It's a bit tempting to peg Green Day's sprawling, ambitious, brilliant seventh album, American Idiot, as their version of a Who album, the next logical step forward from the Kinks-inspired popcraft of their underrated 2000 effort, Warning, but things aren't quite that simple. American Idiot is an unapologetic, unabashed rock opera, a form that ...
They may be hyped by the British press as no less than the second coming of Nirvana, but on Highly Evolved the Vines offer something more interesting than yet another trawl through flannel-clad angst. True, the addictively short "Highly Evolved"'s primal beat and chunky guitars are certainly post-grunge, but not not in the boringly earnest, ...
Move over, Avril; there's a new gun in town. And even though Paramore's lead singer Hayley Williams is a few years younger than her predecessor, she has a way bigger set of vocal pipes. Lavigne and Williams share a similar register, but Williams belts it out with way more control and authority. She may even be more of a respectable pop idol since ...
If you scanned the back cover of the soundtrack to Shrek, without seeing the film first, it's hard not to think that this is an album that's designed to be a crossover success, containing very few songs that are in the film. You'd be wrong. Almost all of the 12 songs on this soundtrack (there's a 13th track, an excerpt of Harry Gregson-Williams ...
At times sophisticated, redeeming, and preposterously silly, Relient K crafted a masterpiece of punk-based power pop on Five Score and Seven Years Ago, their fifth album in -- guess how long. The quintet's mature yet playful fare fell far from the fleeting superficiality that has plagued dozens of sound-alike groups. Frontman Matt Thiessen once ...
At the heart of My Chemical Romance lore is the story of lead singer/songwriter/mouthpiece Gerard Way, an animator who decided to abandon illustrations and do "something with his life" in the wake of 9/11. Needless to say, that "important" thing was My Chemical Romance, which quickly rose to prominence among the emo and neo-punk bands that ...
After being dropped by Capitol, Jimmy Eat World returned in 2001 with their most consistent and accessible album to date. Recorded entirely on the band's dime, before they had a new record deal, Bleed American features compelling lyrics, driving guitar work, and insanely catchy melodies. Left to their own devices during the recording process, it ...
There's a reason why Weezer's third album consciously recalls the band's first, not just in its eponymous title, but in its stark cover, Ric Ocasek production, and tight pop songs. That's not because Weezer was trying to recapture its core audience, because, unbeknown to the band, it already had. Once its second album, Pinkerton, stiffed on the ...
Following the cool reception to Insomniac, Green Day retreated from the spotlight for a year to rest and spend time with their families. During that extended break, they decided to not worry about their supposedly lost street credibility and make an album according to their instincts, which meant more experimentation and less of their trademark ...
If the title Enema of the State didn't give it away, it should be clear from songs like "Dumpweed," "What's My Age Again?," and "Dysentery Gary" that moving to a major label isn't a sign of maturity for blink-182. "Dammit (Growing Up)," the first single from their third album, Dude Ranch, brought them a wider audience and the attention of major ...
The original soundtrack to Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont's live-action, big-screen adaptation of Archie Comics' Josie & the Pussycats brings together the talents of, among others, Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's, Letters to Cleo's Kay Hanley, and the production team of Babyface and his wife, Tracey Edmonds. Hanley provides the voice of Josie (played ...
As the popularity of emo and punk-pop plateaued, many bands had a lot to prove to stay in the game. As of 2003, Brand New had sidestepped any notion that they'd be stuck in the prototypical mold found on Your Favorite Weapon. Unlike their debut, Deja Entendu isn't all about bitter breakups and doesn't fall into a permanent punk-pop hole. Produced ...
As a Rolling Stone cover story on newsstands the week before the release of Make Believe made clear, Weezer leader Rivers Cuomo is an odd, ornery sort. He's a genuine rock & roll maverick, at once attracted and repelled by his star status, disappearing for long stretches at a time, often to return to college. He writes and records far more songs ...
In the heady days of the post-grunge mid-'90s, it was hard to see who were real and who were pretenders -- and that didn't even take into account whose music would stand the test of time and whose wouldn't. Which is a roundabout way of saying that even if Green Day's breakthrough record, Dookie, sold millions upon millions of copies, it was hard ...
By 2000, Green Day had long been spurned as unhip by the fourth-generation punks they popularized, and they didn't seem likely to replicate the MOR success of the fluke smash "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)." Apparently, the success of that ballad freed the band from any classifications or stigmas, letting them feel like they could do anything ...
If anyone ever got the feeling that, in spite of its success, blink-182 has strayed much farther from its roots than the band ever expected possible (and possibly ever wanted), one listen to the eponymous disc from the side project of members Travis Barker and Thomas DeLonge would provide even more evidence. Boxcar Racer removes the tongue-in-butt ...
Sing the Sorrow, their DreamWorks debut, isn't the wholesale departure from AFI's roots that some longtime fans griped about. It is merely the next step on a path that began with 1999's Black Sails in Sunset, the first album to feature guitarist Jade Puget. Assuming the role of principal songwriter, Puget wrapped vocalist Davey Havok's gothic ...
From the pounding, primal assault of the opening track, "Tired of Sex," it's clear from the outset that Pinkerton is a different record than the sunny, heavy guitar pop of Weezer's eponymous debut. The first noticeable difference is the darker, messier sound -- the guitars rage and squeal, the beats are brutal and visceral, the vocals are mixed to ...
My Chemical Romance's 2002 debut was a particularly strident entry in that shifty genre of bands tortuously slamming together elements of emo, hardcore, and even metal. Rightly signed to a larger label (in this case, Reprise Records), MCR has returned in 2004 with Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. With the aid of production major-leaguer Howard ...
Big hooks abound on this forceful debut by power pop whiz kids Nick Wheeler and Tyson Ritter. Though not yet old enough to legally buy an alcoholic drink in the year 2002, All-American Rejects are capable songwriters, accomplished vocalists, and skilled instrumentalists. Guitar-driven and underpinned with a humane-sounding drum machine cranking ...
Power punk funny guys blink-182 capture their witty stage presence on the limited-edition release The Mark, Tom and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back). Celebrating the quick success of their major-label debut, 1999's Enema of the State, The Mark, Tom and Travis Show showcases playful live cuts and previously unreleased tracks and, in keeping ...
There's nothing new under the sun, especially not in pop music, and there's absolutely nothing new or innovative or even particularly forward-looking about Cartel's big guitars, big hooks, and big-voiced lead singer. That's not to say that this Atlanta-based band is retro at all -- on the contrary, it's just very much a creature of its time. Call ...
The members of Simple Plan don't have anything new to say, but at least it sounds like they're having a good time saying it. They're so full of pep and energy that they even seem to be having fun even when they're singing "God must hate me" or proclaiming that "life is a nightmare." Granted, they sing mostly about typical adolescent trauma -- ...
Dookie gave Green Day success, but it was never really clear whether they wanted it in the first place. However, given the incessantly catchy songwriting of Billie Joe, the success made sense. Green Day were traditionalists without realizing it, learning all of their tricks through secondhand records and second-generation California punk bands. ...
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