I Rancid sono una band californiana di punk rock, formatasi nel 1991. Parlare di questo quartetto può avere un senso limitato, perché ritengo che gruppi come questo vadano innanzitutto ascoltati. Poi possono piacere o meno, sul piano della musica e delle idee. Può apparire strano, ma anche i Rancid hanno avuto una loro evoluzione, tanto che dare una precisa definizione del loro genere musicale è piuttosto arduo: la loro attitudine è sicuramente punk, la base musicale è rock, con sforamenti nell'hardcore e cambi di ritmo ska e reggae (e chi più ne ha più ne metta).

La prima canzone non è inserita in alcun film, ma è indubbiamente cinematografica e tanto più adatta al nostro sito, perché si riferisce al protagonista di un film notissimo e porta anche il nickname di uno degli utenti più attivi (e geniali, direbbe lui stesso) di film.tv.it e della nostra Cinerepubblica: Travis Bickle (dall'album Indestructible, 2003).

Well all the junkies they know my name
And every city looks the fucking same
And the derelicts the street are all insane
And the scum surges up and there’s no one to fucking blame

Game over it’s no fun
Got me on the run
I’m gonna go get my gun
Blam, blam, blam you’re done
Game over it’s no fun
Got me on the run
I’m gonna go get my gun
Blam, blam, blam, you’re done

All the prostitutes who run around midnight
And the junkies and hypes are all trying to get tight
They’re all trying to find some fucking hope for sale
But there’s no fucking way outta this hell

Game over it’s no fun
Got me on the run
I’m gonna go get my gun
Blam, blam, blam, you’re done
Game over it’s no fun
Got me on the run
I’m gonna go get my gun
Blam, blam, blam, you’re done

Allegiance to scum promising nothing to a world that's lost strife and conflict, encounters with the devil, Incarnate destruction and annihilation in the city, Acquaducts of blood, Alleyways extort and uproot the forgotten dead, Polluted and incapacitated crippled masses, Polluted and incapacitated crippled masses

Game over it's no fun
Got me on the run
I'm gonna go get my gun
Blam, blam, blam, you're done
Game over it’s no fun
Got me on the run
I’m gonna go get my gun
Blam, blam, blam, you’re done

Yeah! You're fucking done!

Altre canzoni dei Rancid - non sempre le migliori - sono inserite in alcuni alti film. È il caso della brevissima Antennas (da Rancid, 2000) nel film Ken Park (2002, di Larry Clark).

Ed è il caso di Hyena (da Rancid, 1993) e Nihilism (da Let's Go, 1994), entrambe nel film Il rovescio della medaglia (1995) di Desmond Nakano.

Yeah
Here we go
Woa

I'm money broke and it's no joke can't cope use the rope this time (Hey!)
Nuckel up buckel up the ride's getting rough but I will not loose my mind (Hey!)
I asked 'em if I could come in and the first thing they said was no (Hey!)
If I can't come in that's mean that I can't come back that means I got nowhere to go

I'm a hyena fighting for lion share, right!
Sometimes the lions share ain't there
I'm a hyena fighting for lion share, here we go
Sometimes the lions share ain't there

Absent from political authority an animal I've become (Hey!)
Total disorder and confusion is the life style that I run (Hey!)
Permit me to do what I want and I will, I'm a nomad to travel (Hey!)
Concrete, glass, stone and gravel

I'm a hyena fighting for lion share, right!
Sometimes the lions share ain't there
I'm a hyena fighting for lion share, here we go
Sometimes the lions share ain't there, ain't there!

Yeah

Every time I turn around it's the same sad story getting ganked I wish it could end 
In life's commissary I'm a bad missionary with a wicked message I sent?
Who can I trust in a world of greed when I'm taught to take and not to give

Who can I trust when I'm taught to take and not to give

I'm money broke and it's no joke can't cope use the rope this time (Hey!)
Nuckel up buckel up the ride's getting rough but I will not loose my mind (Hey!)
Permit me to do what I want and I will cause I'm a nomad to travel (Hey!)
Concrete, glass, stone and gravel

See there's nothing you can say that's gonna change my mind. Fuck you.

I'm a hyena fighting for lion share, right!
Sometimes the lions share ain't there
Sometimes the lions share ain't there

Shit

hey! [x4]

come into the union district
drive down on sharmon palms
white ghettos paint a picture
broken homes and broken bones

i was so full of scotch i could not stand up
i was hitting the shots and i moved to a cup
release me from moral assumption 
total rejection total destruction
nihilistic feelings are moving
if you try real hard you'll see right through them

nihilism! [x4]

come into the union district
drive down on sharmon palms
white ghettos paint a picture
broken homes and broken bones

walking a path of self destruction 
not affected by the repercussions
lady on the billboard offer me a drink
said not right now i need time to think
nihilistic feelings are moving
if i try real hard i'll see right through them 

nihilism! [x4]

[background] nihilism [x6]
i was so full of scotch i could not stand up
i was hitting the shots and i moved to a cup
come into the union district
drive down on sharmon palms
white ghettos paint a picture
broken homes and broken bones
yeah...
broken bones!

hey! [x4]

I testi li ho presi sul sito http://www.plyrics.com/r/rancid.html ed ho evitato di addentrarmi nelle traduzioni, a base di parole a volte imbarazzanti da riportare in italiano.

E comunque, il miglior disco dei Rancid resta, secondo me, ...And Out Come The Wolves del 1995.