Ugh. I don't even know where to begin with this one.
A few months ago, when Less Than Jake announced that they would be coming out with an EP comprised entirely of covers of TV jingles and theme songs for various shows, I was a little bit apprehensive to say the least. While the idea of a recorded EP made up of TV-covers sounds inherently fun in some way, there's also something about it that sounds inherently... terrible. Nonetheless, I decided to stave off any judgement until hearing the album-- That is, until their cover of the Animaniacs Theme Song surfaced. That's when I knew trouble was on the horizon.
To celebrate the release of the aptly titled "TV/EP", Less Than Jake put together a video stream of the entire album (see below), with all the original television intros synched up to their own covers of each song. You see folks, there is more to this album that meets the eye. Not only is it composed of television theme songs, but it is meant to SIMULATE the experience of flipping through television channels... Which is perhaps the most irritating idea for a concept album since Thrice decided to put out four CD's each themed around the different elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. However, where Thrice's quadruple EP was pretentious, Less Than Jake's new EP falls on the other side of the spectrum of awfullness: retarded.
Who in God's name would want to listen to an album that is meant to simulate the experience of an activity that is already irritating to begin with? I have no idea, but I decided to watch the video to try to gain some insight.
The first song came on, and I had no fuckin' clue what I was watching, but the cover that Less Than Jake were playing beneath it actually sounded okay, in spite of the Boy-Meets-World-wannabees prancing around my screen. Then the image changed to snow, and a split second later went to the Hungry Hungry Hippos commercial.
Are you freakin' kidding me? Less Than Jake have decided to cover COMMERCIALS on this thing too? That's when I knew this album was garbage. For the next 11 minutes, I watched various intros to shows interspersed with commercial jingles, and to be honest, the only reasons I did were a) because I wanted to blog about this, and b) because there was a time in my life when I considered Less Than Jake to be my favorite band.
However, it is difficult to say one really LIKES a band when they put out nonsense like this. I get it, ska is meant to be fun, light hearted music, that isn't meant to be taken seriously. However, ska as a genre is also flawed in that it is extremely repetitive, to the point where it is borderline irritating. What Less Than Jake have done with this album is taken a genre that already suffers from being annoyingly peppy at all times, and pushed it to the quintessence of this very flaw: television jingles.
Yes, these songs have catchy hooks, but that's because they are MEANT to get stuck in your head. And just because they get stuck in your head doesn't make them good. There's nothing awesome about having the Animaniacs sing "We're zany to the max, there's baloney in our slacks" going through your brain on repeat, especially when you're a grown ass man.
What this album reminds us is that it's even Less Than Awesome to be a grown ass man PLAYING ska songs, much less playing THESE ska songs. In case somewhere along the line of watching this, you forgot the absurdity of a 35-year old male singing these songs, Less Than Jake cut in footage of themselves singing along to the That 70's Show Theme Song. The result is frightening to say the least, and makes me want to never have children, just so that these guys never have the chance to go anywhere near them.
I didn't write this post to hate on Less Than Jake though. Like I said, they were once one of my favorite bands, and I'm still waiting for them to put out something equally as awesome as Hello Rockview. For the time being, I suppose I'll have to settle for something that should have been nothing more than a funny video on their website, or a few songs played live for shits and giggles. Certainly not an entire EP or album.
At least Less Than Jake wisely decided to cover one of those freecreditreport.com songs at the end. That shit is still awesome.
A few months ago, when Less Than Jake announced that they would be coming out with an EP comprised entirely of covers of TV jingles and theme songs for various shows, I was a little bit apprehensive to say the least. While the idea of a recorded EP made up of TV-covers sounds inherently fun in some way, there's also something about it that sounds inherently... terrible. Nonetheless, I decided to stave off any judgement until hearing the album-- That is, until their cover of the Animaniacs Theme Song surfaced. That's when I knew trouble was on the horizon.
To celebrate the release of the aptly titled "TV/EP", Less Than Jake put together a video stream of the entire album (see below), with all the original television intros synched up to their own covers of each song. You see folks, there is more to this album that meets the eye. Not only is it composed of television theme songs, but it is meant to SIMULATE the experience of flipping through television channels... Which is perhaps the most irritating idea for a concept album since Thrice decided to put out four CD's each themed around the different elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. However, where Thrice's quadruple EP was pretentious, Less Than Jake's new EP falls on the other side of the spectrum of awfullness: retarded.
Who in God's name would want to listen to an album that is meant to simulate the experience of an activity that is already irritating to begin with? I have no idea, but I decided to watch the video to try to gain some insight.
The first song came on, and I had no fuckin' clue what I was watching, but the cover that Less Than Jake were playing beneath it actually sounded okay, in spite of the Boy-Meets-World-wannabees prancing around my screen. Then the image changed to snow, and a split second later went to the Hungry Hungry Hippos commercial.
Are you freakin' kidding me? Less Than Jake have decided to cover COMMERCIALS on this thing too? That's when I knew this album was garbage. For the next 11 minutes, I watched various intros to shows interspersed with commercial jingles, and to be honest, the only reasons I did were a) because I wanted to blog about this, and b) because there was a time in my life when I considered Less Than Jake to be my favorite band.
However, it is difficult to say one really LIKES a band when they put out nonsense like this. I get it, ska is meant to be fun, light hearted music, that isn't meant to be taken seriously. However, ska as a genre is also flawed in that it is extremely repetitive, to the point where it is borderline irritating. What Less Than Jake have done with this album is taken a genre that already suffers from being annoyingly peppy at all times, and pushed it to the quintessence of this very flaw: television jingles.
Yes, these songs have catchy hooks, but that's because they are MEANT to get stuck in your head. And just because they get stuck in your head doesn't make them good. There's nothing awesome about having the Animaniacs sing "We're zany to the max, there's baloney in our slacks" going through your brain on repeat, especially when you're a grown ass man.
What this album reminds us is that it's even Less Than Awesome to be a grown ass man PLAYING ska songs, much less playing THESE ska songs. In case somewhere along the line of watching this, you forgot the absurdity of a 35-year old male singing these songs, Less Than Jake cut in footage of themselves singing along to the That 70's Show Theme Song. The result is frightening to say the least, and makes me want to never have children, just so that these guys never have the chance to go anywhere near them.
I didn't write this post to hate on Less Than Jake though. Like I said, they were once one of my favorite bands, and I'm still waiting for them to put out something equally as awesome as Hello Rockview. For the time being, I suppose I'll have to settle for something that should have been nothing more than a funny video on their website, or a few songs played live for shits and giggles. Certainly not an entire EP or album.
At least Less Than Jake wisely decided to cover one of those freecreditreport.com songs at the end. That shit is still awesome.
I was actually not bothered by this at all. Like you, LTJ (and the rest of the late-'90s skaplosion bands) have been mostly irrelevant for me since about sophomore year of high school. I was mildly amused for 11 minutes and got to reminisce about TV shows I used to watch, being covered by a band I used to like. It's certainly a better effort than In With the Out Crowd and GNV-FLA.
ReplyDeleteConsider the conundrum that LTJ is in: they were a lighthearted ska band in a world that no longer listens to lighthearted ska. They have three real options: try to reinvent themselves to stay relevant (nearly impossible for a ska band), keep playing their old hits and collecting royalty checks (chosen option), or break up. If what they're going to do with their royalty money is put out covers of irrelevant TV shows, that's fine with me.