Pennywise Land Of The Free?

After George W. Bush's election in 2000, Pennywise turned its attention to a full-scale critique of U.S. governmental policy. While Land of the Free? divided longtime fans—some of whom longed for the more intimate messages of self-betterment that Pennywise had promoted in its early days—the political views here were incredibly prescient. Corporate authority, institutionalized religion, and exploitative colonialism would become touchstone issues of the '00s, and Pennywise came early to a fight that other artists flocked to only after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. “F**k Authority” was the broadest statement to date by a band that was once mostly focused on teenagers' daily lives, but Land of the Free? is nonetheless very personal. Even as group leader Jim Lindberg attacks the system at large, his overall concern is specific. His fight is on behalf of intellectual engagement, and the album’s recurring theme is for each and every punk fan to “open your eyes” to the far-reaching effects of an inhumane system.