Sugar Ray over Refused? What the hell is wrong with him?Yeah that's right, I rank this album higher than The Shape Of Punk Come. Whatcha gonna do about it? Huh?
This was Sugar Ray's debut album, I bought it immediately after seeing the Mean Machine video on ZTV. An insane main riff (which still remains one of my all time favorites), unhinged vocals, silly lyrics about a car, an ice hockey rink, a bulldog, a singer who looked worryingly like Ethan Hawke... For a rock-starved 14-year old, this was heaven.
The rest of the album was just as good, and what struck me was the band's ability to rock like maniacs but never lose their sense of humor. Rumor had it they got their record deal when they marched silently into the record boss' office wearing only helmets, jock straps and army boots, threw their demo on the desk and marched back out. Not sure if the story was true or not, but I loved it.
Two years after this album Sugar Ray released Floored, also a heavy slab of party rock 'n' roll except it contained a certain little song called Fly which became a huge hit and the band blew up out of porportions. By the third album they had completely left their hard rockin' roots and went a more mainstream radio-friendly sound to cater to the fans of Fly and singer Mark McGrath became some sort of MTV celebrity and dated Hollywood starlets.
But by then I had long since lost interest and left Sugar Ray behind me. In fact, I only bought Floored a few months ago. But that doesn't change the fact that Lemonade And Brownies rocked my world and for a year straight this was almost all I listened to. I still know every song, every riff, every drumfill by heart. Not to mention I liked staring at the album cover for hours on end... Nicole Eggert rocked my world too. Still does.
Such a great album. Such a great fucking album.
This was Sugar Ray's debut album, I bought it immediately after seeing the Mean Machine video on ZTV. An insane main riff (which still remains one of my all time favorites), unhinged vocals, silly lyrics about a car, an ice hockey rink, a bulldog, a singer who looked worryingly like Ethan Hawke... For a rock-starved 14-year old, this was heaven.
The rest of the album was just as good, and what struck me was the band's ability to rock like maniacs but never lose their sense of humor. Rumor had it they got their record deal when they marched silently into the record boss' office wearing only helmets, jock straps and army boots, threw their demo on the desk and marched back out. Not sure if the story was true or not, but I loved it.
Two years after this album Sugar Ray released Floored, also a heavy slab of party rock 'n' roll except it contained a certain little song called Fly which became a huge hit and the band blew up out of porportions. By the third album they had completely left their hard rockin' roots and went a more mainstream radio-friendly sound to cater to the fans of Fly and singer Mark McGrath became some sort of MTV celebrity and dated Hollywood starlets.
But by then I had long since lost interest and left Sugar Ray behind me. In fact, I only bought Floored a few months ago. But that doesn't change the fact that Lemonade And Brownies rocked my world and for a year straight this was almost all I listened to. I still know every song, every riff, every drumfill by heart. Not to mention I liked staring at the album cover for hours on end... Nicole Eggert rocked my world too. Still does.
Such a great album. Such a great fucking album.
(mp3) Sugar Ray - Big black womanThe video for 10 Seconds Down (oh how I love that bass line @ 2:55):
(mp3) Sugar Ray - Mean machine (highly recommended!)
(mp3) Sugar Ray - 10 seconds down
Buy Lemonade And Brownies @ Amazon.com.
1 comment:
Agreed. This album DOES rule. It first struck me (cover of course) when I saw the song title called "Danzig Needs A Hug". With how obviously serious Mr. 'Zig takes himself, it grabbed my attention immediately. Ended up seeing SR on the tour for this record, and people STILL don't believe when I tell them how hard, funny, and funky their early sh*t and shows were. Good choice for the list, duder.
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