Song meaning

'The Generator' is a metaphor for God. Brett: "The vibe that I'm trying to give is like, if you've ever been in a room and the air conditioner's humming. You don't notice it, of course, because it's a constant hum. Then it turns off and you suddenly notice how quiet it is because it went away. That's the generator; it's just behind everything. It's funny, God and spirituality has been the central conflict of my entire life."^[1]

"It's a song about my concept of god (...) the hammer, window, knife etc. are prose and I don't feel it's appropriate to give you my personal intention, although like any art there is a definite 'meaning' I'm trying to convey. If Generator makes you feel something when you listen to it real loud than chances are you understand it just fine."

Brett on using a quote from Stephen Hawking in the lyric booklet for Generator: "Generator (the song) is kind of about man's duality, namely his spiritual and material sides. And Stephen Hawking...it seems to me that the role of physics today is almost the role of religion in days gone by, in terms of when they're looking at the beginning of the universe, they're almost trying to explain or discover the mind of God."^[2]

Brett: "It's about the ineffability of existence."

Trivia

Right after the "ohhhh's" near the end and right before the lead kicks in, there is a whispered "1,2,3,4".

Covers

Candysuck do a cover version on the album Fuck Hell – This is a Tribute to Bad Religion.
On “Fat Music Vol. 4: Life in the Fat Lane” Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover the song "My Favorite Things", of which the beginning is from Generator.
Autopilot Off also have a cover of the song appeared on their 2003 EP entitled “Regenerator”.

References