Bands That Are Hard to Google Part 2: 1990s’ “Kicks”
It took me four days to be able to stomach a second listen of 1990s’ “Kicks.” When I finally did, I realized that it’s not quite as bad as I originally thought. It’s not good; it’s just not horrendous.
The reason for this is not complicated. The music is fine. After I decided I hated this band the first time through, I wanted nothing more than to find some awful radio pop bands to draw comparisons. I couldn’t. The fact is, when you listen to 1990s, you don’t hear Nickleback, you hear only good bands. Echo and the Bunnymen, the Stooges, the Clash, and even some Thin Lizzy. The problem is the lyrics. They range from pedestrian and predictable like “everybody is relaxed/they like to wear their party hats,“ to poetically atrocious like “whoopsadaisey girl won’t you come with me” and “everybody just chillax.” It’s almost as if some hipster outfitted the frat house with a recording studio, introduced this trio to good music, then left them to their own devices.
Then again, these guys are from Scotland. Maybe I have the dynamic all wrong. Do they have douche bags in Scotland? They must. Are they like American douche bags? I’m being too harsh. I’ve never met these guys. They could be perfectly nice chaps. Their Myspace page says they’re influenced by “stuff” and “not standing up.” That’s pretty cool. I’m getting off track.
I actually kind of like the second track on the album, “Tell Me When You’re Ready.” It has this late Weezerish, poppy, catchy chord progression to it, and like most of their other songs, becomes especially good when you’re too preoccupied to pay attention to the words. “Giddy Up” is also quite strong. You can totally hear the stuff influence on this track.
Here’s the bottom line: If you don’t understand English, I highly recommend this album. If you do, skip it.