The Presidents Of The United States Of America: The Presidents Of The United States Of America
The Presidents Of The United States Of America (The Presidents) were always the Seattle band that wasn’t. Breaking through with this album’s “Lump” a few years after the whole Seattle thing broke and faded, bearing a gruesome name, and reeking of novelty, even their drop-tuning didn’t endear them to me. I never listened that closely, but based on radio play of “Lump” and “Peaches,” I knew they weren’t for me, even though those songs had some appeal beneath the silliness.
Of course, the band was always self-aware about their limitations, primary among them their complete lack of virtuosity. Theirs is a sloppy aesthetic, and they approach it in the right way, with loads of kitsch. Nowhere, though, did they display more self-awareness than in “We Are Not Going To Make It,” which only seems half-sarcastic:
We’re not gonna make it/
‘Cause there’s a million better bands/
With a million better songs/
Drummers who can drum/
And singers who can sing
Somewhat ironically, that’s one of their best songs. Maybe that’s part of the sarcasm.
It turns out they’re better than I thought. I used to hate “Peaches,” but if you can get past the inanity of the opening section (“I’m moving to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches” [x4]), it’s actually a pretty rockin’ song. And when I saw this description of the video on Wikipedia, I knew I had to see it.
During the song’s instrumental break, the band is attacked by a group of ninjas attempting to capture them, who they fight for the remainder of the video and eventually defeat.
And that’s about how it plays out:
The presidents of the united states of america - peaches
It’s a long way from “better than I thought” to “good,” however, and spending a few days with “Peaches,” “Feather Pluckn,” and “Body” going through my head was not a pleasant experience. Despite finding a few tracks here I want to listen to again, and a few others that don’t drive me crazy with either extreme annoyance or extreme boredom, this isn’t a CD I’m going to be reaching for very often.
Rating:
Mixers: “Kick Out The Jams”
Keepers: “Lump,” “Peaches,” “We Are Not Going To Make It,” “Candy,” “Naked And Famous”
Filed Between: Poster Children (Tool Of The Man) and Elvis Presley (30 #1 Hits)
Tags: 1995, 2.5 lunchboxes, CD reviews, J-mez' collection, music, Seattle