Snuff – Flibbidydibbidydob – Review

Snuff

Flibbidydibbidydob (Fat)
by Joshua Brown

Any semi-loyal reader of fanzines will notice the catch-phrases “melodic punk rock” and “pop punk” strewn about haphazardly. But what is the meaning behind the words? For me, the punk part is self-explanatory. Though many prefer to believe otherwise, punk, when referring to music and not individuals, is more about sound than attitude. We all know what that sound is – a basic theme that can’t be added to or subtracted from, regardless of how many subgenres emerge. The number of differing political beliefs and approaches to life in general has always equaled the number of people involved, so defining punk this way has never worked and never will. As far as “pop” and “melody” are concerned, hummability, the capacity for a song to enter into one’s shower repertoire or show up in one’s out-of-tune voice at potentially embarrassing moments long after the recording has left the stereo or Walkman, is the most reliable tool I’ve found against a song’s claim of “pop” or “melodic” punk rock status.

England’s Snuff have consistently passed this test with flying colors, chunky riffs and irresistible tunes. More so on their first two seven-inch albums and EP than on their new full-length, Demmamussabebunk, which is the first to make any sort of impact on the American music marketplace. The success of their latest release has more to do with timing than musical quality, as is so often the case. Fat Wreck Chords have reissued their obscure Snuff Said… LP (including the first 7″) and an EP of cover tunes of everyone from the Who to GBH, Flibbidydibbidydob. The style on these old releases borrows from Naked Raygun and early 7 Seconds, whose well-balanced historical perspectives, like Snuff’s, were ingeniously mixed with a trademark signature sound. While Flibbidydibbidydob is a cool novelty item with its share of strong songs, it’s Snuff Said… whose absence makes any pop punk collection incomplete.