Live Fat, Die Young

Fat Music Vol. V (Fat)
by Scott Hefflon

As the fifth edition in the Fat Music series, I fully recommend this “economically-priced” sampler to anyone who still quips that all Fat bands sound the same. That was a long time ago, loser, and I could easily ask yer mom for grade school photos of you looking all dopey and post them on the Net, so get over it, huh?

Doing a track-by-track of this 20-song CD would be as tiresome to read as to write, so here’re the highlights (as per me, natch): No Use For A Name learned to write great songs while I wasn’t paying attention, I’ll try to be kinder to the Anti-Flag kiddies cuz they’re getting tighter and they don’t sound, ya know, 12 anymore, and Fabulous Disaster, while not straying far from Dance Hall Crashers’ formula, are a great addition to the family. Another new Fatty, Rise Against, while more hardcore than I usually care for, sounds great compared to all the thuggish, dumbed-down, basically-just-bad-metal shitcore that’s made the genre a joke to anyone over 15, with a clue or an IQ in the triple digits. And it’s always good to hear from Wizo, even though they sing in, like, German, so I have no idea what they’re saying. They have a playful hop to their songs, sarcastic la-la harmonies like a parody of a sitcom theme, and they pose all growling with their blue mohawks and spiked arm bands. Punks bands (and fans) oughtta remember to have fun and stop being such tiresome allowance philanthropists. OK, there’s more, but I’m sick of me… Ya pretty much know what to expect from these bands, and if not, make the $5 investment and get with it, huh? Fat and proud: Zero Down, Good Riddance, Sick of it All, Mad Caddies, Consumed, Strung Out, Bracket, Frenzal Rhomb, NOFX, Lagwagon, Propagandhi, Tilt, Snuff, Me First & The Gimme Gimmies, Swingin’ Utters.
(PO Box 193690 San Francisco, CA 94119)