Review Summary: One of the symbolic albums of Pop-Punk, Pennybridge Pioneers brought Millencolin from the underground to the mainstream with 14 polished, poppy and catchy-as-hell tracks.
Review of the Month: April 2007
No Cigar. One of Millencolin’s most recognisable songs, largely due to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. But the importance of this shouldn’t go unnoticed. To this day people still remember the soundtrack to that game - one of the most popular games on the original PlayStation. And it goes without saying that this was the band’s most successful album, and most widely- and well-received. The three singles all received reasonable air time on radio and music TV, and were relative staples of any Pop-Punk diet in the years following. The album helped define the Pop-Punk of the early 2000s. Along with albums like
Let’s Talk About Feelings and
Twisted By Design,
Pennybridge was part of one of the strongest periods in Pop-Punk history.
This is probably the defining album of Millencolin’s catalogue. The sound is far more mature and refined than on previous efforts, and the move away from Ska towards a greater Rock influence is instantly recognisable. And it is only reasonable to expect a shift in the sound. The band had matured both musically and collectively. Then in their mid-20s, the writing tackled more serious issues and the cohesion of the band is far more prominent than on
Life On A Plate or
Same Old Tunes. Some of Millencolin’s strongest songs come from this album, and there is a tangible feeling that they weren’t capable of writing a
No Cigar or a
Penguins & Polarbears in previous years. And that is probably what stands this album above many, if not all others in the Millencolin catalogue - the stronger songs are truly great songs. Previous records have had maybe one or two songs last the test of time, but five or six of the
Pennybridge tracks are still played at live shows and are constantly touted as some of the band’s best. Personally I think
Penguins is the best Millencolin song ever. It’s damn close to the perfect Pop-Punk song. The piercing, iconic guitar intro; Nikola’s vocals; the lyrics - everything about this song is what Pop-Punk should be.
No Cigar is one of the most alluring album openers you’ll hear. Four bars of a pseudo drum-roll and the coy, faint guitar lead in to the heavy main riff. The softer, palm-muted parts of the verse contrast adroitly with the heavier, rolling parts leading in to the pre-chorus. And then that chorus. Just about everyone my age - who was in the early years of high school when this came out - knows this chorus. “
’Cause I don’t care where I grew up no more. What we shared or not I will ignore. And I’ve always had a hard time fitting in. 'Cause I don’t think contrast is a sin.” The lyrics speak to anyone who had difficulties in school, which is a surprisingly high amount of teenagers. They were probably a driving force behind the song’s continued success. Showcasing the substantial diversity of the album, we move from the serious, unpretentious opener to the poppiest of Pop-Punk songs Millencolin’s just about ever done:
Fox. Two-minutes of Pop-Punk bliss about… a scooter? Yeah the lyrics are a bit strange (“
She’s 500 pounds and dressed in silver chrome… When I imagine me and her, You know that I get a stand-up fur”) but they can be taken however you like. But really they aren’t important, because this song is rockin’, poppin’ Punk at it’s shortest, catchiest best. Millencolin have a kind of unique sound, in no small part due to Nikola’s distinctive vocals, but
Fox probably sounds most like
Bodyjar or
No Use For A Name. And after those two minutes of Pop-Punk bliss, the pace is once again picked up with the speedy, no-nonsense slight on modern capitalistic, materialistic society with
Material Boy. The blazing intro leads us into a pensive, satirical tune that is sharp and to-the-point: we don’t need as much stuff as we buy. “
There’ll always be new stuff to buy and I’ll expand my needs somehow, I swear.”
While certainly more mature and accomplished than any previous albums,
Pennybridge is still a Pop-Punk album and the boys certainly haven’t abandoned their roots. Most of the songs are short (only two are more than three minutes) and the infectious enthusiasm of their version of Pop-Punk is palpable. The 108 seconds of
Pepper show that you don’t need five minutes to write a memorable love song. Some of the lyrics here are brilliant in their simplicity: “
Don’t you forget about your future plan, You’re a knockout - I’m your biggest fan.” This is in my top 20 songs under two minutes.
Duckpond and
Right About Now highlight the difference of Millencolin pre- and post-Pennybridge. Both of these are largely unremarkable songs that get lost behind the singles. But the difference is that on previous albums these would have been generic Pop-Punk or Ska songs. Here, they are thoughtful Rock-inspired Pop-Punk tunes with much more specific and poignant lyrics than Nikola had produced previously. The guitars are crisper and the recording and producing clearly played a much more integral role in creating this new Millencolin sound. Famed producer Brett Gurewitz stepped in to the producing role on this album, and his impact is undeniable.
Speaking a second language is quite an achievement. Those Scandinavians seem to do it better than most. And while the four Swedish lads could all speak English, writing lyrics in your second (or third) language is certainly an altogether different challenge. The lyrics pre-Pennybridge had been playful and at times silly, but that was fine. They suited the music, and too much couldn’t have been expected of Nikola. But a new-found maturity and wisdom worked its way in to the Pennybridge lyrics. There are emotive lines and catchy phrases sprinkled through the album, certainly more so than on
Life On A Plate. The lyrical development would go on to become a central part to Millencolin’s continued development on
Home From Home and
Kingwood.
The faster-paced tracks like
Stop To Think and
Highway Donkey give this album the base to experiment with less conventional Millencolin tracks while giving the album enough balls not to draw criticism for going too soft or, heaven-forbid, ‘selling out’.
The Ballad is something completely unexpected from the band, but more than embraced. Back in 2000 I loved this song. It’s an acoustic ballad (obviously!) about a high school outcast which really slows the tempo of the album and brings it to a touching and mellow close. However after not listening to this for a while I can see that it is potentially rather cliché, but it’s certainly a new style for Millencolin, and for their first acoustic song it’s a sound effort. The inclusion of the band on this track keeps it interesting towards the end, as just Nikola and the acoustic guitar for five minutes could have been tedious. (I’m not saying anything about his solo career here!)
There’s no denying that
Pennybridge was a successful and influential album in the Pop-Punk scene of the early 2000s, but it rarely gets the credit it deserves. It’s undeniably one of the strongest Pop-Punk albums I’ve heard, and certainly one of
the iconic Pop-Punk albums of my generation. The best songs on here are
great songs. The rest are still solid. It’s really a great album with few weaknesses, perhaps the similarity between a number of the songs being the most obvious. Regardless,
No Cigar and
Penguins are two of the best Pop-Punk songs ever, featured on one of the best Pop-Punk albums ever.
Recommended tracks:
No Cigar
Fox
Material Boy
Penguins & Polarbears
Stop To Think
Pepper.
