Review Summary: If you like Zebrahead, you'll like this album. If you don't like Zebrahead, then don't bother going out of your way to listen to this.
Zebrahead are a 5 piece band from Orange County, California, who formed in 1996 and have released 10 albums to date (the latest being 2013s ‘Call Your Friends’). The band have covered various genres in their discography, however their main focus has always been a mix of pop-punk and rap. There have been changes to the band’s line-up over time, but this release features their original members.
It’s fitting that the first line on the album is “What the ***, what the ***, is going on?” Released in 2000, ‘Playmate of the Year’ is a large shift away from the style which the band utilised in their last album, 1998s ‘Waste of Mind’ which included elements of ska, funk and even disco (on ‘Fly Daze’), as well as their foundations of pop-punk and rap. This album is much more pop than not only their last album, but arguably any of the other 9 albums they have released in their 18 years together. The reasoning behind this change in approach is most likely due to the success pop-punk bands who leant more towards pop than punk (such as Blink-182) were having at the time.
The added pop influence on the album offers up both strong and weak points. At times, songs such as ‘Subtract You’ and ‘Go’ can become just a little too cheesy; although I personally still enjoy them (‘Subtract You’ features arguably the best guitar solo on the album, although ‘In My Room’ also has 2 strong ones). However, ‘Livin’ Libido Loco’ takes the cheesiness up to 11, and is the only Zebrahead song on any of their albums that I truly hate. That being said, the rest of the album gets the balance between pop and punk just about right, with standout songs including album opener ‘I Am’, lead single and the song the album is named after ‘Playmate of the Year’, and my personal favourite on the album ‘I’m Money’, which is centred around a deluded male character (most likely a teenager, the target audience of this record) who knows that he’s “trippin’”, but doesn’t care.
One of the strongest points of this album is the chemistry between lead vocalists Ali Tabatabaee (who raps) and Justin Mauriello (who sings), who complement each other better that Ali and current lead singer Matty Lewis. However, I do wish there was a song on here where they exchange lines with each other (as they do in ‘Feel This Way’ on ‘Waste of Mind’ and ‘Blur’ on 2003s ‘MFZB’), as most songs see them alternating between doing the verses and doing the chorus. As I stated earlier, there are some solid guitar solos by Greg Bergdorf, but none which can compare with the strongest ones on ‘Waste of Mind’ (on ‘The Real Me’, ‘Someday’ and ‘Fly Daze’). The drums are solid, but purely there to provide a beat (there’s no moments where they'll make you go wow), and the same can be said about the bass (although on ‘In My Room’ it does have a somewhat standout moment).
Overall, this album isn't Zebrahead’s best work (that would be ‘Waste of Mind’, ‘MFZB’ and the 2004 Japan-only release ‘Waste of MFZB’). However, this is still an enjoyable album if, like myself, you are a big fan of Zebrahead. If you haven’t listened to them before, then I suggest you start with one of the three albums I just suggested, and then you may enjoy this album more when you come to listen to it. However, if you aren't too keen on Zebrahead (or pop-punk in general), then I wouldn't recommend this album at all.
(This is the first time I've done a review since I critiqued ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ in Year 6, so don't judge me too harshly on it. If its ***, then let me know that its *** and how I can get better, otherwise I’ll just keep on talking *** in the future).
