BAD LIEUTENANTS – “For A Fatter America” (11 song cd)
Bad Lieutenants are a band of hooligans that want to destroy all that’s good in society. Actually, they wanted to do this but looked around and found precious little of anything that fit that description so they started a punk band instead.
Bad Lieutenants are patrolling our bars and stages, as I write, ridding them all of songs with good taste; arresting our hearts with their eloquent madrigals about society’s ills and brutally policing our emotions with thunderbolts of love. Copping a feel, feeling a cop- it’s all the same to them. They want truth, they want justice and they want the payoffs that make this happen- case closed.
Their latest cd, “For A Fatter America” comes from the observation that we have become too health conscious in this country and need to get back to the greed and waste that has made this country great; tipping the scales, so to speak. It has a great cover drawing by Ian Adams which depicts, I believe, guitarist Javier Canales with two goth chicks.
But seriously, Bad Lieutenants are a seriously great band with mostly unserious, funny lyrics. They have a little history with Connecticut thrash bands which translate to high energy rock in this band and rock they do, seriously well. A propulsive rhythm section; good but not too fancy guitar; melodic, well sung vocals and simple but effective tunes, that‘s what these guys bring to the table and that’s what they serve up well.
My favorite tunes are “Drive Up Divorce” where they have a drum and bass breakdown and the line, (that could’ve been written by any banking CEO), “I’m just a piece of shit, I’m just a piece of shit,” repeated over and over until the guitar comes back in to join in the fun till the end. Next tune, “Cheeseburger Eatin’ King,” ends with the line, “You fat fuck,” repeated over and over. Lyrically, I noticed a pattern forming and it would appear that a blatant, obvious imitation of Bob Dylan has now been brought to light.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/no law.mp3|titles=No Law]“Chasin’ Down the EMS,” I like as well- “Well, I’ve been giving out but I’m getting nothing back in return/ Ain’t fear or doubt or nothing more than a lesson that you don’t want to learn.” It’s another goody with good lyrics. It’s a more conventional rock song, they don’t usually head that way but when they do it’s always a winner. I predict they will follow this path and soon they’ll be the new Matchbox 20.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/your special day.mp3|titles=Your Special Day]“Supermodel Girlfriend,” is my favorite song on the cd with its dissonant bass lick , shouted chorus and driving rhythm and lyrics that maybe I don’t want to know too much about (all I know is he keep his supermodel girlfriend in the basement).
Bad Lieutenants get lumped in the punk rock but to me they’re just a kick ass rockin’ band with funny, fun songs. And lead vocalist Brian McCaffrey, (who like myself suffers from bad head colds at times), is applauded for his record company, Teenage Heart, which is very active in putting on great shows; much more so than for this sick, perverted porno-pop his band tries to pollute the populace with. Oh, great, now I’ve given them a great tag- Perverted Porno-Pop to Pollute the Populace. Oh, Christ. You can check out the Bad Lieutenants band profile here.
(Jim Slimedog)
