Vaguely related to the apparently still-burning question "what is punk?", here are a few more random Yesterday Rules reviews that have somehow managed not to escape my attention:
Here's one from good ol' Ed Masely from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; from the UC Santa Barbara paper; another from our pal Lucid Mike somewhere in deepest darkest Connecticut; one from our Geoff; and yet another from the Ohio/midwest fanzine Neufuture (please save the humans...) Finally, there's this interview/article in the Oakland Tribune and various ANG papers, from supercritic Jim Harrington. As so often, I can't quite recall saying some of the quotes he quotes me as saying, but I think the final line, whether I actually said it or not, accurately reflects my own assessment of my relative punkness quotient.
They all seem to like it pretty well, but, as always, not everybody does. Here's the voice of "the kids", some of them anyway, on the Knock Knock Records massive "pop punk" message board. Some vote yea, some nay. Some are coyly saying yea and nay at the same time.
It's not clear whether the commenter is referring to the new album or to 1993's Our Bodies Our Selves, but I like this comment: "the lyrics tend to be more introspective than self-consciously clever... and I prefer the latter." Now there's something you don't hear every day! (Also, if you want, you can check out the thread commenting on the Love is Dead review I mentioned a couple days back. Keep your shirt on, Mr. Ramones...)
Finally here's a heartfelt lament from a former fan on the Amazon.com review section: "it seems that the days of witty lyrics & catchy beats are a thing of the past." Those were, indeed, the days.
Posted by Dr. Frank at January 30, 2004 02:26 PM | TrackBackI think the kid's getting his psychology mixed up. It's "subconsciously", not "self-consciously."
Posted by: JB at January 30, 2004 02:29 PMman, i always thought "revenge is sweet" was the best mtx album.
what's with that one guy's assertion (from the KKR board)that "The Plus Ones album was at least 10202940830948 times better than this"...i am baffled by this precision calculation alone!
I'm with Jason. "Revenge is Sweet" has always been my favorite. Though "Yesterday Rules" is creeping right up there.
I think really young punk fans have a pre-conceived notion of what punk should be. When a favorite band of theirs branches out into something that's not their core idea of punk, they go into meltdown. The concept of a band playing in more than one style is foreign to them.
Posted by: michele at January 30, 2004 02:58 PMTruly amazing -- the "not like the old stuff" reviews are exactly the same as the reviews of "Milk Milk ..." and "Our Bodies ..." back in the day, but now it's "Milk Milk ..." et al. that constitute the "old stuff" that the new stuff isn't like. The "historical perspective" certainly creeps up on one quickly in the world of punk rock!
Posted by: Aaron at January 30, 2004 04:34 PMEven though all of the albums are "my favorite" y I find myself listening to less of "Everybody's Entitled", "Milk Milk", "Love Is Dead" and "Revenge Is Sweet" and more of "Alcatraz", "Miracle of Shame" and "Yesteday Rules" each year as I get older. The music is more mature. I remember a few years ago at a show, Frank was taking requests for his set list and I requested "Marine Recruiter" to which he explained "We don't really play that one because we're not in high-school or college anymore and can't really relate to it now". I didn't understand at the time, but fully agree now. Then again, I do find myself listening to less "Green Day" and "Queers" and to more "Enya" and "Great Big Sea". I never thought it would happen, but I'm getting old.
Posted by: Channon at January 30, 2004 05:56 PMIn some ways, or maybe in some moods, Milk Milk Lemonade is actually my favorite album--I think because, and I mean this in the best possible way, it sort of struggles to become coherent or articulate in ways that, say, Love is Dead doesn't, and that's just the right thing sometimes. Every 8 months or so, "2 minute itch" becomes like my anthem for a couple of weeks. The new one is great, and I'm sure I'll be spinning it for some time, but it does take some acclimating, whether you looking for more "punk" or what. For example, it has taken me a number of listens not to be shocked when the delay-guitars and that "woh-woh-woh" effect come in on Boyfriend Box.
Posted by: spacetoast at January 30, 2004 06:09 PMDoes Robert Daltry still do the stutter when he sings "My Generation?" In a sense, if/when they play that song, they're playing it for folks of their own generation who remember fondly the days of people trying to put them d-d-d-down. On one hand it's silly to think of the Who singing about such things at this point, but on the other hand you realize people are at the show because that's what they want to hear.
Posted by: geoff@vvinyl.com at January 30, 2004 06:10 PMSpacetoast, I think you have probably hit the nail on the head with regard to the (to me) rather puzzling enduring appeal of Milk Milk Lemonade. It demonstrates the struggle to understand and articulate, rather than commenting on it or trying to re-create the confusion. No recreation necessary-- it's already there, for better or worse. So maybe there's less distance? I can only say that if I pretend really hard to be someone else, though.
Posted by: Dr. Frank at January 30, 2004 06:20 PMare the witty lyrics and catchy beats the reason why 'yesterday rules'? ;)
Posted by: anne at January 30, 2004 06:22 PMwhy can't people just accept music as it is? i mean why do people always have to long for "the old stuff" or whatever? i understand that maybe you get into a band by listening to a certain album and then you love that one above all others. but people have to accept that musicians are humans and their tastes and styles change. you have to respect that, not worry about whether they're "still punk". ugh.
anyways i like "yesterday rules". one of my favorite things about it is that dr. frank hits some really low notes. he sounds just like barry white. sigh. oh yeah also i like using the word "fuck" in one of the song titles. thanks for doing that.
Raedy, I don't get it. I'm not critisizing, I'm just wondering who you like the word "fuck". I always found it quite charming and endearing that "MTX" a "punk" band didn't use the word and in fact had very little curing and vulgarity at all. Now, before people start shouting what about "Velveeta","Merry Fucking Christmas" or the other one or two songs that had "fuck" in them just think about the few MTX songs in it with naughty language and then think of how many don't, there's a big discrepancy. That's not to say that I don't love the song "F'ed Up On Life", I think it's awesome, I just feel that it shouldn't be applauded for containing the "F" word in the song or title.
Posted by: Channon at January 30, 2004 08:22 PMproofreading note: I'm just wondering who you like the word "fuck" should read: I'm just wondering why you like the word "fuck". Sorry.
Posted by: Channon at January 30, 2004 08:23 PMI think Aaron made a great point saying these sound just like "Milk Milk" and "Our Bodies" reviews. In that all have mentioned MTX "Jumping The Shark" in the past. Maybe it takes a certian older, or wiser; maybe even jaded kind of mind to get into "The new stuff" (be that may the transition to "Milk Milk", "Love is dead", or "Alcatraz").
I think that anybody can get into any of the cds, rather than a different audience for each one. It just requires a little digestion of each album to the next. I remeber ...And The Women bieng my introduction album, then just weeks later buying Alcatraz and going "AGH!". So i shelved that cd, and listened to Revenge is Sweet so much that over time it became just one big noisy blur. And when i became weathered by that whole "and the women - through - Revenge" era, Alcatraz was right there for me, and sounding a hell of a lot more welcome.
oh oh i know... i know what punk is...
its caring more about your image than you
do about the music and going against the values
you once held sincerely dear.
a somewhat uninformed aside admittedly...
but i couldn't resist.;)
beth
Posted by: just me at January 30, 2004 09:35 PMI don't think we have to worry about MTX jumping the shark (unless maybe Ted McGinley joins the band). Jumping the shark is generally the result of running out of ideas; what people in the "not punk enough" crowd seem to object to is Frank/MTX's having too many ideas.
Posted by: Aaron at January 30, 2004 09:40 PMI have to say I find it sad that some people wish for the songs of the past(granted we all will always have our favorites). I think it would be increadibly boring if musicians just kept replicating the same old sound over and over. I find it exciting to experience the new ideas that bands have, not to mention it shows a sign of good writer/band. Musicians that just keep doing the same thing really aren't that great of musicians cause it's easy and safe just to keep doing the same thing, to me it means more to take a risk and create something that means something to the writer.
Posted by: Kristy at January 30, 2004 10:34 PMI find it harder to "get into" a band when they've already had such a long history/evolution. I can't imagine what it would be like if Yesterday Rules was the very first MTX CD I ever listened to. Then I'd have to track backwards or just buy all 5 prior CDs and have them sit on my shelf, never giving them the opportunity to be listened to a hundred times over OR possibly not even be interested enough to buy the older stuff. Fortunately for me, the following started in 1993 with a copy of "Making Things with Light." I've grown up with the music and with each passing MTX offering, I can not only notice the distance in the last ten years but hear it as well. Thanks for the ride Frank!
Posted by: Bill at January 31, 2004 04:54 AMJust curious, Frank, what criteria would you like this album to be judged on? I recall reading (probably here) that you wanted to try to create unique sounds for each song. If so, I think you were successful overall, though there's a thematically-and-musically linked mini-album lurking within "Yesterday Rules", which includes my current favorites-- Fucked Up, Sorry for Freaking Out, and Everybody Knows You're Crying. Perhaps with "Hammer" those would have made a thematically complete EP (which would somewhat obviously need to be titled "Fucked Up On Life"). Not that I'm complaining; I'll take an LP worth of songs over an EP any day (and the whole EP concept probably brands me as a punk antiquarian) and let iTunes playlists do the rest.
dear channon,
sometimes the word fuck is appropriate. anyway i just found it amusing. no big deal.
oh yeah also, when i saw that i was like...oh, i always knew dr. frank was a badass, deep down inside. and that was my proof. :)
Posted by: r a e d y at January 31, 2004 08:33 AMSomething I've noticed about a lot of pop punk people and they don't like when a band's songs don't all sound the same, and then their criticism is .. "it all sounds the same"
I woulda posted that on the Pop Punk board, but it wasn't worth registering a name for it.
Hey. Do you know what I like? I like Yesterday Rules.
Posted by: Ted at February 1, 2004 08:56 AMso is the 30-second song "Told You Once" MTX's attempt to get all the f-bombs out of its system once and for all?
Posted by: Hulka at February 2, 2004 02:13 PMTen-second song, excuse me. (Does submitting a ten-second song to a compilation of thirty-second songs count as another example of MTX's iconoclasm?)
Posted by: Hulka at February 2, 2004 02:14 PMHulka, the answer to your questions, respectively: no and yes.
Posted by: Dr. Frank at February 2, 2004 03:04 PM