Peak Civilization
2 Pistols 10 Paces (Back in the Day, When Men Were Men They Died at 38)
Peak Civilization now graces the engines of your streaming platforms. Please take a moment to check it out. The following will serve as a brief explanation of what influenced this song—a feeling that tells us, ‘thank god I was born when I was born because history was crazy.’ On the other hand, there’s a quite pervasive pessimism that contends the world is going to hell in a handbasket. The 90’s and aughts are now seen fondly by many a romanticizer. My theory puts a foot down and asserts that a lot of this is BS and that we’re often either excessively romantic about our formative years, and, in our current media climate, particularly negative about our current environment.
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Peak Civilization travels through time exploring the strange, brutal and backwards practices of various eras: Not so long ago, affluent families fed their children sugary breakfasts; Coca-Cola used to include a bump of blow in every bottle; Lobotomies were performed as a cure for acute psychological disorders; Criminals were executed publicly; Disputes were sometimes settled with a duel.
The song satirically celebrates living in such an enlightened era as our own–we have endless information, endless entertainment and increased automation. It concludes with a sort of dystopian guided meditation that urges its participant to kill any thoughts that overwhelm their sense of unquestioning happiness or contentment–no bad vibes. We do this with our phones, drugs, sugary foods, pornography and our attachment to our internal dialogue. The song captures some themes of our era's zeitgeist: avoidance, anxiety and apathy.
