One of those bands referenced as influential but I suspect it’s more that a generation of American youth chugged beer to this sound.
The sound varies, from surfer cool to more hardcore punk. “Pervert” is a crude exception that only its parents could love (Wayne County’s “If You Don’t Want to Eff Me” was crude but had the benefit of wit), and “No FB” is even worse.
Openers “Descendents”, “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” and “Rockstar” are punk tunes sounding as you might expect. By the time this came out, I’d seen Stiff Little Fingers twice, though.
A younger me would have liked the indie “GCF” and the punkier “My World”.
The trouble is British bands were doing it all better: “In Love This Way” starts off a bit like The Smiths, a year after “The Smiths”.
“Ace” is very much like The Damned, though the latter had split, reformed and binned Captain Sensible before this even went on sale.
I think the problem is that this is someone else’s much-loved culture; over here, we’ve got the Pistols, The Damned, The Clash or even The Stranglers, all giants. This is decent enough but lightweight. “Christmas Vacation” is excellent indie pop, or try “Silly Girl” and “In Love This Way”.
JMC
