Customer Reviews

Troublegum

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I remember picking up the tape version of this back sometime in '95 as an impulse buy. I'd never heard Therapy? before but I liked the cover and had some coin in my pocket. I started listening to it and was hooked immediately. I'm not sure what it was that reeled me in, but this very quickly became my driving music du jour.

Troublegum is chock full of heavy guitar, throbbing bass, furious drumming and angst. Combining these elements with some really great songwriting and some [really angry] vocals/lyrics... you've got a winning combination.

Songs like 'Nowhere' and 'Trigger Inside' will have you pulled over by the cops for speeding in no time. Therapy? also knows how to slow it down and really create some dark moods and themes on songs like 'Turn' and 'Lunacy Booth'. Page Nye Hamilton (Helmet) makes an appearance on the fabulous 'Unbeliever'; my personal favorite. Therapy? also turns out an excellent cover of Joy Division's 'Isolation'.

I would personally recommend this disc to anyone who's a fan of heavy music. If I were stranded on a desert island, this disc would easily be in my top ten of disc's I'd need to have with me.

TROUBLEGUM is a deceptively good album. Deceptive, because at first listen it sounds quite like a guy screaming his guts out while a rabbit repeatedly runs up and down a guitar that has been turned up to eleven. But after a few plays it started to grow on me. Following a few more listens, I started thinking things like: "Say, those background vocals play really well against the melody the lead is singing", "Oooh, that was a clever bit of guitar there" and "Did I really just think that?"

Although TROUBLEGUM superficially sounds like a typically loud collection of noise, there is quite a lot of structure to the songs displayed here. It's not just random and loud guitars; the melodies and rhythm are quite appealing. It has more of a pop sound to it than the average metal album, but Therapy? make these two sounds go together extremely well.

Moving on to the lyrics and I honestly can't figure out why I like them. On the surface, they're the standard teenage angst things that one would expect. They involve loneliness, anger, hatred, and getting drunk as a prelude to beating the living daylights out of someone. The fact that I couldn't really quote more than a couple of lines without violating Amazon's family website policy should let you know exactly what sort of words and concepts we're talking about here. But it's not what he screams; it's how he's screaming it. You can't help but want to shout along.

The more I listen to this album, the more interesting it becomes. If you don't like metal CDs because you think the style involves nothing more than the sound of an angry young white guy smashing a guitar to smithereens, then you may want to give this disc a spin. TROUBLEGUM is madness tied up in a thick coat of method. It's better than it sounds.

I didn't know much of their music but went to their gig in The Hague, Netherlands in 2005.

After having been put through a dreadful support act by Dreadlock Pussy which consisted of 6 band members, it struck me how Therapy? managed to produce such a terrific, full sound with just 3 members.

Later that night they played Isolation and this song really hit me. I just stood there in awe. The atmosphere that song brings! It was stuck in my head the rest of the week. Amazing! That song alone is worth buying this album.

I can't begin to tell you how many happy hours I've spent listening to this album. From the raw and biting album opener 'Knives' you know you're in for a real treat and by the time you reached the end via songs such as 'Screamager', 'Nowhere', 'Stop It Your Killing Me' and every other track on this album, you'll feel both wrung out and exhilarated. This is one of those rare albums without a dud track on it and, in addition, one that has stood the test of time and still whacks a smile on my face every time I hear it. You can usually snap this up for a good price on amazon, but if you want great rock, with a high feel good factor, then any price is worth it where this album is concerned. Highly recommended.

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This is an angry, angry album, and that's a good thing. If you enjoyed Suicidal Tendencies first, or any Pink Floyd album, you're in. I'll never forget the first time I listened to this album . . . I won't spoil it, but suffice it to say I awoke to an ironic surprise.

But . . . the drummer is absolutely sick. Neil Peart of Rush might be the greatest rock drummer ever, but what this guy can get out of a minimalist kit is astounding.

Tracks are Knives, Screamager, Hellbelly, Stop it you're killing me, Nowhere, Die laughing, Unbeliever, Trigger inside, Lunacy booth, Isolation, Turn, Femtex, Unrequited and Brainsaw.

You know how everyone, you, have maybe up to 5-10 albums that you'll always treasure? Albums that will always be on top of your list?

This is one of those albums.

This is Therapy?'s 2nd album and at the time they were riding pretty high on success within the hard rock community and outside also.

At the time I personally was addicted to this album for a long time, i liked every song and as a whole it flowed and inter flowed in an inexplicable way.
It's emotional, from the heart, heavy, tough and delicate all at once.

Therapy? always had an odd cross section of popularity. Between 1992-1996 at least they were pretty popular with the indie crowd as well, probably because they were championed by the NME at the time.
But don't let that put you off, listen to this and their 1st album Nurse and you'll get an idea of how different the NME was back then! And yes, this is a band with more than one good album in them (unlike The Strokes who I'm sure are the offspring off NME staff writers......)

Anyway, ALL hard rock/metal/punk/alternative/indie fans would do well to have a listen to this album. I hope you enjoy it :D

Therapy?'s Troublegum and Infernal Love are two of my all time favorite albums. Its quite the mix. Lyrics can be quite dark and broody, but they pair it with such upbeat riffs. Quite the combination. I highly recommend Therapy? to anyone.

Therapy? remains as one of the most underrated bands of the past 20 years. They have maintained a high quality in their music throughout thier existance. This is not to say that Troublegum in particular is an underrated piece of music since it is their most succesful album. The point here is that Therapy? has created so much great music in the lasdt 10 yeras that the fact that Troublegum remains as their most appreciated album tells a lot about the quality of this seminal masterpiece.
Every household should own this album. If you own Nevermind, you should also own this one.