Fuck the System is the eighth studio album by Scottish hardcore punk band, The Exploited. Fuck the System was released in January 2003.
On 14 October 2003, 500 fans started a riot in Montreal, Quebec after an Exploited concert was cancelled because the band was not allowed into Canada. The band was then banned in Mexico City after city officials heard about the riot.
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.
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.
