I am kind of surprised that it isnt even a bonus track or something on the 20 year anniversary edition.
Justice for The Boy's Republic imo Back to School is absolute dogshit and they never should have written it imo
They've played specifically that version live as recently as 2018 so I'm not exactly sure but imo it's their worst song
Deftones only wrote Back To School to please their label who were low key pressing them during the release of White Pony. Chino figured it’d be funny to show how easy it is to write a song in the vein of what was popular (papa roach/limp bizkit) but immediately regretted it hardcore afterwards since it’s the opener on the record now for all digital purposes. The song didn’t even chart well in the end so the whole thing is a flop. I like it but I don’t see it as a part of White Pony.
Ya, they played it on the Rise Against co-headlining tour in 2017 when I saw them. It was an overall weird setlist.
So I’m the guy who discovered this band was a thing a month ago, so I don’t know a lot about this outside of the obvious stuff you can read. But after I read about how much Chino hates that song, I was surprised to watch a show on YouTube from 2009 where they closed the show with it. That felt like a weird thing to do with a song you hate.
I feel like a lot of Deftones fans dig that song which is why they play it. Many bands play songs they in fact hate so I’m not surprised.
i could see that with some bands that have one hit that they HAVE to play otherwise the fanbase gets mad, but I cant imagine back to school being that song for deftones.
Yeah, especially because it wasn’t a big hit. And especially because they have so many songs (can confirm: they have an alarming number of great songs for a person to discover). I thought it was more likely that the band just felt differently about it at different times of their careers (what’s annoying in 2003 is different in 2009 and 2018), or maybe different band members like it even if Chino hates it (he’s the only one I’d read who felt strongly against it).
Here’s a take that will probably get me absolutely skewered: I like “Back to School” and I feel like it creates a cool symmetrical effect with “Pink Maggit” as the closer. Flame on
It gets a big response live. I saw them play it at Alexandra Palace about three years ago and the place went off. It's a nu-metal banger but it has no place on White Pony.
I listened to White Pony for the first time a few weeks ago. I noticed exactly this, and didn’t feel like that song was out of place or tacked on in the least. It felt like a natural part of everything. And only later did I read about the way it was put on the album. But without knowing the history? It definitely fit to my ear, and I really like it.
This is how I experienced the album when I was a kid. I didn't listen through full albums much then, just jumped around to the songs I liked. When I first heard Pink Maggit, my thought was, "Oh, what a cool callback to Back to School!".
Fair but I’m pretty sure they play it literally to please the fans. Chino and the band don’t like the song too much so there’s no other reason?
Yeah I first got into the band with White Pony and I didn’t know the history behind that song when I first listened to the album too. I just always thought that’s the way the album was supposed to be. It makes the album seem more complete to me. It’ll be interesting listening to the original track listing once I get my preorder.
I’m the same way! I think part of why my reaction to the song isn’t as negative is because of how I first experienced the album. My 13 year old self didn’t know the story behind the track so I just thought that’s the way the album was supposed to be and I thought it was cool that the two songs had basically the same chorus.
Back to School the song? It’s fine. Back to School the music video when you’re a high schooler? Whooo boy.