Infected

my interpretation of this song is quite obvious to most. When I hear "Infected" I always think about AIDS and HIV...
[quote]Now here I go,
Hope I don't break down,
I won't take anything,
I don't need anything.[/quote]He doesn't need a condom.
[quote]Just talk about nothing, let's talk about nothing,
Let's talk about no one, please talk about no one, someone, anyone...[/quote]Denies the fact that he has AIDS and wants to have sexual intercourse with his girlfriend with no questions asked.
[quote]I'm on the edge,
Get against the wall[/quote]he clearly wants to change positions from the bed to the wall.
[quote]Here's my confession,
You learned your lesson[/quote]Tells his Girlfriend that he has AIDS [u]after[/u] he ejaculates.
[quote]You and me have a disease,
You affect me, you infect me,
I'm afflicted, you're addicted.
You and me, you and me.[/quote]They both have the Disease
[quote]You're clear - as a heavy lead curtain I want to drill you like an ocean,
We can work it out, I've been running out, now I'm running out.
Don't be mad about it, baby...[/quote]He is still in love with her but, she is far too mad to accept any apologies.
And then there is a very cool ending to this story. I won't tell you because I am hopefully going to remember this idea and make a movie out of it.

Infected? is about a abusive and troubled relationship, featuring such disturbing lyrics as ?I want to take you, I want to break you? and ?I want to tie you, crucify you?. Although the song may at first be seen as simply another violent song against women, a closer look at the lyrics and music reveal that the song is more of a plea for help; a confession, as displayed by the following lyrics, ?Don?t want to exist, I can?t persist, please stop before I do it again.? I also believe the song can be interpreted as non-gendered, although this can be refuted with such metaphoric lines ?as a heavy lead curtain want to drill you - like an ocean?, which refer to the act of rape. The fact that the gender of the song?s persona is never clearly stated leaves the interpretation of the song more up to the individual listener, which can be affected by their gender. Even Greg Graffin, was unsure about the particular meaning of the lyric, making it more possible that the song could be the thoughts of anyone, making the violent lyrics easy to relate to no matter what gender the listener is. The song is about regret, hopelessness, and passion, all emotions that are common to the human experience. Although punk is often thought to be angry music primarily targeted at young teenage boys, Bad Religion, one of the genres oldest and most successful bands, breaks this stereotype. Although the music is obviously aggressive as displayed by the lyrics, it is also about human emotion, making the music appealing to both genders. What makes the song so powerful, is not only the chilly lyrics but the music as a whole. I personally enjoy the song ?Infected?, because it is both aggressive and passive. The often aggressive lyrics, and powerful guitar solos are backed by the passive vocals of Greg Graffin, making the music quite haunting. Even when Graffin is straining his voice, it always feels as if he is holding back, giving the music a sense of uneasiness. The music challenges the perspective that powerful aggressive songs are solely for a male audience. The asexuality of Graffin?s performance, actually bring a unique sexuality to the music that transcends traditional views of gender. The lack of power or as I should say the presence of restraint in Graffin?s voice, adds a whole new level of power to the music, the voice is the body of the song. It is in fact the contraction between the music, lyrics and quality of Graffin?s voice, that initially drew me to the band. The music of Bad Religion is about emotion, and connecting to that emotion through the powerful messages in the music.

First of all, I don't like it when people get on here and instead of giving their own interpretation, they dictate what they read somewhere else. It doesn't matter what Brett said about this song. Thats not the point of this site. If thats all that matters to you, start a site and invite Brett and Greg to tell what each song means as they wrote it. For me, this song is indeed about an abusive relationship. There is little, if any, metaphor and the parallels between disease are right on.

This song reminds me of rancho del mar continuation high school when i first met Shawn.. we had second period together, which was history, and i don't know if you know what a continuation high school is but.. basically, it's where you go when you get kicked out of the main high school for some reason or another. but so he would sit next to me and listen to "Stranger Than Fiction" day after day, and the first time we met we just sat there with our desks pushed together, one earphone in his ear, the other in mine - - "Infected" was the first song we ever heard together and little did I know that nearly every word sung in it would match our relationship as the years went on. I see it as a song about an incompatible relationship. I'm gonna use myself and Shawn as examples. as friends, we were perfectly wonderful, and have stayed extremely close for a little over two years now. just recently we both jumped into a more romantic relationship, all because we agreed it felt 'natural.' for two weeks all was bliss, and then he gradually started edging away from me. the more I listen to the song the more I'm aware of the similarities, although i haven't yet figured out who should be singing the song to who - - I'm leaning more towards me to him. the disease is the inability to understand each other and keep a romantic relationship, and it's hard to fight because all it does is fester and eventually peak, when all hell breaks loose and no one knows what to do in confusion. Shawn has always been [and still is] unbelievably mystifying and magnetic, there's just something about him that pulls me in and I'm hopeless - - for he infects me. I give in to him in one way or another and he reacts by not being able to turn me down even though he knows that he should [i.e., the still semi-girlfriend he tells that he loves], and in the end there's usually that awkward period of time where we don't know if it's ok to touch each other, smile at each other, talk to each other, or let alone look each other in the eye - - this is the beginning of the song, speaking of trying not to break down [sometimes in tears, for me] and finding ways to fill in that silence by talking about anything whatsoever. eventually things turn rotten as his back is being turned to me more and more, and then when he explains that he can't make it work [even though he before and I before were saying 'we can work it out' because he can't keep ignoring that his heart is in another place, that's when I get hurt and bitter. 'don't be mad about it baby' is mocking the way I'm forcing myself to feel okay, although i know that deep down inside I'm stirring so much more than he knows. explaining my situation and pleading to him to not let me do it again, not let me fall for him and be drawn to him.. for the simple fact is that I can't understand him and i never will, he's got that 'heavy lead curtain' that i wish i could drill through but know that I can't. the last bit is throwing out everything how i feel about him - - its that i love him but not in the husband/wife committed sort of way.. but he's just so damned intriguing to me that i want to make him my king and i only wish i could be his queen, yet at the same time he's so frustratingly complex that i just want to destroy him for good [or possibly make him as jealous and fiery as he makes me] so that he won't keep me captivated. well.. what would you expect..? he's a two-faced Gemini and I'm a loyal, passionate Scorpio. we don't mix when it comes to romance. ..however, we stay friends, and know we will forever be that way. we just can't become unattached for some crazy reason. and at the end of our vacation holiday when it was time to go back to school and living and jobs.. 3,000 miles away from each other.. we happened to be alone in the car, driving the roads while singing "our" doom-matched song together at the top of our lungs. 'you and me have a disease.. you affect me, you infect me - - i'm afflicted you're addicted, you and me, you and me.....'

I think the previous post is WAY off. I think that whole song is one gigantic metaphor for an abusive relationship. The metaphor that seems to best represent this is the 'I wanna drill you like the ocean' line. To me, that would imply the man wanted to consummate his relationship with the woman but in a rather abusive way. Other lines like 'I'm so distracted...I like to strike you' seem to reinforce this idea. Basically, I think the song is written from the man's perspective. He loves this girl yet he cannot stop abusing her so the love is tainted.