Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes

Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes is the third album by Canadian punk rock band Propagandhi, released February 6, 2001. It was released on the band's own G7 Welcoming Committee Records label in Canada and Fat Wreck Chords elsewhere. It is the first Propagandhi release of new material on their own label. Recording sessions were delayed due to various issues, one of which was the band's practice space being flooded.[2]

Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes
Studio album by
Propagandhi
ReleasedFebruary 6, 2001
RecordedMay–August 2000 at Motor Studios, San Francisco, California and Mid-Can Studios, Winnipeg, Manitoba
GenreHardcore punk, melodic hardcore
Length33:21
LabelG7 Welcoming Committee, Fat Wreck Chords
ProducerRyan Greene
Propagandhi chronology
Where Quantity Is Job #1
(1998)		 Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes
(2001)		 Potemkin City Limits
(2005)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

One of the album's tracks, "Back to the Motor League", indirectly refers to two songs by the Dead Kennedys, "Triumph of the Swill" and "Chickenshit Conformist", as well the year of their release on the 1986 album Bedtime for Democracy. The "Back to the Motor League" lyrics state: "fifteen years later it still reeks of swill and chickenshit conformists". Both the Dead Kennedys songs and the Propagandhi track concern the co-opting of punk ideology by the corporate record industry.

"Purina Hall of Fame" is a reference to the Nestlé owned pet food company, The Ralston Purina Company. The title is a cynical take on the Purina Animal Hall of Fame, a site that celebrates animals who have saved human lives.[3] The lyrics of "Purina Hall of Fame" obliquely outline Propagandhi's concerns about animal cruelty.

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An"3:03
2."Fuck the Border"1:31
3."Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes"2:37
4."Back to the Motor League"2:40
5."Natural Disasters"2:04
6."With Friends Like These Who the Fuck Needs COINTELPRO?"3:23
7."Albright Monument, Baghdad"2:27
8."Ordinary People Do Fucked-Up Things when Fucked-Up Things Become Ordinary"2:17
9."Ladies' Nite in Loserville"1:45
10."Ego Fum Papa (I Am the Pope)"1:38
11."New Homes for Idle Hands"1:44
12."Bullshit Politicians"1:33
13."March of the Crabs"1:56
14."Purina Hall of Fame"4:43
Total length:33:21

Personnel
  • Chris Hannah - guitar, vocals
  • Jord Samolesky - drums
  • Todd Kowalski - bass, vocals

Cover art

The album art is credited to the painting The Unfinished Flag of the United States by American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Propagandhi continued this motif of using established artists to provide their cover artwork on their next two albums, Potemkin City Limits, using a piece by anarchist artist Eric Drooker, and Supporting Caste, which featured a painting entitled "The Triumph of Mischief" by Kent Monkman.

References
  1. Allmusic review
  2. Paul, Aubin (November 23, 1999). "Propagandhi / G7 News". Punknews.org. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  3. The Purina Hall of Fame
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