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Bowling For Soup

Fishin' For Woos

Written by: PP on 11/05/2011 04:27:30

Bowling For Soup have never been a critic's favorite given their silly and incredible predictable form of pop punk, but at least they've had one thing going for them in the past: they are pretty fuckin' funny. Juvenile, yes, but also hilarious if you appreciate humour that ridicules emokids, movie stars, entire music genres, and stuff like that. Though the jokes haven't been particularly advanced, they've always been witty enough to speak to the immortal high schooler that still lives inside my heart almost a decade after my senior prom. Musically, the songs have been bouncy, sugar-coated, and catchy, not necessarily to the point that you'll go singing them out loud or anything, but enough to not mind them on the background.

Now what do you get when you remove both of the above from the equation? A predictable pop rock borefest, which Bowling For Soup have gone for on their eleventh studio album "Fishin' For Woos", which is easily their worst yet. The first couple of tracks are promising because they sound like direct continuations of "Sorry For Partyin'" and "The Great Burrito Extortion Case", consisting of just enough speed and poppy gloat to make them enjoyable on a worry-free, simplistic Neanderthal level.

But then everything turns around and Bowling For Soup sounds a little bit like they've matured, although after ten albums of the same stuff that is always questionable, and they are the last band in the world you'd want to grow up. The pace slows down to a crawl and we're treated to forgettable pop rock songs with formulaic guitars like those you might find on a new Simple Plan record or on the latest American Hi-Fi material. Not just that, but the humour becomes stupid. Not silly, but stupid. To the point that you're thinking "I can't believe they'd succumb to that level". "Here's Your Freaking Song", an entire song dedicated to a girlfriend who never got a song written about her, sounds like something Jack Black/Tenacious D could have written - except just stupid, and not even remotely funny. It's become too juvenile, too meaningless, probably because it lacks all the wit and charm you could always count on in the past.

And it doesn't end there. What previously used to be reasonably catchy and easily accessible pop punk is now oh-so-forgettable material that goes in one ear and goes out the other. None of the choruses stick, none of the guitars suggest like there's a burning fire for fun behind the people who wrote them, and the lyrics are just plain terrible. But what really costs the album is the almost complete absence of tempo. Sure, Bowling For Soup were never a punk band by any means, but at least their medium tempo was enough to get your feet tapping and your head nodding. That simply isn't the case any longer - just take a listen to a song like "Turbulence" or "What About Us", both cheesy, cheesy pop ballads that have no reason to exist on a BFS album. So with all things considered, any BFS fan or new listener alike is likely to leave the album with a bad taste in their mouth. Feel free to pick any of the other ten albums in their back catalogue for a doubly better example of what this band is (used to be?) all about.

Download: Girls In America, S-S-S-Saturday
For the fans of: The All-American Rejects, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, American Hi-Fi
Listen: Myspace

Release date 25.04.2011
Que-So Records / Brando Records