Drunk Guy reviews music

Hi there. I'm at least a sixpack deep into my stock of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. And today, I bought some music.

I made $7 on my lunch shift. Life is goooood. On the upside, it didn't take long to haul that bonanza in. On my way home I thought, "Damn, I've got 2500 miles to drive three weeks from now. I'd better have some music to listen to along the way." I picked up NIN's "With Teeth", and Bad Religion's "Suffer".

I'm not sure if it's still cool to like Nine Inch Nails. Whatever. I don't care. I was looking forward to the new album. I heard the single on the radio and I thought, "Damn, that rocks pretty hard. I distinctly recall NIN rocking hard at various times. I'm going to buy that album." Ok, so, I'm a sucker for a good single.

I got my serious, sinister album home, and gave it a spin. The radio single, "The Hand That Feeds", is the fourth track on the CD. The first track made me wonder if Trent Reznor was pretending to be a lounge singer welcoming the Damned to Hell. The second track picked up the pace, but it still wasn't great. The third song bothered me with its oddball beat.

After "The Hand That Feeds", the album stepped it up, but I'd definitely have to classify the whole thing as "dark, melodic, and brooding" rather than "evil and asskicking", which I would've infinitely preferred.

"Getting Smaller" sounds like an early-90's Sonic Youth song, which scores points in my book. "Sunspots" and "Right Where It Belongs" also get a thumbs up. "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" sounds typically NIN and is a decent track.

Trent, you need more asskickery. Rock out harder next time, gawddammit!!

Rating: C+

It feels like I'm cheating if I write about my opinion of Bad Religion's "Suffer". I've had a tape copy for several years now. But the car I'll be driving from Wilmington NC to Tustin CA has a CD player, so naturally I needed a CD copy!

Apparently, "Suffer" was a 1988 release, meaning I was 12 when it came out. I think I was still collecting only baseball cards at this point. Perhaps I was busy trading Pete Incaviglia + Eric Davis rookies for Mark McGwires. I may or may not have expanded into copied cassettes (Beastie's License to Ill and Van Halen were my first two) at that point.

I consider myself slow to adapt my musical tastes to discover and digest the Awesome. A Musical Luddite, if you will. I am never on the cutting edge as far as musical badassery is concerned. Albums get released. Six months pass. I get a hold of an album. I declare it to be The Bomb, and berate myself for not figuring that out sooner. Cases in point: Wu-Tang's double album "Wu-Tang Forever", Jay Z's "Black Album", and Kanye's "College Dropout". The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Bad Religion were at least on their sixth album, each, by the time I discovered them.

So for Bad Religion's "Suffer" I was probably a decade slow. I'm pretty sure I got my copy in '97.

After the slight disappointment that was "With Teeth", sliding in "Suffer" cured what ailed me. What's that, you say? You were itching for a badass session of rocking out? Ohhhh yeeeeah...

Thank you, Greg Graffin. A more interesting question... how would I have been able to wrap my brain around Bad Religion had I discovered them at the impressionable age of 16 or so? Obsequious? Bucolic? Rapacity? Is it time for my English SAT's already?

"Suffer" rocks from start to finish. Pretentious and political? Sure. I prefer to call them the dictionary-lover's punk rock band. Expand your vocabulary while you rock out. I dare you to move to southern California as a young single person, listen to the "Land of Competition", and yawn.

Rating: A+ I give bonus points to albums that rock HARD from start to finish, and this one fits the bill. It's one of my favorites. From Atlantic to Pacific, it's gonna get some spin-time in early June.

(Oh, and the early word on Common's new joint is that it has Instant Classic written all over it. Cop the Hotness when it drops.)