NOFX: The Seperation of Church And Skate Meaning

The Seperation of Church And Skate Lyrics

[Father:] Hey Kids!
[Kids:] Hey Dad!
[Father:] What'da want to do today?
[Kids:] We don't know.
[Father:] Wanna go to the matinee?
[Kids:] NO!
[Father:] Wanna go to the Amusement Park?
[Kids:] NO!
[Father:] Wanna go to the punk rock...

1. anonymous

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   May 27th 2013 !⃝

   Church is a METAPHOR (not mediphore) for punk. i.e. it's holy, it's a lifestyle, it's something that people feel very passionate about and have dedicated their lives to.
   
   Skate is a metaphor for "cool", "trendy", "fashionable".
   
   And so the song is about the need to separate this lifestyle that means everything to a great many people from that which has watered it down into a commodity. Seen as something "cool", a trend that is consumable, that people can dip in and out of.
   
   The intro explains it all very succinctly. ..."amusement park", "matinee". What it is saying is that going to a "punk rock show" has become just a fun, safe, family-friendly activity (note "punk rock show" also refers to the whole culture of punk). One that a dad would happily take his children to much the same as going to the cinema or an amusement park... a fun throwaway activity to pass the time.
   
   The line about beer, speed, fries and coke is about how punk has changed to some extent, or rather how it appears in mainstream media and culture. But it is also about the culture is consumed now. It is carelessly consumed like McDonalds (or any other fast food multinational). It is fed to us like a product that we mindlessly consume one day and move onto something else the next. 'don't think about it too much, just eat it up and enjoy'.
   And this is what Fat Mike is pissed about. It used to be just for wild carefree kids who lived and breathed it.
   
   It is this poetry, these lines that in so few words say so much, multiple meanings, that make NOFX genius. Punk stalwarts.
   
   also, what is "ampathy"? It's apathy, look it up.
   
   Suggested reading/listening "it's my job to keep punk rock elite" (it's not ironic), and "dinosaurs will die", might give you all a better understanding of what NOFX and punk and this song is about
2. ciro

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   May 28th 2008 !⃝

   This song is a sarcasm of Separation of church and state. Read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state
3. anonymous

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   Mar 25th 2007 !⃝

   I think the songs about how Punk has become this whole commercialized idea of love and relationships. Its now this tame music with no sex or drugs or violence that the original music and lifestyle was all about, and they just slap the word "Punk" on it to sell it to american teenagers who think they're some kind of rebel or hard core punk. But the truth is that everything these kids listen to and like is so much against what punk really is. Church is just mediphore theyre using to describe the morality of the music. Skate obviously represents the Punk lifestyle and music. We must seperate church and skate.
4. anonymous

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   Mar 1st 2007 !⃝

   dear lord this song kicks ass. Though whats it about? well ok, in lamens turns, kids today are p-u-s-s-y-s pussys (and yet I'm 15 how does that work??) in the, ohh lets say 80s, kids were on the streets, doing what they wanted, doing drugs at times (hence the phrase:the kids who used to live for beer and speed now want their fries and coke) and living a skater life full of loud punk rock, active lifestyles, and parents only at half the care that they are now. 20 years later, they all grew up and went from propain to rogain. Theyve gone from "I punched someone and walked off felling fine" to "I saw a victoria seccret commercial, I have to go confess to Father molest-little-kids." (title! look at the songs title!) the same music they listened to then, now has protection laws and therefore we end up with these bullshit boy bands all talking about the SAME GADDAM GIRL who broke up with them and now their hearts into pieces........ WHAT THE FLYING [censored for small minds everywhere]!!!
   
   
   so this is the basic summary of the song, its the last verse:
   
   our hatred of athority
   our fights against complacency
   stop singing songs of drunken love
   you killed the owl freed the dove
   confrontation and politics
   replaced with harmony and stix
   when did punk rock become so tame
   these fucking bands all sound the same
   we want our fights we want our thugs
   we want our birds we want our drugs
   were is the fun in ampathy
   this fucking records rated G
   
   when did punk rock become so safe.............
5. taco_kid

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   Dec 10th 2006 !⃝

   I love this song!
   Its about how the people don't like people who stand out so they try to control them. It's also a song about how the "punk" lifestyle has changed: "The kids who used to live for beer and speed now want their fries and coke." People who are sick of these bands singing songs about their girlfriends/boyfriends and love: "Stop singing songs of girls and love!" But that's just my opinion of the song...

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