Matthew Tsai
12/05/08, 03:22 PM
Better Luck Next Time - Third Time's a Charm
Record Label: World Records
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Imagine, for a moment, that the season of summer has a personal life and is in love with music. Recently, summer was married to the genre of pop-punk by the likes of Blink-182 and MxPx. Then, there was a jarring divorce due to pop-punk becoming just plain old bland. Summer is currently remarried to some puzzlingly tasteless "electronic" powerpop (aside from flirting with some Warped Tour "-core" bands), but pop-punk isn't over this breakup yet - it's looking for a healthy relationship patching fueled by bands akin to Better Luck Next Time. And that's where Third Time's A Charm stands - in the midst of a desperate old school pop-punk revival.
Shallow metaphor, I know. But it provides the perfect segue into what Third Time's A Charm is like: bland. It's a shallow album in itself, a collection of 11 tracks of straight up pop-punk almost cleanly ripped from New Found Glory or Blink-182. It's a fine shot at Genericville and attempts little in terms of "beyond boy girl relationships" lyrics. I listened to the record while I was setting up my Christmas tree this year, and I couldn't help but notice the absurdity of a band like this landing a top selling pop-punk album spot in Japan.
But! - its generic quality is exactly the reason why I cannot let Better Luck Next Time slip by as simply another pop-punk/powerpop lame game. I've praised the band before, and I'll not let a drip of hesitation leak in praising the band again. It's their pure honesty in reviving good 'ol fashioned passion driven music that sucks me in like a black hole. Better Luck Next Time claim to be nothing more than what they are - just another pop-punk band. Through this mentality, they're able to dodge all the pretentious aspirations that envelop the industry today. Their purpose lies solely in jamming out (yeah, "jamming out") to the music they love and quite frankly, it works.
Just take a quick spin and, while nothing about the songwriting itself may be captivating, you'll notice that there is undeniable enthusiasm and energy on every single track, without fail. Third Time's A Charm just reeks of memories of a better time somewhere far in the past, when everyone's worries were centered around getting rejected by a crush or breaking up with a significant other. Like much of the pop-punk universe, the album reads like a pre-World War piece of work, with none of that existentialist "life has no purpose, humans are brutal, so do whatever you want" lamenting. Again, it's just boys, girlss and summer days; an emotional record for a pre-teen maybe, but it's an otherwise carefree romp.
And so, if you were digging deep into Better Luck Next Time in hopes of finding some deeper meaning, abandon your search. Old-school pop-punk fan? Pick Third Time's A Charm up and get rocking already. Not an old-school pop-punk fan? You'll find no reconciliation here. It's as black and white as that.
Blink-182; MxPx; New Found Glory; Green Day; All Time Low
myspace.com/blnt (http://www.myspace.com/blnt)
Record Label: World Records
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Imagine, for a moment, that the season of summer has a personal life and is in love with music. Recently, summer was married to the genre of pop-punk by the likes of Blink-182 and MxPx. Then, there was a jarring divorce due to pop-punk becoming just plain old bland. Summer is currently remarried to some puzzlingly tasteless "electronic" powerpop (aside from flirting with some Warped Tour "-core" bands), but pop-punk isn't over this breakup yet - it's looking for a healthy relationship patching fueled by bands akin to Better Luck Next Time. And that's where Third Time's A Charm stands - in the midst of a desperate old school pop-punk revival.
Shallow metaphor, I know. But it provides the perfect segue into what Third Time's A Charm is like: bland. It's a shallow album in itself, a collection of 11 tracks of straight up pop-punk almost cleanly ripped from New Found Glory or Blink-182. It's a fine shot at Genericville and attempts little in terms of "beyond boy girl relationships" lyrics. I listened to the record while I was setting up my Christmas tree this year, and I couldn't help but notice the absurdity of a band like this landing a top selling pop-punk album spot in Japan.
But! - its generic quality is exactly the reason why I cannot let Better Luck Next Time slip by as simply another pop-punk/powerpop lame game. I've praised the band before, and I'll not let a drip of hesitation leak in praising the band again. It's their pure honesty in reviving good 'ol fashioned passion driven music that sucks me in like a black hole. Better Luck Next Time claim to be nothing more than what they are - just another pop-punk band. Through this mentality, they're able to dodge all the pretentious aspirations that envelop the industry today. Their purpose lies solely in jamming out (yeah, "jamming out") to the music they love and quite frankly, it works.
Just take a quick spin and, while nothing about the songwriting itself may be captivating, you'll notice that there is undeniable enthusiasm and energy on every single track, without fail. Third Time's A Charm just reeks of memories of a better time somewhere far in the past, when everyone's worries were centered around getting rejected by a crush or breaking up with a significant other. Like much of the pop-punk universe, the album reads like a pre-World War piece of work, with none of that existentialist "life has no purpose, humans are brutal, so do whatever you want" lamenting. Again, it's just boys, girlss and summer days; an emotional record for a pre-teen maybe, but it's an otherwise carefree romp.
And so, if you were digging deep into Better Luck Next Time in hopes of finding some deeper meaning, abandon your search. Old-school pop-punk fan? Pick Third Time's A Charm up and get rocking already. Not an old-school pop-punk fan? You'll find no reconciliation here. It's as black and white as that.
Blink-182; MxPx; New Found Glory; Green Day; All Time Low
myspace.com/blnt (http://www.myspace.com/blnt)