boy)
Ain't life a mystery I'm


Timecode:

00:00 – Titles
00:17 – Intro
00:20 – Verse 1
00:51 – Chorus 1
01:17 – Verse 2
01:31 – Chorus 2
01:49 – Bridge
02:04 – Guitar Solo
02:22 – Chorus 3
02:36 – Outro