MxPx - Pokinatcha
1994, Tooth & Nail
1. Anywhere But Here
2. Weak
3. Wantad
4. Realize
5. Think Twice
6. Unopposed
7. The Aspect
8. Ears to Hear
9. Bad Hair Day
10. Too Much Thinking
11. PxPx
12. Time Brings Change
13. Jars of Clay
14. High Standards
15. Another Song About T.V.
16. Twisted Words
17. Walking Bye
18. No Room
19. Jay Jay's Song
20. One Way Window
21. Dead End
MxPx's debut, Pokinatcha, is missing a lot of the spit-shine and polish of Teenage Politics and Life in General. The sound is dirty, raw, and sloppy. And fast! Most tracks race along at full speed, rarely stopping to take a breath except for a few moments. Those moments being "Wantad" and "Bad Hair Day" for which the band received some buzz back in the day. I don't know though... I think I like my MxPx with a bit more polish. While the sound may be raw, the lyrics are not. They're pretty suburban teenage Christian with a little angst. Not that there's anything wrong with that - that was kind of their thing. It's worth a listen, but I prefer their later albums (i.e. the ones I mentioned, not their later - later material where they were really super duper polished and commercial).
Useless Fact: As I recall the band was originally called Magnified Plaid. It even says that on the spine of this album. However, drummer Yuri was prone to abbreviating it M.P. but with x's instead of periods. So they eventually became known as MxPx. Also, I read in an interview once that the word "pokinatcha" was from a Snickers commercial or something where the narrator says hunger is "pokin' at ya."
Gotta be the voice of dissent here. This is still my favorite MxPx album by a wide margin. I prefer the sloppier, more authentic punk sound on display here. There's still plenty of charm, with songs like "Bad Hair Day" or "Want Ad" but the album hits pretty hard with tracks like "Jars Of Clay" or "Another Song About T.V." with its speed and aggression. Don't get me wrong, "Teenage Politics" was also a strong record, but the band quickly fell into the Greenday mold, and didn't have much of their own identity for a few years, at which point the "punk" was all but gone from their music.
ReplyDelete