Ranking Andrew Jackson Jihad’s/AJJ’s 7 Albums
Hailing from Phoenix, Andrew Jackson Jihad (AJJ) carved out a unique place for themselves in the folk punk genre. While the acoustic folk punk style they were playing certainly wasn’t new when they entered the scene, they were still able to really make it their own and stand out from their contemporaries — something that was even more evident by their clear ability to progress and change their sound (both musically and lyrically).
With their seventh album, they’ve maintained their formula of having a stylistic “shakeup” after every 2 albums to sort of reinvigorate themselves, challenging their skillset and the genres they’re able to tackle.
Their albums contain several guest musicians and throughout their lifespan, AJJ has had some semi-permanent members, but the band’s core has always been Sean Bonnette (singer/guitarist) and Ben Gallaty (bassist). These 2 are the ones who established the sound of the band and are the real image and backbone of the band.
Although the albums are ranked (obviously), there’s something special about each one and they all hold a special place for me for different reasons. Listening to them all again several times over the past 30 odd days, this is the order they sit in.
Disclaimer: These rankings are not definitive and are largely based around my own personal opinion. Please feel free to comment with your own rankings.
7. Candy Cigarettes and Cap Guns (2005)
Although it’s rough around the edges, that’s sort of the charm of AJJ’s debut record. It’s an album that clearly wasn’t trying to abide by any sort of political correctness, in fact, much of the substance of the album revolves around shock value — lyrics clash so evidently with the upbeat folky style that the listener immediately pays attention. Candy Cigarettes is a fun record that never takes itself too seriously and specifically targets those guilty of taking the “fun” out of music. While this brashness is refreshing, their debut also suffers from lack of repeatability, once you’ve heard the punchline to the jokes the weaker strong song structure starts to leak through and makes it clear why this is only the debut of a band that continued to progress.
Recommended Tracks: Ladykiller, FWP, and Smokin’
6. Good Luck Everybody (2020)
There’s a lot to unpack from AJJ’s new album, an album that once again finds the band somewhat reinventing their sound while still taking bits and pieces from the rest of their catalogue. It’s the most stripped-down and soft-spoken of the AJJ discography, but this doesn’t mean the songs lack energy and there’s still biting commentary (mostly political) to be found throughout. On the best track, “Normalization Blues”, AJJ channels their blues influences and serves up a very good tribute to the genre, somewhat surprising that they haven’t done it before. There’s a nod to the previous 2 albums fuzzed out distortion on “Loudness” as well as several songs featuring varied string instruments and even one only accompanied by piano. It’s great to see the band still trying new things, and I think it all culminates in the last 2 tracks, both songs are beautiful in their own right and a long distance from the snarky & sarcastic tracks from the band’s origins. I do miss the more catchy and upbeat melodies from previous albums and the subject matter of several songs (anti-Trump) may end up dating the album and reducing replay-ability in the future.
Recommended Tracks: Normalization Blues, Your Voice, as I Remember It, and A Big Day for Grimley
5. The Bible 2 (2016)
Stylistically, The Bible 2 is very similar to AJJ’s 2014 album Christmas Island. Most of the tracks feature a full band and several songs are accompanied by an extremely fuzzed-out and distorted acoustic guitar (as well as electric). Most of the songs are either catchy and energetic or slow and minimalistic (the slower tracks tending to be the weaker of the bunch). Lyrically, there’s still some clever wordplay to be found, but overall this is AJJ’s weakest effort word-wise. Again, taking a cue from Christmas Island, the lyrics are much more abstract and whimsical than straightforward, but where the 2014 album played with these themes, intermixing them with more personal and direct lyrics, The Bible 2 instead tries to paint as many metaphors into a song as possible — usually resulting in the true meaning of the songs becoming lost. It’s still a very enjoyable album, but practically a b-sides version of Christmas Island, with an excellent throwback to earlier days on the best track “Terrifyer”.
Recommended Tracks: Terrifyer, Goodbye, Oh Goodbye, and American Garbage
4. Can’t Maintain (2009)
Can’t Maintain marks AJJ’s first foray into adding electric/distorted guitars into their sound, hence a more rock/punk influenced record then merely folk. The album starts out immediately with this new sound on “Heartilation” and continues sporadically throughout. The diversification on the album makes for a very easy listen-through, the varying styles always keeping it interesting. Although Sean Bonnette had been personal on previous records (and continues to be), I think Can’t Maintain sees him noticably let his guard down unlike before — telling stories of abandonment from his father, issues with low self-esteem, and general hardships in his life. Besides being personal, the lyrics are in general some of Bonnette’s best, both direct and well-written. There’s a few things the album could leave out, like the kazoo solo in the middle (becomes very skippable) and a couple other songs that drag a bit.
Recommended Tracks: Olde(Y) Tyme(Y), Sense, Sensibility, and Who Are You?
3. Knife Man (2011)
On AJJ’s 4th album, Bonnette gets more emotional than ever, wearing his heart on his leave — usually in regards to the treatment of the human lives seen as less fortune, particularly on tracks like “No One”, “Zombie by the Cranberries by Andrew Jackson Jihad”, and “People II: Still Peoplin’”, the last containing the simple, but excellent line:
“We’re all two or three bad decisions away from becoming the ones that we fear and pity".
Mixed between songs like the aforementioned, you’ve got more personal tracks like “Hate, Rain On Me” and “Distance” which is one of the few visceral AJJ songs to delve into relationship woes. Stylistically, the album goes back and forth between the electric-guitar driven songs found on Can’t Maintain and more upbeat folky songs that originally gained the band recognition. At over 43 mins, Knife Man is easily the band’s longest record, and although there’s a couple songs that could’ve maybe been left on the cutting floor, it nonetheless still feels like a very cohesive record.
Recommended Tracks: Sad Songs (Intermission), Distance, and Hate, Rain On Me
2. Christmas Island (2014)
If I’m being honest, I wasn’t hot on this album when it was originally released. It brought about a pretty significant change for the band’s sound — the first to incorporate a fuzzy and distorted acoustic guitar similar to that of some of Neutral Milk Hotel’s songs. On top of this change, there was also a significant transformation in lyrical style, so different that it also seemed like the songs were written by a completely different person. This lyrical direction brought a new layer to Bonnette’s words, introducing songs doused in metaphor and subtext. Occasionally, this style comes across as more pretentious and non-sensical than innovative, but luckily there’s still plenty of the grounded lyrics that AJJ is known for, such as:
“The older I get, the better I am at lying; The more friends and family I have dead or dying; It’s harder to define love; I’ve gotta drink more if I wanna catch a buzz; The older I get, the more articulate I am at whining”.
The complex instrumental incorporation, challenging lyrics, and more intricate melodies are all what might make you, to steal a line from AJJ, totally lose your shit on this album.
Recommended Tracks: Children of God, Linda Ronstadt, and Do, Re, and Me
1. People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World (2007)
This album is absolutely perfect for what it is. I may be slightly biased as the record is drenched in nostalgia for me, but every track feels seemingly faultless and flows perfectly into each proceeding track. Although it’s a shorter album, it never feels like its missing anything. With nearly each track formulated around a similar 4-chord progression and informal studio banter between songs, the album has an almost impromptu feeling throughout. Lyrically, I think this is AJJ’s crowning achievement as there isn’t a single line I would change. Thematically, the lyrics tend to revolve around either misanthropic, self-loathing topics or finding the best in people regardless of everything else happening in the world. In fact, although the record starts out on a fairly somber note, it ends on a generally uplifting tone (although tone-wise, the effect is almost backwards). I understand why the band changed and progressed as they kept making records, and I don’t think they could or should ever make another record like this one (unless naturally motivated), but I will always appreciate this album for what it is — a chaotic mess of dark lyrics accompanied by a simple and positive musical approach.
Recommended Tracks: Rejoice, People, and Bad Bad Things
Epilogue
If you enjoy AJJ’s music, there’s plenty of other non-album releases of theirs such as EPs, spits, and other rarities that I strongly recommend checking out.
