So here’s my very belated and much-anticipated review of Bowling For Soup’s new album Sorry For Partyin’. My classes and internship and some weekend trips back home seriously detracted from my writing time last month, which is a shame because for some reason October really got me out of my writing dry spell.
Bowling For Soup did not disappoint on Sorry For Partyin’. Let me preface this review by saying that I jumped on the BFS bandwagon in 2004/2005 with the release of A Hangover You Don’t Deserve and, more specifically, the single “Almost.” I feel pretty confident in saying that Hangover is the album that cemented BFS’s fame, even though they were pretty well-known and well-liked for their single “Girl All The Bad Guys Want” on their 1999 album Drunk Enough to Dance. (I mean, I remember my friends and I rocking out to that in eighth grade like we were the coolest kids ever, which we were not.) I have several of their older albums, and although they are pretty good, I feel like they didn’t hit their groove until Hangover. Their older albums are unpolished and raw, especially in the sound quality, and that’s primarily why I don’t like them. (I don’t know what you call it, but there’s a certain sound that some bands have, usually very new bands, and it’s just very raw and irritating to my ears, literally. I physically can’t listen to it even if I want to.) Though all the classic BFS elements are there in those older songs, they didn’t really start injecting them with the humor and “who-cares-be-happy” vibes until Hangover.
But I digress. From the moment I hit “play” on my iTunes playlist, I knew Sorry For Partyin' was a winner. Like…I actually cried while I was listening to it the first time; that’s how amazed and happy and touched by it I was. I mean, their EP in August and the “No Hablo Ingles” single indicated greatness, but come on—BFS producing a dance song?! Well, they did. The first track is, quite literally, “A Really Cool Dance Song,” which grabs your attention. It’s set to a typical “dance song” beat with that techno-y electronic sound, and at one point the drums drop out and Jaret Reddick goes, “It doesn’t sound good anymore!” which I thought was hilarious because synth does sound terrible in general; it’s so generic. But this song is not just for fun: pay attention. BFS has this insane talent of mixing truthful, serious matters in their crazy-fun songs. It starts off like this:
“We grew up in the suburbs,
Got guitars for Christmas
And started a punk rock band.
Then we travelled the nation
Became a sensation
In our ’82 Dodge van.
Now we’re getting older and much more sober
And we’ve got some big-ass payments to make
The wife wants a handbag
The kids need some college
And we just need one hit single to break
Get ready, here it comes!”
Then it slips off into BFS’s classic joking tone—they laugh at themselves, admit that they’d never really write a dance song; it’s not their style—duh—and make fun of those who do make dance songs. They even say, “Who the hell are we foolin’? This isn’t what we really do /We had to borrow this keyboard, we only listen to Motley Crue /But it’s gonna be really funny, ’Cause this song will be number one!” (And it is number one…on the album.)
Now, don’t quiz me. I haven’t interviewed Jaret Reddick (unfortunately!) so I don’t know if they REALLY had an ’82 Dodge van or if their kids are even old enough for college yet. But I’ll bet you there’s something in there that’s almost true. (Like if you’re familiar with their 2004 single “Almost,” which by the way is the song that got me into them—I guarantee you some of that song is true.) But regardless, even if it isn’t, that’s even better. To me, that’s a great band with some insanely creative lyrics, if you can make me believe them like they’re a true story.
My favorite is “Only Young,” which as its title indicates pretty much sums up what it feels like to be young. I really just like the upbeat melody and the chorus. It’s really not their best song lyrically or anything, but it captures the mood well enough. Anyway, I could go through this entire album and have something to say on every single song while writing “OMG JARET REDDICK I LUV U!” at random intervals like the crazed fan-girl I very well may be at heart, but I won’t. To be honest, I originally questioned the potential quality of this album (despite the EP and the single) because I didn’t think they could top their last album, The Great Burrito Extortion Case (2006.) And then when I realized how much I love Partyin’, I had to reconcile that with my love for Great Burrito, and pick a favorite. And then I realized—no, I don’t. They are two different albums. I tried to gauge which is funnier and which is more emotional, and I really don’t think you can. They’re both humorous and heart-felt. Did they kick it up a notch? Definitely. It’s not the same album as Great Burrito, by any means. There are a lot more little asides, which is so classic, lovable BFS, like in “If Only” and “Choke,” and some just-for-fun songs like “Hooray For Beer” and “I Can’t Stand L.A.,” but there are still a few serious, down-to-earth, make-you-teary-eyed songs, like “Everything To Me.”
So, long story short—yes, I listened to this album all the way through. NO SONG HOPPING FOR BFS! Never! And, you know, if I listen to an album the whole way through (and then replay it straight through again and again) that pretty much guarantees it an automatic A+. SO GO BUY IT, LISTEN TO IT, AND LOVE IT! Emily Noel approves.
And (in case you’re curious) these are my top-5 picks on Sorry For Partyin’ (Deluxe Version):
1) “Only Young” – Track 4
2) “If Only” – Track 10
3) “Love Goes Boom” – Track 11
4) “No Hablo Ingles” – Track 2
5) “Me With No You” – Track 7
And, on a very un-related side-note, I discovered this morning THAT I AM CLAIRVOYANT! Yes, it’s true! Really! No, not really—but it was a very weird coincidence that this morning I was thinking about my best friend who is a HUGE fan of Lady Gaga (she is his wifey—don’t mess) and how great it’d be if she came out with a new album. And when I went online not long after that, I discovered that Lady Gaga is re-releasing her debut album The Fame under a new title, The Fame: Monster on November 23, 2009. Apparently it will contain 8 new songs. So, we’ll see, but I’ll write more on Gaga in another entry—there will be one dedicated just to her (in honor of her biggest fan!) before the re-release, and then I’ll do a follow-up. =]
Enjoy your Partyin’!
Emily Noel
(Disclaimer: All re-printed lyrics copyright of Bowling For Soup.)
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