CD Review-Straight Outta Junior High

I haven’t done a CD review for two reasons. One, I stopped buying CDs about 10 or 12 years ago when I had my collection of over 200 CDs stolen from my car. This happened about the same time I discovered Napster and, shortly thereafter, the share drive at the dorm. Two, my musical tastes can be summed up like this: I know what I like and I like what I know. That being said, I recently got my hands on a new album from Straight Outta Junior High (SOJH) called Sharknocerous that I wanted to share my thoughts on.

If you’ve never heard of SOJH you really need to check them out. I would describe them as a punk rock band reminding me of Blink 182 and Reel Big Fish, but funnier, and less trumpets. If you have iTunes check out ‘It’s a Brand New Day’ here.

Overall

The album cover’s main focal point is a cartoon of an animal that is a cross between a shark and a rhinoceros that can fly and shoot fiery laser beams from its eyes. Not as memorable as the Nirvana baby cover, but really, what is?

When I used to own a lot of CDs, my biggest pet peeve was when the band didn’t put the lyrics to their songs in the book. Not only does SOJH include the lyrics, but they managed to fit them all on one page, saving themselves money in printing costs and saving trees. Kudos, gentlemen. Having all of the lyrics on one page obviously means the font is very small, but if you are old enough to have problems reading the lyrics, you are probably too old to be listening to punk rock anyway.

Random Thoughts about Random Songs

#7. Al Qaeda – A song that is wrong on so many levels, but right on so many more levels. I would obviously never wish the Al Qaeda to actually kill the annoying people on MTV, but the world would be a much better place if Spencer and Heidi stopped being “news-worthy” and The Hills and Sweet Sixteen were never allowed to air again.

#2. Badonkadonk – A song about a problem a lot of the bands I grew up listening to (Green Day, Blink 182, Sugar Ray) have these days. What to do about a 13-year-old female fan (or even worse, a 17-year-old female fan) now that you are approaching your 40’s and could have a daughter that old.

#8. Lover’s Island – A hilarious song about what every guy has thought at least once either about being in a relationship, or about a friend and his relationship.

#5. Idiot – The worst song ever created in the history of the universe. Worse than whatever stupid song you have stuck in your head right now, worse than The Macarena, even worse than if you combined the Spice Girls and Celine Dion. This song makes fun of people who like the Barenaked Ladies and people who play World of Warcraft, among other things. What nerve these guys have! For those of you who can’t spot sarcasm, that was it. This song is actually pretty funny, and if one or more of these things is true about you (like they are for me) and you can’t laugh at yourself, you need a better sense of humor.

Summary

I like the CD. From the cover art to the lyrics, it is very fun, funny, and entertaining. A must have for any punk rock fan.