The one thing I’ve always loved about punk, as a scene, is the ability for everyone within it to completely let go of conformity. Say whatever other complaints about the genre you may have (and I have plenty), you’ve got to hand it to all those involved for being so god damn against the grain.
Well, at least that’s supposed to be the idea.
Far too often punk aspirers blend together in similar acts of rebellion, sound, or image. Punk music, like true death metal, tends to do better amongst its core fan base when it sticks to a familiar formula. Originality and creativity is not necessarily the most important element of a punk song. So, in a sense, punk (as a whole) conforms fairly well, just within itself.
There are great exceptions to this blanket accusation and one example may not be viewed as punk by some but, for me, is the most punk band I’ve heard in recent history.
At least they were.
In every way that punk should be, Mindless Self Indulgence was. Jimmy Urine (singer and main force behind the band) took taboos and ran them proudly up his own personal flagpole. On their first release Tight, the band reproduces an incredible cover of Method Man’s “Bring the Pain”. Urine was able to take that song and turn it into a cleverly profound statement on race and the use of certain slang words. In 2005 the band released You’ll Rebel to Anything under the category of “religious” through iTunes, until Apple finally caught on some time later and changed the categorization.
Taking every opportunity to creatively make mayhem: that’s punk.
With their latest release If, Mindless Self Indulgence have finally “jumped the shark” of their own nonconforming greatness. The energetic, aggressive, sonic assault of previous albums is nearly entirely absent. In its place are fifteen flaccid and uninspired tracks, ripe and ready to be played at a Hot Topic near you.
The general tempo of albums passed has been scaled way down to ease digestion. The inflammatory song themes have been tempered and geared almost strictly toward typical junior high school hallway drama. This isn’t to say that MSI was considered mature in the past, far from it. There has always been an aura of immaturity and youthful silliness to the band. Part of their charm was the childish, undisciplined way they seemed to carry themselves. But they never shied away from making sharp and intelligent accusations about the world around them, rather than the world they were in more than ten years ago.
The element that separates Mindless Self Indulgence from their peers most is their cybernetic, electronic approach to punk music. It’s very likely the type of punk music kids in the future will be listening to. It’s almost certainly disregarded as any kind of punk music at all by the genre’s purists. And with If, they will receive no argument from me. This album is closer to Orgy’s Candyass than it is any kind of musical rebellion. Yes, MSI is finally poised to make their run at mainstream appreciation. For their benefit I hope it works out. There may not be many original fans waiting for them should they have to return unsuccessful.
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I actually disagree. The thing is that this includes gems like “Animal, Revenge, Evening Wear, Issues, Get it Up, Evening Wear, On It, and basically the entire album. No, it’s not the same bratty songs that peppered “Tight”, but why do we want to retread? What I miss is the abscene of gay-themed songs that use to be their staple. However, If is a great album. See, if MSI had pulled another Tight, Frankenstein, or You’ll Rebel, I’d say they conformed to a style and they haven’t. It’s not that they’re not the same band. Word on the street is that their live shows are as awesome as ever. However, MSI’s indepenedence has been their ability to make albums that they don’t care what people think. If is just like that. Now, they even have stronger backing, great vocals, awesome beats and hooks, and the bonus of Chantal Claret’s vocals on a few tracks.
I couldn’t disagree more with this review. I’ve loved this band since I first hear Tight in 1999. In my opinion, IF is by far their best album and the last track, Mark David Chapman is one of the most strange and artistically challenging songs they’ve ever written.
It’s a really a brilliant piece of work. Never Wanted To Dance might be the “hit” with On It being this years Straight To Video, but Lights Out is a punk rock classic in the making!
Smart funny and still braver than everyone else that’s out there today.
5 bombs….at least.
I have to completely agree with this review. I have been listening to MSI for god knows how long (sometime before frankenstein girls) and while i did enjoy you’ll rebel to anything, i can’t say i was too excited about the direction the band was going. If has taken the band in that direction and taken it way too far. I found the album completely dissapointing, it has a few songs that i liked the first time i heard them but couldn’t stand up to a second or third listen. There is something good to be said about a band not making the same album over again, but when the new albums they make aren’t all that good, i think i would rather them just continually make frankenstein girls or tight.
Dear AudioBomb, THANK YOU for understanding what a sonic let down this album is. I’ve been following MSI for years and you couldn’t have said it best: “There may not be many original fans waiting for them should they have to return unsuccessful.”
Thanks for a spot on review. It seems so many other reviewers are too naive or ignorant or paid off to really critisize this album the way it needs to be.
this album is HORRRRRRRRRRRRIBLE. there’s like 2 decent songs. this band’s an overcommercial joke now. Your review was spot-on; they’re not much better than ORGY or something. JESUS. Tight is a groundbreaking, amazing album — this just sounds like a joke.
i was able to go to the show on april 29th and i purchased the cd that day. i did hear it on myspace but i did not give it my full attention. i have played the album about 5 times since and i just can’t get into it. the show was pretty terrible and this album is even worse. in some songs you can still sense their silliness, but i can completely side with audioboms review stating it’s “geared almost strictly toward typical junior high school hallway drama”. i’m sure it’s because most of their fans are now 14 year olds. although i’m sure we had to have known this was coming with the song preteen violence. msi is most definately one of my favorite bands and i have just about all of their music since tight and i have heard some songs from the self titled album. i have followed them for quite some time now and things are not looking good in my opinion. they have definately lost their edge and this has to be a joke. they are as mainstream as they can possibly be without having radio play. they are one of the number one bands on myspace music for christ’s sake! what happened to the gay bashing and anal sex that was talked about in frankenstein girls and alienating our audience? we’ve gone to “it’s 3 am she won’t put out let’s go make out with her friends, make out with her friends friends” – definately junior high. i’d expect jimmy to say something like it’s 3 am i’m going to sodomize your mom but she’s too busy doing coke. or something more random. that would be more msi-like. also, what happened to the electronic atari sound that they were known for? this album has definately been a disappointment. i also agree with the ending comment – “There may not be many original fans waiting for them should they have to return unsuccessful”. it’s just not them. better luck next time guys. one more thing… maybe i’m out of the loop…. but since when have they been on the end records? does anyone think that might have to do with something?
This is the first album by MSI on The End records. Tight and Alienating Our Audience were on Uppity Cracker, Frankenstein Girls was on Elektra and You’ll Rebel was on Metropolis. So they do seem to jump around a lot.
This is a ridiculous review. You seem to be basing your hatred of the album largely on a subjective opinion of what “punk” is supposed to be, as well as assuming that the band has always been trying to make some kind of “statement.” I’m not saying there AREN’T statements in some of the music they make and some of the things they do, I’m just saying that, at the end of they day, I’m fairly sure Jimmy Urine isn’t on some kind of quest to completely overthrow society. You seem to be angry just because he’s failed to live up to this anti-messiah image you’ve got in mind for him, which is frankly an unfair way to judge the album. I mean, you reference how they categorized their last album under “religious” on ITunes. How did that, in any way, reflect upon the actual quality of the music of that album? On top of which, ooh, they upset some religious people who use ITunes. Yes, I think it’s funny too, but, honestly, is this such an earth-shattering prank that it’s just soo upsetting they haven’t continued doing things like this?
I can understand if your idea of having fun was going to their live shows and having some of Jimmy’s pee thrown on you because, yes, it seems as though they have toned it down a bit, but I’m not even sure their live behavior is factoring into your argument here. You seem to be mostly be comparing them to some sort of punk image you have of them that you defined entirely on your own. Also, the band has never stated they are a straight-ahead “punk” band. Yes, they have elements of punk, but they have never said “What we are specifically here to do is subvert your expectations and offend you.”
I like MSI for their music, which I personally think keeps getting better and better. I’ll admit what they put out seems less insane now because, yeah, they aren’t talking about looking at five-year-old girls’ panties anymore and their songs tend to be about three minutes in length now instead of one to two, but the thing is I actually respect Jimmy’s creativity as a musician and I think he is genuinely always perfecting his style and only getting better and better.
I’m not really sure what you were looking for in this album that would make you agree that it’s “punk.” Do you just want the lyrics to be more offensive again? Or do you think it’s just not fast enough? MSI’s sound is still hardly what I would call radio-friendly, for the most part. It still requires an open mind to appreciate, I think. Also, a number of the songs on this album are songs they’ve been performing since before You’ll Rebel to Anything came out. Hell, Evening Wear is from a demo that is pre-Tight!!
Unless, for some odd reason, these songs just don’t work for you, I have this feeling that you based your opinion on If entirely on some preconceived notion you had about, one, what punk is supposed to be and , two, that MSI is supposed to fit into that preconceived notion, neither of which is a valid way to review a piece of music.
The way I see it, Mindless Self Indulgence is music, first and foremost and then attitude. Even if you don’t agree, when you’re listening to an album, you can’t really judge it any other way, unless you can explain exactly how this change in attitude has so grossly affected the record, which you really don’t, you sort of just dismiss the ENTIRE thing as “flaccid and unispired,” which just seems unfair. Also, by the way, punk is basically just a genre too. Yes, there’s an attitude there, but, seriously, what does that attitude accomplish? It makes a bunch of kids think there are people yelling what they think they’re angry about. Do these kids later go on to change the world based on what punk has taught them? Do the members of the band go on to change society in any major way aside from shocking one group of people and entertaining another for awhile and then fading away?? No, not really. The only thing the Sex Pistols truly achieved that is still prevalent is the creation of a new genre of music, that being punk.
In other words, as long as Mindless Self Indulgence keeps doing cool, interesting things with their music, which I very much believe they are, maybe they’ll be able to affect the way other music sounds in the future, which is all I can really ask for. And you can still go to a show, jump around some and listen to Jimmy Urine insult all the fans, which isn’t a lot less fun than watching him drink his own piss, in my opinion.
So let go of your adolescent perception of how punk is supposed to work and give the album another listen. It’s very good.
Absolutely. I love MSI to death, I love every album that they had produced, but I only found ONE decent track on the new album, and that’s Lights Out. It’s the closest thing to old MSI on the whole album. Other songs like Mastermind and Mark David Chapman aren’t bad, but they seem more like songs that cover bands who think that they’re old MSI wrote. I think that the fact that they began hanging around with my chemical romance made this album suck. You’ll rebel to anything, Tight, and frankenstein girls were pure cold, while If sits on the side as the most dissappointing album I’ve ever bought
He’s been saying for years he was going to sell out
what did you think was going to happen?