A Lesson In… 10.13.09: Bowling For Soup
Posted by Alistair McGeorge on 10.13.2009
The pop-punk-comedy kings attempt to return to their throne today with their tenth album. Join Alistair McGeorge as he takes a look at how the band got to where they are today, plus his thoughts on the new album, with A Lesson In…Bowling For Soup.
Welcome back to A Lesson In..., I'm Alistair McGeorge. This week, I'm back once again to provide a look at another band's history up to the present day. Let's get down to it…STOP!
It's banner time.
We'll jump right into this week's band now, with nothing else to really discuss. Here's what you probably know them for…
Bowling For Soup formed in 1994, with Jaret Reddick (vocals and guitar), Lance Morril (drums), Erik Chandler (bass) and Chris Burney (guitar) completing the line-up. Their debut self-titled album was released in 1995 on the band's own Que-so Records. Only 3,000 copies were made, and it's basically impossible to get hold of. Sadly, I don't own a copy, but I have heard "Monopoly" and "Thirteen". Based on those two tracks, it set the tone for was BFS would become, and showed potential, but definitely wasn't anything too special.
A split-album with The V.I.M.S. (called Cell Mates) was released in 1996. Like their debut, it is almost impossible to get a copy of this, with only 2,100 copies actually being released. In 1998, the band's first album not to be released on Que-so Records saw the light of day…
Now you're half way round the world…
Rock on Honorable Ones!! was released on FFROE Records in 1998. This is the only BFS album to feature a horn section, and this was a fairly uneventful album for the band. It does have some high points, like "Captain Hook" and "Corndog", but one track on this album would go on to be a great in-joke for BFS and their fans. "Belgium" made its first appearance on this album, and would go on to have 6 (by my count anyway) versions officially released (sometimes as hidden tracks though).
To pad this section out a bit, and just because it made me laugh, here's the personnel notes for the band's sophomore effort:
Bowling For Soup
Chris – Plays guitar, sings, and sleeps
Jaret – Sings, plays guitar, and it's his damn band!
Erik – Plays bass, sings, and goes to bars
Lance – Hits drums, sings, and gets his way
These guys blew!!!
Randy Burgeson – Played trumpet and got mad and Jaret
Dave Lown – Played tenor and stayed quiet
Chad Makela – Played bari and swore a lot
Jeff Roe – Played trombone and bartered for pizza
Ok, call me immature, but I did have a snigger at the notes. Later that year, an E.P. entitled Tell Me When To Whoa was released featuring, amongst other songs, "Belgium". Let's take a listen to a live version of that track…
Tell Me When To Whoa sold over 10,000 copies, and the band were signed to Jive Records as a result. The resulting album was the band's major label debut, and their first without Lance. Gary Wiseman replaced him in 1998, and this was his first stint of recording with the band.
This is the sweetest guy I've ever known…
On May 16 2000, Let's Do It For Johnny! was released on Jive Records, featuring mostly re-recordings of old tracks like "Suckerpunch" and "Andrew". Oh, and a re-recording of "Belgium", without the brass section. Along with those, it also featured a cover of the Bryan Adams classic "Summer of ‘69", plus a new track affectionately titled "The Bitch Song", which went on to become one of BFS's most popular songs.
I only got to listen to this album in full recently, and I'm definitely of the opinion that Bowling For Soup have improved over the years. There's nothing bad on this album at all, and tracks like "The Bitch Song" and "Belgium" are definitely some of the band's finer moments, but it's hard to listen to it in one sitting and have anything stand out as ‘great'.
Two years later, the band would release their second major label album, again on Jive Records, and it would be the album to really thrust them into the limelight. It was my introduction to the band, as I'm sure it was for many others, and I was instantly a fan…
…And I'm just a day behind
Drunk Enough to Dance was released on August 6 2002, with a re-release a year later. In 2002, it peaked at #2 in the Heatseekers chart, a position that went unchanged with the re-release in 2003. It wasn't hugely successful, only hitting #129 in the U.S. Billboard 200, but it still pushed the band towards the public ear and turned them into a hugely fun band that had to be listened to.
The first single was the hit "Girl All the Bad Guys Want", which resulted in a big change in fortunes for the band. Peaking at #8 in the UK Singles Chart, and #64 in the U.S. Hot 100, it is still one of BFS's best known tracks. Jaret Reddick co-wrote the song with Butch Walker, and in 2003 it was nominated for the Grammy Award for "Best Pop Performance by a Group or Duo". However, it lost out to "Hey Baby" by No Doubt.
"Emily" was the next single from the album, and saw much less success, but was still just as catchy. It reached #67 in the UK Singles Chart, but didn't perform well in general. The single that followed it was added in the re-release in 2003, and would be another fan-favorite for the band…
"Punk Rock 101" peaked at #43, and was featured in the movie Zoom, and video games Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This At Home and NHL 2004. It has some nice references to pop culture, ranging from NOFX bassist and vocalist Fat Mike, Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". It's pop-punk cliché at its very best, which is exactly what it was meant to be. I laughed out loud during the break-down lyric "Don't forget to delay/on the very last word", when of course a lot of delay was added. Two years later, what would become the band's most successful album was released…
I'm starting to think she really might be gone…
On September 14 2004, A Hangover You Don't Deserve was released, and would go on to be the band's first (and thus far only) U.S. Top 40 album, peaking at #37 in the U.S. Billboard 200. Its success can be mainly attribute to the success of its lead single "1985", a song by SR-71's Mitch Allan, who apparently gave Jaret permission to re-wrote and re-record the song. It became a big hit for BFS, peaking at #23 and 35 in the U.S. Hot 100 and UK Singles charts respectively. I was really shocked when I found out BFS didn't write this, and a quick search on Youtube threw up this acoustic live version by its composer. Enjoy…
"Almost" was the second single from the album, and did quite well. Reaching #100 in the UK Singles charts and #46 in the Billboard Hot 100, it was a decent hit for the band. The final single from the album was less successful, but one of my favorites from A Hangover You Don't Deserve. "Ohio (Come Back To Texas)" only peaked at #59 in the Billboard Pop 100.
A Hangover You Don't Deserve was another great pop-punk record from BFS, and tracks like "Last Call Casualty" and "Two-Seater" showed that Bowling For Soup still made great, catchy tunes. An almost (no pun intended) tender side began to show, though, with ballad "A-Hole" being a big departure from the BFS sound. Oh, and we had another version of "Belgium", this time in the style of a boy-band. It's my least favorite of all the versions, just because I hate the style even when it's being parodied, but it does provide some laughs.
Bowling For Soup Goes to the Movies was a compilation released in November 2005, featuring previously unreleased original material, and a selection of covers. The next year was spent working on a new album, and 11 months later, the first single from the upcoming album was released. "High School Never Ends" was BFS at their cheesy, clichéd pop-punk best. It performed much better in the UK that the States, peaking at #40 in our singles charts, compared to #79 and 97 in the Pop and Hot 100 respectively. Two months later, the album saw its release…
I think they call it an epiphany…
The Great Burrito Extortion Case was release on November 7 2006 in the U.S., but didn't get a UK release until February 5 the following year. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information on how well it charted, so feel free to chime in with that in the comments section so I can respond to that next week.
"When We Die" was the second single to be release from the album, and was a real departure. Gone were the up-beat lyrics and catchy hook, instead replaced by a serious rock ballad. This was originally a U.S.-only release, but it came out in the UK as a download-only single. "I'm Gay" was also released as a digital download-only single, and is truly a return to form and style. Innuendo, humorous lyrics and a mass singalong of "la la…etc" at the end, it was at one time my favorite track off the album, just because it's so damn up-beat and happy. Try listening to this and not smiling or laughing at least once…
The album as a whole is kinda a mixed bag. There's some stand-out tracks on there, like "Don't Let It Be Love", "A Friendly Goodbye" and "Friends Like You", but then for me stuff like "Why Don't I Miss You?" just falls totally flat.
In 2008, the band released their first live DVD, entitled Live and Very Attractive. It provides a great range of tracks from their back catalogue, with live versions of songs ranging from "Suckerpunch" and "Belgium" (of course) to hits like "1985" and, of course, "Girl All The Bad Guys Want". This would be the last release of the band until today (yesterday if you're in the UK), and I couldn't have been happier to get an advance copy from my university magazine a couple of weeks ago…
She don't give a woop woop…
Sorry For Partyin' was released today in the U.S., and I was fortunate enough to have been able to spend the last two weeks listening to it. I'm hoping to get a review up over the next week (this time, it'll actually be done), so I won't dwell on it a lot, but a few quick notes:
Stand-out tracks: "American (Wake Up Amy)", "A Really Cool Dance Song", "I Can't Stand L.A." and "I Don't Wish You Were Dead Anymore" Singles: So far, they've released "My Wena" and "No Hablo Ingles" Belgium appearance?: Ohhh yeah…but I won't ruin the surprise. Well, until my album review. It's a hidden track featuring Brave Combo, and will definitely have you grinning and tapping your toes. I'll say no more.
Grading... Bowling For Soup
I've been a big fan of BFS for 6 or 7 years now, and I was actually quite surprised that they've been a lot less successful than I expected. It seems that everyone knows them for one catchy hit every few years, but outside of those "hits", they don't amount to much more in the eyes of the buying public. That said, I still love the immature, care-free attitude of the band and their music, and always enjoy listening to their stuff.
That does me for this week, and I'll say it now…I cannot wait until October 25. I'm finally getting to see BFS live. I managed to get a VIP ticket, which turned out to be an awesome idea. As well as the gig itself, I also get an acoustic set, a signed poster, an acoustic CD and a meet-and-greet.
Anyway, moving on to hints for next week…
Homework:
1. This may be obscure and vague (i.e. I'm really struggling to concentrate as I write these)…but I'll say this…they know a science connected to smallness and money.
2. On their first album, they had their "very own flag".
3. For the "blatantly obvious clue of the week", Jen doesn't like them anymore.
Thanks for joining me for another edition of A Lesson In…, and I hope to see you all again next week. Until then…
