Up until last week, my experience with The Presidents of the United States of America was limited to hearing "Peaches" on the radio back in grade school. I enjoyed the song, but never had the urge to pursue listening to them further. Now, 13 years after "Peaches," I am pleasantly surprised to see these Seattle rockers still exist. I am even more surprised that their latest release, These Are the Good Times People, is oozing with all the catchy and humorous goodness present in "Peaches." To put it plainly, The Presidents' latest work is one of most fun albums I have heard in my entire life.
Stylistically speaking, The Presidents have not changed much. Though I have admittedly little experience with the band's previous works, I feel comfortable making this claim because some of the tracks sound like they were recorded in the mid-90s. This may sound like a bad thing for people who remember some of the horrendously bad music that came out back then, but The Presidents' unique spin on mid-90s rock in 2008 is a refreshing change from the hordes of crunk rap, nu-metal and ultra-pretentious Canadian bands that have dominated the music scene of the new millennium with an iron fist.
This is not to say every track is reminiscent of "Peaches." These Are the Good Times People showcases The Presidents' ability to escape being pigeonholed into a specific genre. Lyrically, the band has all the wit of indie pop grandfathers They Might Be Giants combined with the musical styles of bands like Reverend Horton Heat ("Flame is Love") or pop punk bands such as Blink-182 ("Ghosts Are Everywhere"). The band even finds success in slowing down their sound on tracks like "Loose Balloon" and "Deleter," with the latter being one of the strongest songs on the album.
Paired with this great mix of musical style is some of the wittiest and laugh-out-loud songwriting I have ever encountered. The most notably hilarious track is "More Bad Times," which is basically a list of bad times that a married couple either did or did not experience. Lines such as "You never suggested we all play charades / You never picked up any live hand grenades" and has the clever and catchy refrain: "You twisted your ankle so I carried you / You got a divorce so I married you / You fell off a cliff so I buried you."
The only setback on this album is the lack of substance beneath all the genre-bending and razor-sharp wit. There are several repeated images such as balloons, bugs and truck stops that never quite seem to tie into any sort of actual theme. I say this is a setback because I think adding deep meanings to songs would take away from what The Presidents seem to embody, which to me is accessible, fun, style-over-substance music.
Lack of substance aside, there is no real reason not to purchase These Are the Good Times People. The Presidents have released an album full of witty songwriting and an excellent mix of musical styles that makes for an enjoyable experience regardless of specific musical tastes. 3
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