There are some bands that would be better off as one hit wonders. Most notable the Bloodhound Gang fits this category. Fire, Water, Burn would have fit pretty well into the moniker one hit wonder with its suburb rap and hilarious way they bleeped out the naughty words. Then years later the group just had to have another hit with The Bad Touch forever diminishing Fire, Water, Burn by knocking it out of the realm of one hit wonderdom because, really, who cares about two hit wonders? But keep in mind sometime history distorts hits as Vanilla Ice is routinely considered a one hit wonder even though Play that Funky Music was almost as big as Ice Ice Baby at that time.
Along those lines of bands that would be better off as a one hit wonder is Sum 41. Fatlip was catchy as the first rap-rock hybrid sifted through the pseudo-punk filter. But when the band should have been resting on their laurels, they instead kept at it churning out fifth rate Green Day knock-offs. That continues on their fifth studio album Underclass Hero (not to be confused with the John Lennon song Working Class Hero recently covered by Green Day).
Taking the Green Day route even further, they are now a trio (did anyone else notice they were down a member) going for a more political writing style. This is no more present than on March of the Dogs which starts off by announcing the president of the Unites States is dead. Yawn. Do we really need political commentary by a bunch of Canadians one of which who has Paris Hilton as one of the notches on his bedpost? Well we need it about as much as a love song about that same dude (see Avril Lavigne’s When You’re Gone) or a power balled about Avril Lavine (see Sum 41’s With Me).
The only interesting songs here is when the band gets away from Green Day lineage and sounding like ninety percent of the bands that have ever showed up at the Warped Tour like on the short, as in under a minute, French Ma Poubelle. Or on So Long, Goodbye where the band sounds like it is trying to recreate Wonderwall to a slower beat. Granted it ends up like sounding like a mash-up between the Oasis classic and Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).
Song to Download - So Long, Goodbye
Underclass Hero gets a
![Terror Alert Level: Guarded [BLUE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCbHfExiuXqojow1zxkBUX6j-9BHg9IyrfzqR77jnja2Xq6dbv-7iiqMFzp_UKXGcUF9FyAHqCkNxa5uitXa5Xu2Q1OboN9-TLjsaeI1a2eoGLORU4vkTQ54l1C-_cZyn81QHyQ/s400/small_guarded.png)
on my Terror Alert Scale.
while i agree with your opinion on Sum 41 (I have never liked them), I do think that Bloodhound Gang is entertaining, and at times, downright genius with plays on words. Especially on their third album, hooray for boobies. Some of my favorite lyrical puns are on that album, though One Fierce Beer Coaster was the more well known album.
ReplyDeleteI also have Use Your Fingers and Hefty Fine, though neither live up to future or past humor.
One other note, the 'hilarious way the band bleeped out the naughty words' was only one the radio. The CD does not bleep anything out. I enjoy the donkey's heehaw as much as the next guy, but much more to the point with the burn motherfucker burn line included.
The Bloodhound gang was always a one trick pony and the older I get the less entertaining that one trick becomes. I own(ed I think I sold it) One Fierce Beer Coaster which was entertaining at the time but there really wasn't any reason to listen to it more than once.
ReplyDeleteAs for the radio edit, I have search the internet high and low and sadly have never been able to find it. On a happier nte I was able to hunt down the radio edit of Adam Sandler's Ode to My Car which has a much better "bleep" usage.
Where did you find the radio edit of Ode to My Car? I've been looking for it for quite some time.
ReplyDelete-Thorin
I have had it for awhile, most likely got it during the old Napster days
ReplyDelete