All it Takes is a Song with a Hook

Sugar Ray pretty much summed up the last half of the nineties. Along with overtly happy bands like Smash Mouth and Fastball they transitioned out of the uber-depressing grunge era of the early decade to more family friendly Southern California rock that kids and their parents could listen to together. The irony with their breakout smash that captured that demographic was Fly was the lone pop friends off their sophomore effort Floored, stuck at the end of a hard rock album.

Not surprisingly by the time the follow-up came out, the self awaringly titled 14:59, more top 40 tracks were included with the album even starting with a song titled New Direction which was basically a parody of the nü-metal of first two albums (save Fly). A decade and two albums later the host of Pussycat Dolls Presents: Search for the Next Doll Mark McGrath and his band is completely void of anything that can be considered hard rock with the release of another self awarinly titled Song for Cougars.

Many of the songs could work as summer jams – in 1997, many of which we have heard before. They go back to featuring dance hall singers like with Fly on the album opener Girls Were Made to Love. Going Nowhere could be mistaken for Falls Apart. When they do try to update their sound, the result is the auto-tune assisted Morning Sun. And they do bring in mellow surf rocker Donavon Frankenreiter for the groovy Dance Like No One’s Watchin’ that stands out from the rest of the album like Fly did. So for all the cougars out there that flocked to Mark McGrath in his heyday and still need your summer jam for 2009, this album will help you reminisce about the good old days of 1997.

Song to Download - When We Were Young

Songs for Cougars gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.