The State

The State is one the most important television shows made in the America. It's absurd, it breaks the fourth wall, it's a combination of high-brow and low-brow, culturally- and self-aware, and along with Mr. Show, the closest thing that has ever matched the greatness of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

But perhaps most importantly, the theme song of the show is great, perhaps only second to Shadowy Men On a Shadowy Planet's "Having an Average Weekend" used on Kids in the Hall. The song is by Craig Wedren of Shudder To Think and Eli Janney of Girls Against Boys, based around samples from two Nation of Ulysses songs, an unsung hero of a band that seems all but forgotten.

In a sense Nation of Ulysses were a musical equivalent of the State. The loud, fast, and angry motif was countered by insightful and often humorous lyrics about both politics and relationships, not unexpected from a Dischord band. Likewise, their no-wave influence and philosophy regarding fashion was different from conventional punk ideology, as much of the State contradicted what had been done with humor at that point in time. In a time when both music isn't angry enough and comedy isn't funny enough, both The State and Nation of Ulysses deserve our attention again. 

Embedding is disabled, so click here for a sketch from The State. Listen to the two songs that were sampled from for the theme below and get angry.

Now listen to one of the most important albums of the early 90s.