Customer Reviews

The Presidents of the United States of America

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

1990s new rock needed levity after Kurt Cobain's death, Scott Weiland's addictions and dark grunge records like Soundgarden's "Superunknown." The Presidents of the USA wouldn't see the new millennium, but provided an unforgettable debut mixing hard rock with a touch of goofiness and cornpone humor.

Make no mistake, this trio could rock as its cover of MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" attests. They also reference ZZTop, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Beatles musically and lyrically. The topics were fun ("Kitty," "Lump," "Dune Buggy") and the group had a way with a guitar hook. Moreover, like that fun 60s rock, the Presidents made their points quickly and got out (most songs struggled to make it to three minutes.) This is the album the infamous Shaggs wish they could have made.

But it wouldn't last. Green Day took the same approach, added a whinier voice, slacker world view and a touch of schmaltz to bring LPs like "Dookie" and songs like "Time Of Your Life" to the charts, while the Presidents recorded another year, cut a movie theme, then split. A shame, really, we could have used tunes like "We're Not Going To Make It," and "Peaches" one of these every couple of years, to remember that rock and roll needn't be angry to be enjoyable - or good. Recommended.

I haven't listened to any of the band's other albums; I can only hope they are just as good as this one.

The President's style is relaxed and enjoyable. Every song on this CD is catchy and a lot of fun. There's nothing " deep" or " meaningful" about the songs; they are just enjoyable.

If you're ever in the mood to just flake out and smile, this CD is perfect. Some songs may actually make you laugh.

This is probably one of my favourite albums, and I kinda feel inclined to give it a track by track review. Enough blabbing, on with the show...

1. Kitty 8/10- Quite a catchy track, and quite funny too, especially the line "F*ck you kitty/you're gonna spend the night outside!" Not the best track here, but tends to go down well at live gigs.

2. Feather Pluckn 10/10- Very good track, probably taking it's cues from nonsense poems, as the song itself makes no sense. Very catchy guitar lines and chorus.

3. Lump 10/10- One of the best songs on the album, catchy as hell (like most of this album) and a great single. Seemingly a love song, but still pretty bonkers.

4. Stranger 10/10- Slow start, but with a killer chorus. Lots of weird uses of speech, but original, as you'd expect from PUSA. Tells the story of a love affair with a stripper, with plenty of humor.

5. Boll Wevil 9/10- Very funky, telling the story of trying to get a bug "friend" outside. Not the best again, but great bass, and the ending section is killer.

6. Peaches 11/10- The best track here, a song about- you guessed it- Peaches! Again, kinda nonsense, but endlessly catchy! The guitar riff echoes the poppier side of punk-pop acts, such as Dookie-era Green Day. No bad thing.

7. Dune Buggy 9/10- This track has grown on me immensley, at first I thought it was rubbish, but now I like it quite alot. A strange song about a spider driving a dune buggy.

8. We Are Not Going To Make It 11/10- The 2nd best here, very, very catchy, short, but sweet. A go at a "proper" punk song, and one of my favourites.

9. Kick Out The Jams 10/10- Cover of the MC5 song, speedily done, but thriling, fun and overall- ace!

10. Body 10/10- Very funky guitarbass and basitar here (as their instruments are dubbed) with another killer chorus, in the same style as Stranger. But better.

11. Back Porch 9/10- A weird, catchy number about being old, it seems. Very weird choice of guitar style and seems slightly folk-influenced, but all the better for it!

12. Candy 5/10- Shame about this track, the only not-so-good song on the album. Might grow on me, I'm not sure.

13. Naked And Famous 10/10- References to smurfs and 3D billboards in this great track. A fantastic closer with a sweeeeeet guitar solo. A great way to end the album.

Overall, it just rocks, end of story! Well worth getting (I got my copy for 99p off eBay) and just a fantastic album, great fun.

Since most of the Seattle grunge bands (i.e. Nirvana, Soundgarden) were finished by 1995, it was good to see and hear a new rock sound from a new band. The Presidents Of The United States Of America's self-titled debut offered great relief from the angst of music; and was (and still is) a whole new breed of music. Yes, this is mostly simple rock music, but it's simple rock music at its very best. No one can say that songs like "Lump", "Peaches", and "Kitty" didn't influence them and/or their musical preferences. And in turn The Presidents had struck gold a few times over. Their songs are to the point; carrying along some comedy and, again, a great rock & roll sound. 12 of the 13 tracks on this debut CD are absolutely brilliant. And here's an [informative] overview of those 13 songs.

The CD begins with one of the band's best: "Kitty". The second single on the album is actually the reason I became such a huge fan of The Presidents. "Peaches" and "Lump" also took part in that. Most people know it by now. One of my particular favorite songs here is "Feather Pluckn". The first track was pretty straightforward, as it was about a cat, but "Feather Pluckn" is a great song about nothing too specific. The first verse reads: `10 million monkeys all pick up guitars / 5000 fishies rockin really really really hard / check out chickie, drivin piggy's little blue car' with a background shout of `...and nobody taught them how'. There's really nothing we as fans can relate to, but it's still an awesome song. All I have to say about "Lump" is if you like it, you'll like the entire CD. The main single showcases the album's sound quite well. The song "Stranger" is also one of my favorites. It's about a striper and is a little more harmonious in its beginning than the previous three. The citation of the Lynyrd Skynyrd hat is hilarious yet smart at the same time. A song that's become a fan favorite over the years is "Boll Weevil". "Boll Weevil" is catchy, but it took me a while to fall in love with it. It's about a bug; as if you couldn't guess. What I said for "Lump" easily goes for "Peaches" just the same. There's just so many excellent songs that it's hard to find a low point. And "Dune Buggy" is certainly not a low point. Again there's not much to allow us to relate, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's a stellar rock song.

Starting off the CD's second half, The Presidents produce their most cynical song. The title "We Are Not Going To Make It" kind of speaks for itself (seeing as how they have, in fact, made it). And the false start that I'm pretty sure was intentional gives the song true character. It will always be a certain favorite of mine. Next we have a cover of MC-5's infamous "Kick Out The Jams". It's one of the shortest (at 1:24 or so) yet still one of the best. Again, it'll always be a favorite. With the exception for the start of "Stranger", all the previous songs have been hard rock songs. But "Body" breaks that mold; in a manner of speaking. "Body" tells the tale of different reptile deaths that become embodied in the singer's head. Hence the phrase `I can't get your body out of my mind'. It's a fun song, but is rather sad in the end. Another fan favorite is "Back Porch"; and that's for good reason. The way the band handles the `two-string/one-string/no-string guitars' part is amazing and probably makes the song good in its own. The worst song on the disc is, hand's down, "Candy". It's not terrible, but on the other hand I find myself usually skipping over it. Even if "Candy" is moderately bad, the closer "Naked And Famous" makes up for it. I'm not sure if The Presidents' singer is actually a nude model, but he tells a funny story nonetheless. All in all, "Naked And Famous" rounds out this 5-star release with absolute perfection. `Everybody wants to be just like me / I'm naked and famous' wraps it up quite nicely.

To conclude this review, there is not enough good things I could begin to say about The Presidents Of The United States Of America and their debut. It was just so great to see a new type of music. And this type of music seems to be living on thanks exclusively to this band and this CD. If you enjoyed "Lump" and/or the other two hits from this album, you MUST own this CD. No matter what your musical preference, you should be able to enjoy all these songs; or at least form seedy opinions about them. This is one of the top 10 albums I own and will always be in constant rotation in my CD player. The only way you'd not be able to enjoy this type of music is if you lack a sense of humor, dislike occasional simplicity, or you hate straight-up rock & roll music. Otherwise The Presidents Of The United States Of America are surely for you. Don't miss out on one of the 90's greatest American rock groups; and one of the greatest albums ever.

I didn't realize that this CD is out of print. What a shame! This really is a classic album, and should be a part of everyone's collection. This is one of those rare albums in which there are NO BAD SONGS. A couple (Body and Kick Out The Jams) are borderline, but the rest are pure gold.

If you don't have this CD, track it down and buy it used. You'll be glad you did!!

I bought this album on casette when I was 13 years old and I haven't stopped loving it since. I've since purchased a copy on CD and am proud to say that I contributed to the 4 million copies of this record that were sold. The Prez didn't care about deep insightful lyricism. They didn't even care about amazing musical arrangements (two string bass, three or four string guitar). They were all about good fun, and rightfully so!
When they bursted onto the scene in 1995, even though it was winding down, grunge was still pretty big. Consider this record a smack to Eddie Vedder & Kurt Cobain's depressed faces.
I dare you abstain from tapping your foot and singing along with these guys. I bet you can't do it!

P.S: The Prez are back together after a five year hiatus and are recording new material! Woo!

Now if you ask me, and many 90s musical fans do now and again, The Presidents of the United States of America are possibly the best band to have ever broken up after achieving such critical acclaim. Plus that, they helped out Shonen Knife on a tune or two and that says something about the generosity and willingness of the band members... something commendable and worthy of respect.... If you ask me. Now, if I was them I would have opted for a name requiring less time to pronounce, after all 15 syllables is a bit much for a pop group when you have successful bands out there getting by with one syllable names and doing just fine. However, their music stands up to the challenge and me and the twins can't stop singing "Lump" for three weeks after we play it on the hi fi system in our double wide trailer. In fact, we like to play it so loud that it makes the aluminum sides rattle and shake. That might be because our double wide is getting kind of old and rusty and I ain't never spent any time on maintenance and repairs because I am too busy with other things, and plus that, I got me a line of old refrigerators lines up against the outside of the trailer and I run a chain through the handles and put a padlock on the chain and turned them old refrigerators in to recycled storage units and saved them from the county dump. I am, you see, an environmentalist as well as a music fan.

This band is light hearted... or I guess, they were light hearted. Unfortunately unless there is a reunion of some sort, then all we got is their output on CD and that is that. See, they broke up just as the world was catching their drift and by the time the masses were all in tune to their output, they were gone. Kind of like the time Charlene Shagnasty over on the other side of Stillwell, and that young feller from Bolton were talking about marriage and set a date and get them a preacher and a caterer to serve up ribs and collards at the reception and everybody here abort was all excited and anxious for the wedding because Charlene is kind of homely and we didn't expect her to ever find herself a man, but that boy from Bolton was a real good catch and found it in his heart to look past the homeliness and see her inner beauty... but then they called it off on short notice and we all were still excited and worked up for her before we knew they'd called it off. It's kind of like that.

However, unlike Charlene and that boy from Bolton, the Presidents of the United states of America left behind these here CDs for us to listen to and we can still enjoy their music... and I reckon they still get residual checks for all the CDs that are still sold, so in a way of congratulating them on a job well done I encourage you to buy this here CD and listen with pleasure while they take their residual checks and use them to pay off the mortgage on their houses or buy a second car or something.

I dug through a bargin bin i saw this and said,i'll try it.
I listened to the first track and the meowing bothered me beyond belief.I turned it off.I thought i waisted money,so i wanted to relisten to it since i was being so shallow.I was amazed.

This is a band from the 90's with no echoes of the grunge scene.The vocals seem so common, but they were put in a way that they are rythmatic and catchy.The opening song "Kitty" threw me off, but after the lengthy intro it seemed alot better."Lump" is the big hit on this album.It doesn't feel over polished, so not a single song seems outta place.Many bands that have that one over polished song makes their other pieces look like crud or below its standards.In this case this album doesn't suffer such a cruel fate,and avoids the matter entirly.

The guitar lacks ,it feels like it's more of an ambience then it does part of the actual song(With few exceptions).Each song has enough momentum to keep eachother flowing and making it fun.Not one song seems so much like another on this album that you feel trapped in one long song.For the most part the songs are slow to medium pace,no punk thrashing speed wich isn't bad.The bass has catchy hooklines like in "Boll Weevil".Some songs point out the obvious so much they are halarious."Peaches" made me laugh listen and you'll know.

The cover doesn't give you a good depiction of such a couragous band.
Don't be fooled this isn't another Everclear or Soundgarden knock off.Really good album, i don't know how common this is, so don't fuss if you can't pick it up.Just keep searching for it.

Everyone seems to hate Naked and Famous, yet its by far my favorite PUSA song, and one of my favorite all-time songs. I highly recommend it. Actually, i highly recommend the entire cd. Its definately one of the best albums ive ever heard, and the best PUSA album that was put out. If you have a sense of humor, you will definately enjoy it. Hope this review helped even a slight bit :)

I would just like to say that i am a very big fan of PUSA. I have been listening to their songs since i was 7 years old, when my cousin introduced me to them at that age their were some words on their that I wasn't supposed to listen to, but i loved the song kitty so much I would go in my room and lock the door and put the music on low so my parents couldn't hear the words. This group is just incredible! After many years i was doing an english project for school and i needed to pick my fav song, i pulled them out and now I can't stop listening to them. They are a great group and their songs seem pointless but are so funny.