Pissed Jeans Are Not The Rulers of Their Kingdom
“King of Jeans” can't live up to the grandeur of its title.
Pissed Jeans
King of Jeans
Released on Aug 18, 2009
I’ve bemoaned this in the past, but it really seems like classifications of music have lost their intended meaning. After listening to Pissed Jeans, and their album King of Jeans, I’m quick to put them in the vein of hardcore rock/punk. But doesn’t everyone define themselves as a rocker or a punk lately? Even Miley Cyrus cops a hardcore attitude, what with her pole-dancing stage antics and obsessive wearing of black leather and other “edgy” materials. While I’m not trying to launch into a “kids these days…” monologue, it is interesting to see how genres, sounds, and behaviors can be adapted and distorted to suit the desires of an artist.
That being said, I’m positive that Miley Cyrus would throw off her headphones if Pissed Jeans came floating through them. Their sophomore album, King of Jeans, is unapologetically loud, gritty, and unfortunately, monotonous. The first 15 seconds of the opening track “False Jesii Part 2” are promising—the guitar riff is catchy, but still intense. Then, the singer has to go and join in. At first, I thought I would learn to enjoy his screams—I was a huge fan of Titus Andronicus’ debut, and thought that Pissed Jeans would be a slightly rougher version of those boys. Not the case. Pissed Jeans is far angrier than Titus, and not nearly as fun. Also, with no real variation in the singer’s tone, the album goes absolutely nowhere.
With some of the lyrics that Pissed Jeans is offering, perhaps it’s best to be able to sink into boredom and not put forth the effort to understand them. In “Half Idiot,” the singer sings something about feeling like a giraffe. Really? I’m obviously not a connoisseur regarding punk music, but aren’t those bands supposed to have lyrics that cut listeners to their cores? Give me something to work with, please.
Delightfully enough, it’s like they heard my pleas and decided to throw a couple of decent tracks on the album. “Human Upskirt” is decent. I still can’t stand the singer, but I’m sort of in love with the band on this song. They manage to steer attention away from their front man and make listeners focus on the frantic drums and raging guitars. The band itself does have a lot of talent—they know how to channel old-school punk sounds. However, their best work is on shorter tracks. “Spent,” which at seven minutes is a veritable opus, sounds like it barely has enough energy to make it to the end.
If you’re longing for the bygone punk rebellion of the ‘80s, perhaps you’ll take a liking to Pissed Jeans. For me though, I can’t get behind the boring lead singer nor can I get past my lack of appreciation for lyrics about giraffes and impaling people on fingernails (check out “Lip Ring” for that gem).
High Point
Sticking with “Human Upskirt” for the best song off King of Jeans. The band outshines the singer, which is a welcome change from the rest of the album.
Low Point
The singer. Maybe he could at least try to vary his level of anger from track to track? Just a thought.
Posted by Alyssa Vincent on Sep 01, 2009 @ 6:00 am
