(Track from album, “Kids On The Street”)
The Cherry Poppin' Daddies - clearly well humored with that half-revolting, half-black-comedic name, but also, not especially famous. I in fact had never heard of the band until a botched attempt at finding some Moz lyrics, stumbling blindly in front of the freight train of American-pop-punk-kinda-rock-ness-kinda-wow-ness, shortly before coming back round, and needing to hear it again. Quite what it all means, I'm not sure. I'll do my best for you.
So, quite to what extent this track pays homage, I am unsure. The whole 'Morrissey and his gladioli' thing is there with the 'flower fight' reference. Even the sleeve is very 'Smiths' with the small child swearing, and the kid behind him embracing the lamppost and staring, half bored, half cynical into the lens. But, listen closely, and it's a sort of break up song. I guess. The thing is, I'm not really sure. It sounds a little bit like an observational comedy. The lyrics are almost like a list of things the narrator sees and makes cynical and ironic references about, strung together and slopped on a plate. Its a bit random. The music however, is very different.
Very wah-wah chords swing back and forth in a jazz kind of momentum in the background, as a raw Radiohead-type riff plays over the top, the drums, reminiscent of Green Day's slower records, lolling at the base, but providing a very rhythmic pattern nonetheless. The vocal as an instrument, rather than just the delivery of the lyrics, is quintessentially American in terms of pronunciation and tone. It's got a sort of cheeky comedy to it though, in the same way as Fountains Of Wayne's "Satcey's Mom" and Wheatus' far superior "Teenage Dirtbag". This song is is the same vein as those two, its just not as good.
On top of this, it's overall atmosphere is quite inviting of the album as a whole, and actually, from what I've heard, the rest sounds promising. Strangely though with both this record and this song in particular, the band have made very little comment. In fact, they are virtually non-existent interview-wise. As for their presence in the UK, it seems like they could be made up. And I'm not really sure why, since they're such a universally applicable band...weird?
More than a review of a great or awful song, this is merely a recommendation of a new track to me, that I think, for reasons unexplainable (as just seen), can easily be enjoyed by fans of most genres. It is a forgettable song, and no one here is giving it five stars, but it's good at the same time.
Oh, I don't know.
Have a listen.
See what you think.
★★★★
Versions of "Flower Fight With Morrissey"
Album Version – 3:30