I Just took a Papa Roach (Sh*t)

I can’t put my finger on it. I’m not a music junkie. But it’s there, or maybe it’s missing. It’s something.

Recently the local radio station had been playing this song that I decided I really liked and had to have. You know how the radio stations love to play songs and then not tell you who the hell they are? This proves to be especially true when it’s a song you like. Thank dog for the internet, huh?

I searched for and found the song & artist: it’s 1901 by Phoenix, a french band that just got my 99¢ business (thanks, iTunes!). Anyway, I liked the beat a lot but hell if I could actually make out their damn french accents and understand what the hell they were saying. Thank dog for the internet, huh? Not a few seconds later and I found the lyrics on some random site that’s like 12-million others that serve the same function.

Side note: why don’t the song files from shops like iTunes and Amazon just include the damn lyrics?

So anyway, back to Papa Roach. When I got home from work last night, the lyrics page was still up. There was an advertisement for new Papa Roach album, and I decided to click on it. Their old stuff was fabulous, especially the tracks that didn’t get airtime on the radio, and when I’m in a “Heavy Alternative” mood, their songs get some playtime every time.

So it was sad when I actually landed on the page and got a sneak preview. Really sad. Like, not just :-( but :’( and also maybe a little :-D because it was so awful. They sold out. They freaking sold the f*ck out, hardcore. Gone was the old, good Papa Roach, and here to stay was some Emo’d-out, fake-as-f*ck whine-fest. It was so bad that it sounded like it could have been Country “music.” It was Chevy commercial. It was… now see this is where I have the problem describing it. I know it when I hear it, and I can’t put my finger on it. I’m not a music junkie. But it’s there, or maybe it’s missing. It’s something.

I don’t like to use the term “Sell-out” often, because it’s overused. Sometimes “true fans” like to use that term because suddenly their band gets discovered and thusly popular. It always seemed quite dishonest to say you’re a true fan of a band, and then when they finally find what they got into the game for (fame & fortune & a large following), they’re shunned by their fans? Huh? Like now they’re mad that they have to share, and that the band “made it.” Shouldn’t they be happy? Eh.


OK so popularity isn’t a requisite for “selling out.” And so I hesitate to use that term. Here though, it’s accurate – nay – necessary. When you’ve gone and changed your visual style, when you no longer sound like you… when your music is so over-produced that it sounds indistinguishable from some shlop on some fake-high-school-drama-show, or IS the shlop on some fake-high-school-drama-show, then you’re a sell out.

Thanks, Papa Roach. Now I have to go take a bath. I’ll probably have to burn my old CD of yours, too. I don’t want flashbacks, thankyouverymuch.

Go ahead. If you’re normally an Alternative music fan, I dare you to listen. Dare you.