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Boys and Buckcherry: Pull The Anger Rip Cord by Bob Lefsetz I'm pissed off. Nothing feels exactly right. I could tell you what I'm mad about, but I think you'd judge me. I'm sitting here at my Mac, listening on my Rio. Because if I played the speakers as loud as I wanted to, the whole NEIGHBORHOOD would revolt. That's why hard rock will never die. Because nothing feels as good when you're angry. It's the pounding guitars. The shouted lyrics. The ATTITUDE! It's aural grease. It loosens you up. Allows you to be free, be the real you. Now, this Buckcherry song is derivative. If you want to hear this same sound, but BETTER, listen to the first Rhino Bucket album. "Ridin'" is so basic as to be monotonous. There IS a chorus, but it's not memorable. And barely distinguishable from the verses. But all of a sudden, just when you're about to change the station, at two minutes in, the song changes COMPLETELY! "On the way from the west side of town We get up and we never come down Got the juice and we're loose 'Cause we want to get wasted" THESE are hard-rock lyrics. Oh, they might sound like the scribblings of a socially retarded male high school student to you. Actually, that's EXACTLY what they sound like. Because all males have this arrested-development thing going on. They keep it under control at work. When you're having a dinner party. But when they're driving in their car alone. When they lose that account, don't get that promotion, are rejected, it's like somebody pulls the rip cord on their anger parachute. They just want to float along in their own world. Get wasted, FORGET about all of it. The singer is actually singing. But then he turns it up a notch. "All right all right oh yeah Jump from the left side down Mom and Dad are out of town You know they don't like it When you're stoned..." No they DON'T! And they're so HYPOCRITICAL. They smoked all their dope in the '70s, why can't I smoke in high school NOW? And that "mom and dad." You'll hear it and think of the progenitor: Cheap Trick's "Surrender." I caught this change, this bridge, on TV. I kept watching. The lead singer is covered in tattoos. Would this be the case if there were no video? I mean it's all for SHOW! What does he BELIEVE in? He decided who he wanted to be based on all the MTV he watched. That's how he planned his career. IMAGE FIRST! Nonetheless, even though it's imperfect, "Ridin'" works! Because when it makes that transition in the middle, it's like a door opens. The whole damn world doesn't get you. At least that's what you thought. But now, there's this secret society. AND THEY FEEL JUST LIKE YOU! This is not rap. ANYBODY can rap. Rap isn't about music. And there's no star power in rock/rap. There's no division between band and fan. But with a conventional hard-rock act. They're up on stage. You're in the pit. You're WORSHIPING! It's like they're rabbis. Or ministers. Hell, if the Catholic church will allow me, PRIESTS!! Yup, that's the appropriate term. If you think you know me. If you think you know what I'm thinking. You've got another thing coming. |
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