Fuck the System

Fuck the System is the eighth studio album by Scottish punk band The Exploited. It was released in 2003 some seven years after the previous album. For the version released in the US by Spitfire Records, the name of the album was changed to "F**k the System", and the track names were also changed accordingly.

Contents

The lyrics of the songs are predominantly left-wing in political content. "Lie To Me" is about those in power lying to those they govern, "Holiday In The Sun" criticizes the death camps in Kosovo. Buchan dealt with personal content in "Why Are You Doing This To Me" (about a former girlfriend) and "Fucking Liar" (about his then-current girlfriend). In "I Never Changed," Buchan talks about how he sees himself. The title song "Fuck the System" is supposed to express that no one should let the rulers tell them how to live.

The female voice speaking the line "Pick up the phone, shithead" in "There Is No Point" was Buchan's girlfriend at the time. It was a message she had left on Buchan's answering machine.

Reviews

The album received mostly good and very good reviews. The Rock Hard notes that by now also songs in medium tempo can be heard and awards 10/10 points. The online magazine whiskey-soda.de characterizes the album as "punk of the upper class" and "brutally simple and yet so ingenious". According to metal.de the album is not a milestone, but the band stayed true to itself and offers "heavy punk rock on a high level of aggression" with unmistakable influences from heavy metal. Adam Bregman from Allmusic calls the album a lesson for the new generation of punk bands like blink-182 or The Offspring and gives it four out of five stars. At laut.de the album also received four out of five points.