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"Take Off Your Pants and Jacket" Blink 182 |
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Seemed a while back this band crossed the border from respectability to credibility by way of some radio righteous hit singles and lewd videos lent to overexposure-in more ways than one. Their "All The Small Things" video gave 'em immediate stardom and then there was "What's My Age Again," or was it the other way around-to go with an instantly recognizable name. I'm not real familiar with their past work, I must admit, I climbed aboard the bandwagon same as everyone else who made 'em famous… I did however quickly step off after about the umpteenth time hearing that song-okay, commercialized, crossover, Green Day, Offspring, big sales, big time, boring, feed the machine, don't need 'em… I do know they at one time were
at home amongst the newer wave of Punk Rockers Well matters at hand, much of what I'm getting here is expected-driving steady beats, usually in the mid-tempo range, pale humor-nice title, melody-laced Pop-infused, well groomed vocal harmonies, fair amount of guitar crunch-I'd almost liken 'em to something like The Bouncing Souls, maybe NOFX, a lot of those sunny side golden state fair haired boy types. The tunes are more aggressive in
some instances than I expected, which is welcome as are some of the song
titles like "Happy Holidays, You Bastard," "The Rock
Show," which is one of the better of the tunes here-the thing
is practically all of 'em could be considered candidates for that next
hit single category yet none of 'em sound like their last "Everytime I Look At You" is one for the throttle squeezers, a bit reckless and somehow amidst all of the derange they manage to throw in more of those vocal harmonies which however catchy, do get on your nerves-every now and again a little screaming couldn't hurt! I like "Shut Up" also besides the name, comes calling a heavier-Alternative style bass n' thump, laced with F-words and an overall nicely structured weird tune that precedes the childishly versed "Please Take Me Home" but kicks in a good power chorus. Radio friendly Heavy Alternative styled with more of a Punk infusion this time around and fashionable wardrobes. Released by MCA Records Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu] |