The Pink Spiders
Teenage Graffiti
Suretone/Geffen
I am won over by The Pink Spiders. They’re bratty looking young boys in black, white and pink who are currently on tour with Sugarcult (uck), yet despite this I can’t help but turn the stereo up a notch or two while spinning their major label debut, Teenage Graffiti.
Have I gone pop? Have I succumb to the irresisitible melodies and the Buddy-Holly-meets-punk-rock vocals of Matt Friction? Damn right I have!
I have this theory about the importance of track #3 on an album. The opening song on any CD needs to grab you, the second song needs to show diversity, and the third song makes or breaks the flow of the disc. Even if the first two songs are good, if the third one bites, the CD often can’t recover. This disc has “Modern Swinger” in the all important “three spot” and it is one perfect example of a pop song.
From there the disc quickly plunges through song after song of youthful apathy. Helped immensely by the production of Cars’ mastermind Ric Ocasek, The Pink Spiders have produced a hit album about nothing deeper than girls, cigarettes and booze. It makes me wish I was 15 and ignorant of the real world again. For the time it takes to revel in the sounds I can pretend that I don’t have bills to pay, or a sucky day job and lose myself in the thrill of the music.
The Pink Spiders: http://www.thepinkspiders.com
