Sunday, November 7. 2010
by Jeff Barringer - Staff Writer & Photographer
My first taste of Suicidal Tendencies came in the early 80's when their cassettes started making the rounds in Austin and San Antonio's skatepunk scene. The bands name was taboo enough but songs like "Institutionalized" really struck a chord among the disenfranchised and I was among those disenfranchised.
This was an era when it first became vogue for families to let the medical system deal with their teens behavioral issues and a number of my friends had "disappeared" only to reappear after being institutionalized by their parents for drugs, alcohol, anger, depression, running away, or literally just for being different. Most came back more screwed up than before they left, some have never come back. Mike Muir and his song captured that vacant empty feeling exactly, and that is why it still sounds as fresh, new, and relevant, why his song still resonates with the kids today and why it still carries that same impact.
And that is why the stage in Waterloo Park was filled to overflowing with fans, young and old, there to watch Mike Muir and Suicidal Tendencies tear through a 30 year set list like they were still teenagers.
They didn't disappoint. With a half pipe loaded with skaters in view of the stage, Muir and crew burned their way through songs like "I Saw Your Mommy", "War Inside My Head", and of course "Institutionalized". Accompanied by an epic mosh pit, and dozens and dozens of stage divers they ended the set with stage full of friends and fans.
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