The Broadways

Broken Star (1998)

Daniel James

All my favorite Lawrence Arms albums already got retrospective reviews this week, but The Broadways half qualify since half the Broadways became the Lawrence Arms. Broken Star by the Broadways is an underrated classic of punk, and it tackles different topics than its successor band. The Broadways were into politics and social commentary, more than singing about getting wasted, becoming depressed while wasted and the TV reruns you watch while wasted. The Broadways came after Slapstick, the happy go lucky, upbeat third wave ska band that had Brendan Kelly and future members of Alkaline Trio, with There's a Metalhead In the Parking Lot a contrast in mood swings compared to Abra Cadaver or Trouble Breathing. 

15 Minutes is probably the best known track since it was on alot of compilations back in the day. Its about how being alienated from a commercialized dysfunctional society doesn't mean you suck just because society says so. Its one of the more melodic, emoesque track with its chorus wailing about being stuck in traffic going to a shitty job. 

Everything I Need To Know About Genocide I Learned in Third Grade is my personal favorite. It foresaw the movement to get rid of Columbus Day and Thanksgiving in reference to the indigenous people the holidays happened at the expense of. The song is about how those holidays celebrate genocide from colonization. It makes sure Australia doesn't get of scot free either.

The Kitchen Floor is a proto Lawrence Arms song, since it has the other vocalist Chris singing about waking up hungover on the eponymous surface. The best tracks on the rest of the album in my opinion are Ben Moves to California, The Pope of Chili Town and I Hear Things Are Just As Bad At Lake Erie.

The band definitely sounds like Lawrence Arms, but its content is different and kind of more intellectually meaty. The vocals are harsher and recording isn't polished the way later day Lawrence Arms albums are, so it sounds more like Fifteen or Crimpshrine sometimes, but I like that. There was another album by them Broken Van that's worth checking out. Overall, The Broadways were just as good as the Lawrence Arms in a different way.