Published on Aug 19, 2003
Rightfully respecting the rock of their local music scene, but
bucking the punk-edged trends the Hives were perfecting and the
Hellacopters were refining, Gothenburg, Sweden’s Hardcore Superstar
could be found giving a nod to the old school when recording their
LP
Bad Sneakers And A Pina Colada. Cultivating an image
reminiscent to Motley Crue with faces full of eyeliner and bodies
full of tattoo’s, Hardcore Superstar push a sleaze-rock sound on
Bad Sneakers And A Pina Colada that could be confused with
any of a number of bands from the 80’s era pop-metal scene out of
Hollywood. (For the sake of historical context, it should be
mentioned that six tracks on this disc come from an independent
release the band put out in 1998 titled
It’s Only Rock n’ Roll.)
Since the release of this album was during the advent of the new
millennium, and the glam-metal scene of the 80’s was considered
passe on so many counts, it was remarkable that Hardcore Superstar
were able to produce an album that had two singles reach the top 10
charts in their native Sweden.
“Liberation” is a song that mixes a “hair in the breeze” melody
with some punchy guitar and drum work and is the type of song that
could easily be the feel good-hit of the summer, even in warmer
lands much closer to the equator. “Someone Special,” the second
track to chart, benefits itself from a sing-a-long chorus led by
the gravelly vocals of Jocke Berg. These songs are relatively safe
compositions that are strengthened by Silver Silver’s (Thomas
Silver) guitar work and efforts that aim to complement Berg’s
penchant for melody on these songs, not override it.
Describing Berg’s vocals in the fashion mentioned above is
actually meant to complement the fact that the band succeeds in
this self-produced release by keeping the production sound from
becoming too squeaky-clean. Think of Berg’s vocals sounding a lot
like Josh Todd of Buckcherry and you’ll get the drift of this
claim.
Outside of the two charting tracks mentioned, there is plenty of
other experimentation to be found on
Bad Sneakers And A Pina Colada. The hard-hitting rockers on
this album, including “So Deep Inside” and “Rock n’ Roll Star,”
provide the necessary bite to pump life into this release. On the
flip side, when the band tries to ramp up the pace on the tracks
“Hey Now!!” and “Punk Rock Song” the result suffers largely because
Berg tries to make beautiful music when he should be aiming to
throw some more grit and soul into his vocal parts. He’s quite good
at sounding both raw and beautiful, but similar to what they say
about the game of baseball, timing is indeed everything, and if you
are bunting when you should be swinging for the fences, someone is
bound to be thrown for a loop.
Somewhere, Berg obviously missed a signal.
Something tells me that had
Bad Sneakers And A Pina Colada been released in the 80s,
Hardcore Superstar would have an album on their hands that would
have had the substance to go platinum around the world. The sound
is there and truthfully the songs are much better written than they
were by the majority of pop-rock bands from that era.
As it stands now, the door for glam-rock bands to become music
darlings in the worldwide music scene is basically shut. Such
sentiments aside,
Bad Sneakers And A Pina Colada is an album that admirably
captures and expands some of the better elements of such
pretentious days that Hollywood gave us in the 80s.