Jerry Cantrell Reveals “Them Bones” Actually About Time He Saw Spooky Skeletons Playing Rib Cages Like Xylophones

Posted on by Matt Husser

SEATTLE — Jerry Cantrell reportedly revealed that 1992 Alice in Chains hit “Them Bones” was actually inspired by the time he saw spooky skeletons playing rib cages like xylophones as he was walking through a cemetery, sources close to Cantrell confirmed.

“Whenever I’d give interviews about this song I’d tell them it was about something deep like pondering the nature of my mortality, but really it was about the time I stumbled upon ‘Jammin’ Jimbone and his Marrow Band of Numbskulls’ playing some good ol’ fashioned bone jazz in the pale moonlight,” said Cantrell. “Of course I was frightened at first, but they invited me to play the jug because I was the only guy around with lips. The original title of the song was ‘Clickety Clack, Them Bones Are Back’ but Layne didn’t think we should kick off the album with a ragtime jam.”

Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney recalled that many of the band’s most famous songs were named after similar incidents.

“Jerry gets a reputation for being a tortured soul, but all the songs he wrote for the band were inspired by whimsical encounters. Fun fact: ‘Dam That River’ is about the time Jerry saw some industrious beavers wearing hard hats while clocking in for their shift at their construction site,” said Kinney, leafing through an old photo album. “And ‘Down in a Hole’ was about the time me and Layne buried Jerry in sand at the beach and a hermit crab wearing a beer can pinched his ear. Boy he got so mad that he threw that crab’s can in the ocean, but then he felt bad about it—and that’s where ‘Sea of Sorrow’ came from.”

Despite the legendary jam session, Marrow Band of Numbskulls frontman Jammin’ Jimbone recounted his disappointment the first time he heard “Them Bones.”

“I was jazzed when I found out that kid we jammed with made it big, but then I heard the song on the cemetery groundskeeper’s radio — ‘I feel so alone, gonna end up a big ol’ pile of them bones.’ Really? I don’t come to your concerts and rag on your saggy bag of flesh,” said Jimbone, examining the stained liner notes of a discarded “Dirt” CD. “But what really ground my bones was when I saw their MTV Unplugged show—Kurt brought out the Meat Puppets for Nirvana’s Unplugged, but you can’t break off a little spotlight for your ol’ pal Jimbone?”

At press time, Jimbone later revealed that he and his band had also jammed with a young Rob Zombie in the ‘80s, but quickly noted that “White Zombie” was not their preferred nomenclature.

Six Songs We’re Listening To This Week That Probably Would Have Been Good Enough For Dr. Ruth’s Sex Playlist

Posted on by Corey Montgomery

Another week has passed you by and you have no new music to show for it. We don’t feel like we need to tell you how depressing that is, but here we are saving you from the brink once again. Here are six new tracks that have been hand picked by our staff to help you maintain even a shred of relevancy. You can thank us when you start feeling like yourself again.

Cursive ‘Botch Job’

Cursive’s highly anticipated follow-up to 2019’s excellent ‘Get Fixed’ ’ is set to drop in less than two months. From what we’ve heard, the new record, ‘Destructor,’ is set to continue the band’s creative renaissance. The latest single, ‘Botch Job,’ is a whirling journey through walls of dissonant guitars and anxiety inducing rhythms. It’s a white knuckle ride that culminates in a sound that is unequivocally Cursive at their peak.

Tim Heidecker ‘Well’s Running Dry’

When actor and comedian Tim Heidecker isn’t spinning up confounding surrealist satire, he’s crafting woozy, nostalgic, and vulnerable tunes. His new album, ‘Slipping Away,’ is set to release in October, and its lead single ‘Well’s Running Dry’ promises a continuation of the introspective material that has become Heidecker’s trademark since 2020’s ‘Fear of Death.’ It will still make you laugh, but in that awkward way you do when you are trying to brush off your feelings.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard ‘Le Risque’

Mr. Gizzo and the Lizzy Wiz, as the kids like to call them, have just released their 1,843,506th single by our count. ‘Le Risque’ finds the band somehow continuing to broaden their palate, this time tapping into a sound that can only be described as a honky tonk band unknowingly dropping acid before their dive bar set. The single comes with the announcement of the band’s 26th studio album, ‘Flight B741.’ Jesus Christ.

Fake Fruit ‘Más O Menos’

Next month, Fake Fruit will release their sophomore LP, ‘Mucho Distrust.’ It follows their widely heralded 2021 self-titled debut album. Whereas that record was cut with multiple lineups across several cities, their latest marks the first with a stable and consistent lineup. While that first collection was incredible, it appears that tightening up the lineup is proving to add a refreshing intensity and cohesion to Hannah D’Amato’s already flawless writing.

Laughter ‘The Wheel’

Because neither you or any of your friends are cool, there’s a good chance you have yet to hear South London’s indie outfit Laughter. This is a mistake you should rectify immediately before we lose all respect for you. Their latest single, ‘The Wheel,’ is a fuzz-drenched masterpiece dipped in ‘90s shoegaze revelry. It has more riffs than we even knew were legal to put in a song, and this is without even mentioning all the dreamy hooks.

The Get Up Kids ‘Holiday – Demo’

We don’t mean to put a damper on your typical youthful demeanor, but The Get Up Kids’ breakthrough album ‘Something To Write Home About’ is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. That’s a quarter of a century, and further evidence that you are getting nothing but older. To help soothe the horrors of time, the band is releasing a deluxe edition of the record with a whole heap of demos and outtakes, including the recently released demo of album opener, ‘Holiday.’ We’ll be listening all day while trying not to think of our ex from college.

Look, we get it. You’re probably ‘too busy’ to click the play button on any of these songs. That’s why we’ve hand crafted a playlist for you. It doesn’t just have these songs on it, either. It has every song we’ve ever written about this year, and will continue to grow until it becomes so long and disorienting that we get banned from Spotify. You can click here to check it out unless you’d prefer to continue not expanding your musical repertoire.

Massive Pile of Crap In Trump’s Underwear Admits it Was There Before Assassination Attempt

Posted on by The Hard Times Staff

BUTLER, Penn. — A loose, and utterly disgusting, accidental bowel movement inside former President Trump’s underwear admitted it was already stinking up the surrounding area before a would-be assassin took shots at the Republican nominee, grossed out sources confirmed.

“I want to make this perfectly clear before the rumors start flying. I’m not one of those cowardly piles of shit that fly out of an anus when someone gets scared. I’m the result of a terrible diet and weakened control due to advanced age like the hundreds of my brothers and sisters before me that soiled Mr. Trump’s undergarments,” said the stool made up mainly of McDonald’s burgers, cheap steak, and french fries. “Sure, a little bit more leaked out after he hit the ground, but I want nothing to do with that waste. I sprayed out on my own terms at least 15 minutes before the shots were fired.”

A Secret Service Agent who chose to remain anonymous confirmed that the excrement is telling the truth.

“Unfortunately I was stationed down wind of President Trump at the rally and anytime there was a slight breeze I caught a whiff of it and nearly gagged. Thankfully we train for this. In order to be in President Trump’s protection circle you must be exposed to the most vile odors for hours at a time without wincing,” said the agent. “When I heard the shots I hesitated because I didn’t want to be the first one to pile on and have some of the crap leak onto my suit. I’ve had it happen before and we have to pay for that out of pocket. I had to cancel a family vacation to Disneyland because of the expense.”

Conservative pundits were quick to discredit the talkative scat and frame the former president as a hero.

“I don’t know why this pile of feces feels the need to center itself in the conversation. Every bit of that mixture of undigest food, bacterially altered bilirubin, and dead epithelial cells should consider itself lucky to be so close to the Mr. Trump,” said Fox News host Sean Hannity. “Personally I’d love to take a trip through his digestive system, and yeah I might come out before the former president could get to a toilet because I’d be so excited about the adventure I just went on. This literal piece of crap needs to fall in line.”

At press time, Trump supporters around the country announced plans to crap their pants in solidarity.

Not So Tough Now: How We Easily Beat the Crap Out of the 8-Year-Old Currently Living in the “Home Alone” House

Posted on by The Hard Times Staff

“Home Alone” is a movie that helped define a generation and is still revered to this day. The film follows the exploits of young Kevin McAllister as he defends his home from two bumbling thieves. If you are anything like us then you’ve probably thought to yourself “This would never happen to me, I would have smoked that stupid kid.” Well, we decided to put it to the test, and it turns out the kid living in Kevin’s childhood home was rather easy to beat up, almost too easy.

In order to maintain authenticity we wanted to take on the kid by himself. We started by breaking into the house late at night, tying up the parents, and their other 12-year-old son, then locked them in the garage. They offered little resistance. Yes, we threatened them with a gun, but it wasn’t even loaded. Well, it wasn’t fully loaded. It only had four bullets, and we wrote the name of a family member on each bullet and then loaded the gun in front of the mom and dad to show them we meant business. Now it was time to test ourselves against the kid.

When we opened the door to his bedroom he wouldn’t stop screaming. We explained to him that we were just there to beat the crap out of him and steal all the valuables from his home, but that we would give him 30 minutes to try to outsmart us. He could set as many traps as his little heart desired. The game was on, we started a timer then returned to our Prius and waited.

Finally, it was time to make our move, and we were incredibly disappointed. The doorknob was not booby-trapped, I had purchased $75 leather gloves to counter this maneuver, and I felt like I wasted my money. After getting inside and walking straight up the stairs without slipping on any toy cars or getting hit in the face with paint cans we were starting to think this kid was a dud. But we had to be careful, the kid could be hiding somewhere with his BB gun ready to shoot us in the testicles. Well, it turns out he never left his bedroom. He was still there crying. It was almost sad, we even asked if he needed another 15 minutes to set a trap and all the kid did was ask for his parents.

Now it was time for the final showdown. The kid was a complete disappointment, he did nothing to defend his home, and now it was time to fight him once and for all. My partner in crime had been taking some cardio kickboxing classes so he wanted to take first crack at the kid. All it took was one punch. The kid was out cold. We stole his Switch, a PS5 from the family room, and a few handfuls of jewelry from the parent’s room.

Maybe kids in the ‘90s were tougher.

Biden’s Approval Rating Soars After He Releases Diss Track About Drake

Posted on by Sean Fallon

WASHINGTON — President Biden’s struggling campaign was given a sudden boost with his approval numbers at record highs after releasing a blistering diss track aimed at Drake, confirmed sources who might actually vote this year.

“After that awful performance in the debate, I was ready to write Biden off,” said Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who had called for Biden to step down and let someone else take on Donald Trump in November. “But after I heard the track, called ‘1812,’ I thought, oh shit, Biden is popping off! Getting Dr. Dre to produce it was a masterstroke and that guest verse by Kamala Harris? I didn’t know she could spit that fast. Yeah, I finished it and just went back to the start and had to run that shit back.”

Biden detractors feel like the track is a cheap attempt to grab youth votes after the poor debate performance and the media’s constant reporting on his age.

“It’s all just a ploy,” said Robert Finney, a Trump supporter and writer for the Daily Wire. “Dropping a blistering diss track against a corny-ass colonizer is the oldest trick in the book. Bill Clinton dropped one against Vanilla Ice in the early ‘90s which paved the way to the White House for him and I’m shocked Biden is just repeating a hackneyed idea. Also, Biden is very old. That’s why I’m voting for the younger Trump.”

Experts were quick to weigh in on the track that was dropped at midnight on the official White House YouTube channel.

“Not since Nas’ ‘Ether’ or Kendrick Lamar’s recent ‘Not Like Us’ have we heard such an intense lyrical takedown of a pop culture icon,” said Maria Prescott, a musical historian and an expert on rap beefs. “Biden drops all kinds of double, triple, and even quadruple entendre while degrading Drake’s record sales, swag, entourage, and time on ‘Degrassi.’ The spoken word opening in which he says that Drake can download the song as a PDF file made me pause the track and pour myself a drink. It’s a brutal opening and really sets the tone for the onslaught that follows.”

At press time, Drake was seen staring out windows while a single tear fell from his eye.

Opinion: I Actually Work at the Dick Sucking Factory. Here’s Why I’m Voting ‘Yes’ to Unionize

Posted on by Ben Friedman

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the ruling class has done their best to extract as much capital from their workers while subjecting them to low pay, dangerous working conditions, and soul-crushing hours. It was only through ironclad solidarity (and a whole lot of violence) that any workers’ rights were established, and data clearly shows those very rights have been eroding for the past 40 years.

So when you tell me you’re going to come down to the dick sucking factory to slap the dicks out of my mouth and see how I like it, I can tell you I’m not going to like that very fucking much. And that’s exactly why I’m voting to unionize this workplace.

These privileged, silver spoon-licking troglodytes in their ivory towers could never fathom putting in 10 hours of neck-breaking, throat-ravaging, head a day to keep their kids in daycare. For every dick we suck, they make the same amount giving ten-second handjobs. How is that even remotely fair?

We all saw what happened at the shit eating factory last month when those jobs were outsourced to Mexico, and now there’s talk of ass licking going completely automated in Nashville. It’s only a matter of time before we’re next just to appease the investors. They can tell me what to do the day I see them work ten graveyard shifts in a row gargling shaft.

All we want is fair compensation, along with chiropractic and arthritis care added to the health insurance package. You can’t even imagine how many of us have the necks of a 70-year-old. Oh, and we want the company to provide protective goggles! Ridiculous, I know. We had six guys lose an eye last year alone.

If this vote passes and the head honchos won’t meet our demands, I am absolutely ready to walk away and go on strike. When the carpet munchers in Lansing joined the plumbers union, they had to strike for six months but they won. Now they can actually feel their jaws when they go home at night.

They may threaten to replace us with those scabs from the truck stop glory holes off of I-90, but we’ll seize the means of production one way or another, even by the balls if we have to. My father was a dick sucker and so was his father. This is my bloodline I’m protecting.

Power to the people!

Couple that Met at Weezer Concert Telling Everyone They Met on Christian Mingle

Posted on by Neel Bhakta

HOUSTON – A local couple who initially met at a Weezer are reportedly lying to friends and family, by claiming they found each other through the dating site Christian Mingle, skeptical sources reported.

“Yeah we sure did meet on the only dating platform that caters exclusively to Christian singles. I’m super religious and every day I thank God for girls. Well, actually, just for this one girl in particular. Jennifer’s great, she’s kind, really smart and she’s scorching hot. I call her El Scorcho, just as a cute pet name,” said lovebird Gregory Willis. “She just gets me on another level, she’s like the pork to my beans. It’s not every day I buy a $25 beer for some random girl I just met. Did I say beer? I meant communion, we definitely had our first date at church where we split one of those Jesus wafers together.”

Friends of the couple are skeptical of the relationship’s nature and believe they met elsewhere.

“Let’s cut the shit. There’s no way they met on a dating app, let alone Christian fucking Mingle. It had to be that Weezer concert they went to because there’s no way anyone leaves a Weezer concert happy unless you meet the love of your life,” said longtime mutual friend Billy Murdoch. “God, it makes me sick. Now he’s wearing black rimmed glasses like Buddy Holly and she’s fucking got the Mary Tyler Moore haircut from the ‘Dick Van Dyke Show.’ Are we serious here? He asked me to start calling him Jonas and I just can’t, I don’t want to be associated with liars anymore, let alone Weezer fans.”

Licensed couples therapist and relationship expert Laurie Dahl weighed in on the couples’ suspect background.

“This may be shocking, but I’ve seen cases similar to Gregory and Jessica’s all across the world. I mean, it’s one thing to be embarrassed about liking Weezer, but to cover it up using Christian Mingle is like getting caught masturbating and telling your parents you were just practicing your D&D dice rolling technique,” said the disappointed Dahl. “There’s so many great bands out there to base a relationship off. Even Fleetwood Mac would’ve been a better choice, even with the whole ‘Rumours’ fiasco. I don’t know if they’re gonna last, but I’m rooting for them! I think they’d be the first Weezer fans to ever have sex.”

At press time, the couple announced they are no longer seeing each other because one side of the duo is looking for someone who is at least half-japanese and the other side is lesbian.

Democrats in Crisis After President Biden Uses Bathroom With Hot Mic and Confesses to Robert Durst Murders

Posted on by Dan Rice

WASHINGTON — Top Democratic decision-makers are reportedly doing damage control after President Biden confessed to multiple murders on a hot mic after another damaging public appearance, multiple sources confirmed.

“We’ve all been having private conversations about whether or not he’s still fit to run ever since President Biden’s bad debate showing. Up until now our biggest concern was his mental acuity, now our biggest concern is the multiple brutal murders he openly admitted to,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries while Googling “How easy to move to Portugal?” “But right now we are still firmly standing behind President Biden. He’s a good man, even if he did admit to murdering his own friends. If this were former President Trump he would pump a vagrant no one would believe full of Rohypnol and confess his sins to them in a soundproof chamber like he did every first and third Thursday of every month when he was in office.”

While this revelation has bolstered the voices of those already calling for Biden’s withdrawal, some experts are calling the leak good news for the current president.

“Conservatives simultaneously want you to believe that Biden is mentally unfit for office and that he was cunning enough to orchestrate three murders and pin them all on a prominent New York financier. It’s pure desperation,” said political analyst Stephen J. Myers. “American voters are far more concerned with inflation, home prices, and immigration. They do not care if their president dismembered someone and ditched their body in Galveston Bay. Besides, the Supreme Court made it legal for a President to do whatever the hell they want.”

Below is the full transcript of President Biden’s confession, his campaign is yet to respond.

“What the hell did I do? Yup, killed them all of course! Kathleen Durst, Susan Berman, Morris Black, hell cut that sucker up good. Iced all those turkeys, sure did, me and Cornpop! Hey, is this thing on?” The rest of the recording seems to be Biden attempting to rehearse the line “I am mentally competent enough to hold the office of the President” again and again before being shuffled away by an anonymous staffer.

At press time, Robert Kennedy Jr. released a statement saying his latest brain parasite forbids him from taking a human life, but does encourage him to set abandoned buildings on fire.

New Lin-Manuel Miranda Musical Adapts Brand New/Taking Back Sunday Beef for the Stage

Posted on by Peter Woods

NEW YORK — A group of Broadway producers greenlit a highly anticipated musical with an original book by Lin-Manuel Miranda that chronicles the history of beef between emo bands Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, confirmed sources who just hope the production will be historically accurate.

“I couldn’t be more excited to bring this extremely American tale to the stage. The lyrics and music will be taken from the catalogs of both bands but with all of the unnecessary background screaming edited out,” said Miranda. “The beef between these two bands really encapsulates the fullness of the human spirit. Betrayal, romance, thirst for power and the importance of family, it’s all there. But at its core, it boils down to something we can all relate to: profiting off of extreme pettiness. That’s what ‘Hamilton’ was all about too. At least I think so.”

Members of the bands also shared their excitement for the upcoming musical.

“I just know this is going to be super vindicating for us,” said Taking Back Sunday drummer Mark O’Connell. “What could be better than watching all of those doofuses in Brand New looking like idiots in front of a sell-out crowd as a bunch of grown-up theater dorks do impressions of them on stage? But what’s even better is that we’re going to look awesome because a bunch of really cool actors are going to be playing us on stage, probably. I really hope Hugh Jackman plays me.”

However, not everyone associated with the bands is excited for the production.

“Goddammit, why are they doing this?” said Jessica Daly, a former romantic interest of Taking Back Sunday guitarist John Nolan and Brand New vocalist Jesse Lacey. “My life already sucks enough because of these douchebags and now it’s getting turned into a musical? Fuck me. Thank god that orgy I had with My Chemical Romance never made it past Tumblr. That would have been a real nightmare.”

According to an inside source, Miranda’s intent to cast an all-Black and Latinx cast has already been shelved because “only white boys want to sing that whiny crap.”

Opinion: The 5-Disc Changer I Got for Christmas in the 8th Grade Is the Purest Form of Listening to Music

Posted on by Kyle Donley

The age-old question persists—how is recorded music meant to be heard? Is it the warm crackle of vinyl, with all its analogue imperfections? Is it the pristine audio quality of lossless FLAC and its ever-evolving permutations of audio compression codecs? As an adjunct professor in the audio engineering department at Devry University, I’ve simply heard it all and I’m here to set the record straight.

The purest form of listening to music is the 5 disc-changer I got for Christmas in 8th grade.

This exceptional piece of hardware from the fine folks at Sanyo was truly the vanguard of audio technology in 2001, which, as detailed in some of my previous writings, is considered to be the greatest year in audio innovation ever. So why then did my mom decide to throw it away, like literally side of the curb next to the trash can instead of, oh I don’t know, donating it to the Devry Institute Museum of Sound!?

Sadly this is nothing new for the 5DC, oft-maligned for its rudimentary functionality and cumbersome appearance. The 14-second pause between songs was far from a distraction. The whirring, mechanical noises of the 5DC’s inner workings was a necessary palate cleanser that is all but missing from today’s “I Want It Now” culture. Why does it have so many flashing lights on its interface that you literally have no way to turn off unless you unplug the unit, you may ask. Umm, because it’s fucking awesome.

You have to understand, there was a level of swagger and pizzazz at play in audio technology in 2001. It was big, it was bright, and it looked sweet as hell in my room. A common misconception about audio quality is that it’s all about “audio quality”. Wrong! It’s about attitude. And personality! In fact, there is no better way to define oneself than selecting 5 CD’s from your binder and listening to their tracks in randomized order.

And while the CD curation could be a highly personal and divisive task, I’ve found, through vast research, the most objectively pure rotation to be Goldfly (Guster), Lost and Gone Forever (Guster), Out Cold sdtk, The Good Times (Afroman), and a CD-R Matt made of the best Guster and Dispatch songs.

But sadly the unhinged nature of the 10DC proved to be the most prescient harbinger of audio tech, giving way to unfocused Spotify playlists, zipping around from artist to artist without a care in the world! There’s already too much change happening as it is, what with your parents’ divorce and high school right around the corner. The last thing we need is an algorithm shoving new music down our throats. What we need is Guster.