So I'm watching MTVHits, the 48th sect of MTV and the only one to play music, one day. I say to myself I'm sick of seeing Britney Spears and Christina Aguleira and all this crap. When can I see something original? When can I get a break from all these people trying to be something they're not? When will New Found Glory stop making music!??! When will Nirvana stop making pointless CD's from the bottom of Kurt Cobain's grave?!?! All these questions have stumped clever scientists for at least 5 minutes, and it bothered me for just as long. Until Frickin' A came on. I heard Trend and was hooked. I got this album with American Idiot. Obviously you know which one worked out for the better, but I still gave this the occasional listen. Frickin' A is an anti popular band. Influenced by 80's rock gods Brian Adams and Bruce Springsteen, Frickin' A is a "summer" band, similar to The Ataris. They are:
Jason Phelps: Guitar/Lead Vocals
Dave Harris: Guitar/Backup Vocals
Jason Short: Bass/Backup Vocals
Scott Macann: Drums/ Percussion
Their popularity mocking lyrics and girl's suck anthems have made Big Ego's... No Idea's what it is. A fun, if at times a bit annoying album that actually shows some depth. However don't mistake the "wise" songs for maturity. Frickin' A is an immature pop rock band, but actually sacrifice themselves to call out stupid popular things and other stereotypes. And to say girls suck. A Lot.
One credit must be handed to Frickin A. Their songs all have direction. You always no what their songs are about. How many times have you heard Simple Plan's "Untitled" or "Welcome To My Life" or... screw it, every Simple Plan Song, and thought "What the hell are they talking about? I understand your multimillionaire rock life sucks, but why does it suck? What's your motivation?" Well with Frickin' A, that statement cannot be made once. Their lyrics always hit the points they want to even if they struggle to rhyme. On the album's standout track
Trend, the lyrics are so unvague and blunt you just want to laugh. I mean how many bands do you know of who will rhyme green with ding-a-ling? Not many. But Frickin' A did it and shockingly, it fits. Trend is the perfect antidote for the poisoned minds of America's youth. I mean it's straight pop-rock, make no mistake. But isn't ***-Britney-Spears pop better than Try-To-Be-Britney-pop? I think so, and I'm sure many would agree.
Unfortuneately, Trend is the only track to make fun of the pop-life. Most of the other songs are about girls, and some are pretty bad. The opener,
Drive, is one of the Adams-influenced tracks I mentioned earlier, but it lacks passion. In fact, it's banal get-stuck-in-your-head-but-not-in-a-good-way verses are something to skip for a person who hates 80's music, like me. Interestingly, the opener is one of the worst tracks on the album, and most albums, the opener is the best, or at least good. However that is not the case here. There's also a bit of a dip in the song-writing towards the middle-end with two annoying tracks,
Dump Me and
Naked In My Bed. Dump Me is a typical self loathing song about how a girl is dumping Jason. However the lyrics are funny by the end when there's a phone message in which a girl dumps him so obviously and Jason ponders... "I think she just dumped me."
Naked In My Bed follows a completely different line. It's all about the fantasies Jason has about this girl and uses such sick metaphors for sex it's not even classified for innuendo. Imagine Petey Pablo's immortal "Do You Want It Over Here? Do Want It Over There/Do You want it in a bed?/Do you want it in a chair?" on his only hit Freek-A-Leek meets The Ataris.
Undoubtedly, Frickin A's best work is when they turn up the tempo and just have some fun. In addition to the aforementioned Trend, there's the hilarious
Just Friends and the Srpingsteen cover, Frickin' A's only "hit",
Jessie's Girl. On Just Friends, Jason cries out under a punk beat all the things he can do without his girlfriend. They include cussing out his beau in Japanese, Organizing DVD's, smashing his sister's violin, etc. Jason's vocals are great and raspy, something much more bearable for a high voiced guy. Everyone hates NFG's Jordan, but Jason's snotty raspy voice is funny, making you want to hang out with this guy (albeit not for a long time because all he does is bitch about his girlfriend.).
Jessie's Girl is also a great example of the band having some fun. I mean there's not much to tell you, it's the same thing as Springsteen's Jessie's Girl, I mean it's exactly this time. There's that chrous that just wants to make you dance, those clever verses, everything the same. I'm glad this song became a single because it gave Frickin' A some recognition. This song actually got popular enough to make Now 18. Ooooo isn't that cool? Ok we all know Now is garbage, but hey at lease Frickin' A is getting some recognition.
Now before I mentioned some depth. On the last three tracks, Frickin' A takes it waaay down and plays some mellowed out acoustic numbers. The first is the, oh... 5 minutes too long
Cut Number 7. Cut Number 7 absolutely is annoying. It's the same thing over and over again with different words for 8 minutes. It goes into amazing detail about making an album, and it hits every song. In a row. From tracks 1-12. And most of the songs get a nice little minute long story. But in the end, Track 1 is the only good one according to Jason, so that means we spent 7 minutes discussing crap. This is followed by the lightyears better
Last Summer. Jason absolutely croons in his nasal voice the story about him and a girl meeting, getting it on, the girl getting pregnant, and them having an abortion in marvelous innuendo that is fantastically blended together to make a beautiful song. This is the most beautiful track on the album, being it about a girl, summer, and a little bit of heartache, the three things Frickin' A writes best about. The next mellowed out song is
One Step Away, which is nice and soft in it's own right, but it's obviously about suicide, something that makes you think "awww man come on you're better than that". Neverhteless it's a nice finisher to a pretty good album.
Musically, Frickin' A is as generic as they come. A nasal singer (albeit a much better one than the other ones out there) and nothing special done from anyone. Just simple chords. No amazing solos or fantastic drum work. And not a damn thing done from the bass, which truly brings a tear to my eye. Another bassist sucked into generic work. Sigh. The drums always keep a good beat though, one to keep the head bouncing I suppose. But there's so much more to be done, that could be done, I wish that they took that extra mile. But they didnt. Pretty bland musically.
OVERALL
Frickin' A is your typical pop-rock band, except for one difference. Instead of embracing conformity, they resist it. In fact, they're damn against it. And not in a punk "lets destroy the earth" kind of way, more of a relaxed "dude, conformity sucks" kind of way. Frickin' A isn't a great band by any stretch of the imagination, and neither is their debut. It has it's high points, but a weak middle section and some generic girls-suck songs make this album one to listen to a ocuple of times, but not one to love.
Grade: B-
Recommended Tracks
Trend
Just Friends
Last Summer
Pros:
All songs have a definite direction.
Jason's voice is not annoying. In fact it's actually pretty good.
Some truly fun numbers
Cons
A weak middle section
Nothing musically special
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