Customer Reviews

You'll Rebel to Anything

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Now obviously if you are the type of person who listens to MSI religiously then there is no swaying you from thinking this album is amazing, breath-taking and all the usual hoopla. This review is from a music fan in general. Other than the 50+ minutes of disc space wasted(the album is only 26 mins!), this cd is actually pretty good. We find MSI incorporating more old school video game noises(i.e. Atari, Nintendo). The guitars also sound more organic and not so synthetic...there is actually a crunch to them which is good. Urine's vocal treatment is slightly different than the previous albums; He still has the hyper-falsetto/scat thing going on but with more melody this time. I am skeptical of the Tom Sawyer cover though...I already know Deadsy covered that song on their Commencement album 3 years ago, and MSI aand Deadsy toured extensivley together and I saw them and Deadsy played Tom Sawyer with their live set....maybe MSI thought they could out-do Deadsy's cover? Who knows...anyway the tracks on this album are worth repeated listens, although after a while the same 26 minutes will eventually wear thin so try to listen to other things too so you don't wear this album out any time soon. Highlight tracks are definitley Straight To Video(This song is so new wave its not funny); 1989, and of course Shut Me Up(the lyrics in this song are catchy). MSI haven't lost their chaotic edge at all...I mean come on we've all seen them live and we know they aren't backing down! Bottom line: A good record albeit too short, so it loses a star. I say take all the bonus tracks from the other versions of the album and put them of this explicit version to make a 30+ minute album! Get this if you are at all a Mindless Self Indulgence fan. Nuff said.

**This review was originally made for the uncensored version, see my advice below for buying considerations**

I'll break this review in to three parts. First, the review of the album itself. Second, the review of the tactics used by MSI and Metropolis Records to sell this album. Lastly, my advice on getting everything that should have been included on one album.

1. The review of the album:

Simply put, if you like previous MSI albums, Babyland or stuff like Korn you'll eat this up. It's another top notch hybrid electronic, punk/metal, lofi quasi-hip hop, quasi-post-industrial genre-bending album. I suppose this would have fallen in to the label "coldwave" circa mid-90's post-industrial labeling. It's not exactly coldwave, not exactly anything other than the sum of its influences, which seem to be mainly hip-hop, post-industrial and punk/metal. The highlights of the album are definitely "Shut Me Up" and "Stupid MF", although there isn't really a weak track here. Another bonus is a positively weird cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer". Be sure to put the CD in your computer as there is a video for "You'll Rebel To Anything" (it's a neat collage of old 50's propaganda footage mixed with weird cartoons, vintage stock film interspersed with just general weirdness.)

2. Commentary about questionable gouging of consumer by label/band:

There is absolutely no reason for there to be three different versions of this album except to rip off the consumer. Period. In an interview Jimmy Urine said they released a clean version for people who couldn't buy the album in places like Wal-Mart. Who cares about Wal-Mart? For someone so outspoken and inspired by punk, it bothers me that he'd cave to pressures to release an edited version of anything, let alone an entire album. That leads me to believe it wasn't an effort to cater to the imbeciles who buy music at Wal-Mart but rather a flimsy excuse to release a different version of the album, with different artwork and different bonus tracks.

When I used to buy a lot of electro/industrial (circa mid-90's) I remember this type of crap burning the hell out of me. I'd buy the import of a particular artist (say, someone like Haujobb) and then a year or so later a domestic version would come out with bonus tracks. And it'd cost LESS to boot! So all the "early adopters" and people on the cutting edge would get burned over and over. I can't tell you how many CDs I bought like that when I used to buy a lot of obscure electro/industrial music. It's a trick in order to separate you from your money, nothing more. If they cared only about exposing underground music to a new audience then they'd simply license the album and release it exactly as it was originally in Europe. But I digress.

3. My advice:

Buy the explicit version, then download the bonus tracks "La-Di Da-Di" (bonus track on vinyl) and "Mic Commander" (bonus track on clean version) off teh intarweb and say fsck you to Metropolis Records/MSI for forcing us to buy three versions of the same album in order to get two extra tracks, different artwork and a bonus video (the clean version of this album has a "bonus rehearsal video for 'Diabolical'"). Alternately, if you feel like giving MSI more of your hard-earned money, you can at least get the track "Mic Commander" on iTunes Music Store by itself.

In summation, MSI are a great band and if you like punk, electro-industrial, metal with electronic influences (Fear Factory), hip-hop, nu-metal, coldwave/aggro-industrial (Ministry) then you'll probably totally dig this album.

Also, check out Jhonen Vasquez's video for "Shut Me Up" on myspace (or just do a google search for it). The ex-Johnny the Homicidal Maniac/Squee/Invader Zim/etc. mastermind pulls off one of the funniest videos in a long time.

This is probably the best so far, at least for me. This album absolutely rocks!

A lot of the songs are longer than the normal minute and some odd seconds of song, that we are all used to. Those were good, but now we have songs from MSI, that can go on for 3 minutes! This is the greatest thing ever!

The music is more or less the same, though I find it a teensy bit more tame than the previous albums. The lyrics are still pretty hardcore and the music is still in your face, guitars, screeching and such, but not AS much as in previous albums.

Key trakcs for me are "Bulls***", "Prom", 'Shut Me Up" and "You'll Rebel to Anything".

Great lyrics, great music, and what more could you expect from a great band like MSI?? If you know them you'll know what to expect, just not as much, but still awesome.

For you new people, this is pretty intense stuff.....listen to it first, before you buy it. I find that it's an acquired taste with MSI.

I'll break this review in to three parts. First, the review of the album itself. Second, the review of the tactics used by MSI and Metropolis Records to sell this album. Lastly, my advice on getting everything that should have been included on one album.

1. The review of the album:

Simply put, if you like previous MSI albums, Babyland or stuff like Korn you'll eat this up. It's another top notch hybrid electronic, punk/metal, lofi quasi-hip hop, quasi-post-industrial genre-bending album. I suppose this would have fallen in to the label "coldwave" circa mid-90's post-industrial labeling. It's not exactly coldwave, not exactly anything other than the sum of its influences, which seem to be mainly hip-hop, post-industrial and punk/metal. The highlights of the album are definitely "Shut Me Up" and "Stupid MF", although there isn't really a weak track here. Another bonus is a positively weird cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer". Be sure to put the CD in your computer as there is a video for "You'll Rebel To Anything" (it's a neat collage of old 50's propaganda footage mixed with weird cartoons, vintage stock film interspersed with just general weirdness.)

2. Commentary about questionable gouging of consumer by label/band:

There is absolutely no reason for there to be three different versions of this album except to rip off the consumer. Period. In an interview Jimmy Urine said they released a clean version for people who couldn't buy the album in places like Wal-Mart. Who cares about Wal-Mart? For someone so outspoken and inspired by punk, it bothers me that he'd cave to pressures to release an edited version of anything, let alone an entire album. That leads me to believe it wasn't an effort to cater to the imbeciles who buy music at Wal-Mart but rather a flimsy excuse to release a different version of the album, with different artwork and different bonus tracks.

When I used to buy a lot of electro/industrial (circa mid-90's) I remember this type of crap burning the hell out of me. I'd buy the import of a particular artist (say, someone like Haujobb) and then a year or so later a domestic version would come out with bonus tracks. And it'd cost LESS to boot! So all the "early adopters" and people on the cutting edge would get burned over and over. I can't tell you how many CDs I bought like that when I used to buy a lot of obscure electro/industrial music. It's a trick in order to separate you from your money, nothing more. If they cared only about exposing underground music to a new audience then they'd simply license the album and release it exactly as it was originally in Europe. But I digress.

3. My advice:

Buy this explicit version, then download the bonus tracks "La-Di Da-Di" (bonus track on vinyl) and "Mic Commander" (bonus track on clean version) off teh intarweb and say fsck you to Metropolis Records/MSI for forcing us to buy three versions of the same album in order to get two extra tracks, different artwork and a bonus video (the clean version of this album has a "bonus rehearsal video for 'Diabolical'"). Alternately, if you feel like giving MSI more of your hard-earned money, you can at least get the track "Mic Commander" on iTunes Music Store by itself.

In summation, MSI are a great band and if you like punk, electro-industrial, metal with electronic influences (Fear Factory), hip-hop, nu-metal, coldwave/aggro-industrial (Ministry) then you'll probably totally dig this album.

Also, check out Jhonen Vasquez's video for "Shut Me Up" on myspace (or just do a google search for it). The ex-Johnny the Homicidal Maniac/Squee/Invader Zim/etc. mastermind pulls off one of the funniest videos in a long time.

When I found out that this CD had only ten tracks, I considered writing it off as a lazy token release. Many of the songs from Tight and Frankenstein Girls, while catchy and amazingly-constructed, had little to no substance, and very often made almost no sense whatsoever, so it didn't seem worth my money to pay for less than half an hour of the same sort of thing. This CD, though, is anything but more of the same.

You'll Rebel To Anything is simply made for a different audience. It still retains some of MSI's signature styles and sounds, but the songs here have a darker feel to them, and the lyrics have a clear and powerful message. Honestly, at first listen, I was disappointed because MSI seemed to have lost the manic/chaotic edge I'd grown to love and expect from them, but by the end of Straight To Video (Little darling/Welcome to the show/You're a failure/Played in stereo/I never noticed/No, never noticed/You're so amazing/So amazing), I could tell that there was something here that wasn't present in MSI's other work. After several listens, it became obvious that an unexpected amount of thought had been put into these songs. The band has matured, and knows its message (there is a great note to irresponsible parents printed inside the liner notes).

I hesitate to say that this is the best MSI release to date, simply because the others are so incredible, but it is by far the most mature and cohesive, and greatly increased my respect for the band, which, considering how much respect for them I had before, is an accomplishment. It may not appeal to fans who are expecting another Frankenstein Girls, but it earns the five stars I'm giving to it, and earns them the hard way. Highly, highly recommended.

this is a great album!!!!!!! this is what happens when a band progresses, if bands wouldn't try new things then their sound would always be the same, and all their songs would sound the same. this album is soooo great, and like everything else MSI it is an aquired taste! and takes a while to get used too.

I'm a big fan of MSI, along with countless others. But i flat out refuse to pretend i enjoy this album. It's not the worst album ive heard, but this isn't ANYWHERE near all their previous work. This is a much more mainstream version of them. A lot of the songs sound like they could be in dance dance revolution. and to release 3 different versions? dont buy the hype kids, its to make more money cause Jimmy Urine knows MSI fans will buy every version of this disappointing album. (More power to him) There are some high points. What Do They Know?, and Bullsh*t are excellent songs. Now i know bands change their sound and mature over time, but i didnt not wait 6 years for this album to get a bunch of watered down songs, a HORRIBLE rush cover song, and only one song off the Alienating Our Audience album (not to mention the fact that 2 hookers and an 8ball is by far my least favorite out of all those) So go ahead and rate that my review wasn't helpful. That doesnt make the album any better. For those MSI fans who are willing to accept the fact this album may not be that good, i suggest listening before buying. But if you must spend your hard earned cash (or your parents) to buy this album, please only buy one version.
i give 2 stars because there are some good songs, and MSI is still better than anything better on the radio

This is a pretty good ep but it's such an anticlimax. Are they ever going to release a real follow-up to Frankenstein Girls? First they teased us with the The Left Rights album, which was more skits than songs, then the live ep Alienating Our Audience which had like 7? new songs on it, then with the Despierta Los Ninos ep, which showed a progression in songwriting, but wasn't available in stores. So I figured they'd eventually release an album with studio versions of the new live songs, the new songs from the Despierta ep, and a bunch of other new songs, but no, all we get is this, another ep, released in multiple formats in a blatant attempt to get more of your money. So obviously they don't have much respect for their fans, which is lame, but I still bought this cd and I like most of the tunes. Straight To Video is a bit too conventional and boring. They're obviously better at writing more upbeat songs with erratic rhythms, which Shut Me Up is the best example of here, although I think the first 3 songs on the Despierta ep are still better than anything on this cd. This cd is still worth buying, and the booklet art layout is nice, it's just a pity they didn't make a proper album. I guess there's still hope.

Yeah, it kinda loses it's kick without the bad words, but it's still a great CD by one of the best bands out there. It's funny listening to them censor things that I didn't even know were obscenities. I was a little pissed at first with MSI for making me buy two albums just for one bonus track and one video, but the CDs were only 10 bucks each. You can get both for about the same cost as one crappy pop album of your choice.

And as for an actual review of the music, just look at the review of the un-cut version. It all applies, and the bonus track and video are great.

If you were like me you got "You'll Rebel to Anything" when it first came out in 2005. So is it really worth buying the album again for the new tracks?...Yes! All the bonus tracks are good. And also the albums original tracks are in a different order. So even if you have the original "You'll Rebel to Anything" When listening to it, it almost seems...new again cause the songs are not in the order you use to + you get the bonus tracks. And for the cheap price why not get it?