Review Summary: The sequel to the highly successful Learning How To Smile was not as critically acclaimed, but still a pretty good album overall. Art's lyrics suffer here, but his guitar playing, teamed up with Craig and Greg's great rhythm section, is better than ever.
After a string of 3 successful albums dating back to 1995, Everclear looked to make the sequel to the brilliant
Learning How To Smile. While part one of the Songs From An American Movie series focused on the good times before the bad, and everything beginning to turn sour,
Good Time For A Bad Attitude is more focused on anger instead of depression, and trying to tell yourself you’re better without her.
Everclear:
Art Alexakis
Craig Montoya
Greg Eklund
When It All Goes Wrong Again
This is definitely a standout track from the album. Lots of riffing, no overproduction, and tons of energy set the tone of the album. The chorus is shout-out-loud and reminiscent of One Hit Wonder. “I will be sittin’ on top when it all goes wrong again.”
4.5
Slide
Art Alexakis has always had a way of wearing the meaning of a song on his sleeve. This is one of the many songs he’s written about the messed up life he’s leading, and, in this case, how his life is on the “slide.” This is definitely above average though, thanks to strong lyrics and some great riffing.
4
Babytalk
The meaning of this song isn’t half bad, but the song is just absolute crap. The character is named Spike, and let me tell you, we all know guys like this. Guys who were your great friends ‘till some chick came along and “got him by the balls.” Art gets his message across, but the fact that this story is set to music just makes it suck. Not to mention it has 0% catchiness.
2
Rock Star
This was the closest thing the band had to a hit from this album, thanks in part to
Not Another Teen Movie. The lyrics are pretty pitiful.
Art tells us what he does and doesn’t want:
-I don’t want to be a loser
-I want to be a king
-I want to be a rock star
-I want to get laid
-I want to drive a fast car
-etc.
The song is fun and what not, but the lyrics are disgusting.
3 (because of the “go to hell” line)
Short Blonde Hair
So, if you were to write a biography of Art Alexakis, would you describe him as a prick? Duh! He acknowledges that here. This is a really good autobiographical song. He claims that all he wanted was to play guitar for a rock band, and that he never wanted his ego to take over. But it did. This is just a plain, simple, great song.
4.3
Misery Whip
The real meaning of this is song is, er, violent sex? Kind of a weird song with some crazy lyrics. This song carries on the string of heavy songs with some wild riffs and fast bass playing.
3
Out Of My Depth
This song includes some nice acoustic guitar playing for a change, and is a pretty good song overall. Once again, Art explains that he’s screwed and his life is messed up to the point of no return. “I am out of my depth, I am over my head.”
4
The Good Witch Of The North
Looking back, this song is now full of irony. The woman Art cheesily sings about adoring is now the woman he divorced who is now suing him for 7 mil. Not to mention the woman he claims to hate in all these songs is now on good terms with him, they just realized they weren't meant to be married. It’s a nice acoustic ditty, but the lyrics are as corny as can be.
3.5
Halloween Americana
Remember not long ago when everybody on Sputnik was making those lists of their favorite instrumental songs? Every time I would leave a comment in caps saying EL DISTORTO DE MELODICA by Everclear. To tell you how good this song is, it completely blows that one out of the water. Riffs o’ plenty, and overall just mind numbing guitar work makes me reminisce on my days of trick or treating. The drumming is insane instead of regular Greg Eklund blandness. There's some cool bass playing too. I just wish Art would showcase his guitar skills on more albums.
5
All ***ed Up
Very fast punk like tune. Lame, pointless lyrics, chock full of f words. In some cases, the obsenities are used in hilarious places. Not a great song, but pretty fun if you like Everclear.
3
Overwhelming
The lyrics in this song are just, well, overwhelming. It describes a character with an ego the size of the sun, and Art’s plan to destroy it. Most people can relate to this. I know I can. I can't stand people with huge egos, and this song is about how the only way to break their ego is to put careful consideration into it. Musically, the song is really powerful too.
5
Song From An American Movie Pt. 2
This is pretty much a harder rockin’ version of part 1, with more complex lyrics. Art proclaims once again his love for his daughter Anna. By the time the chorus comes around in this song, you feel the need to sing along. This is much better than the first, and caps off an amazing series of albums.
4
This album is great, but not excellent. It’s awesome to hear a heavy rock album after the poppy, but still hard, Learning How To Smile. I’ve tried multiple times to change Everclear’s sputnik genre to hard rock, but people always want to change it back. All of their other albums were hard, but with overdone production. This is clean, simple, and exciting. Buy this; you’ll probably enjoy it if you like anything by Everclear.
3.5/5
