American Teenage Rock ‘n’ Roll Machine – Christopher Thelen

And now, from Oakland… the anti-Hanson!

Picking up the three-chord rhythm where the Ramones left off,
The Donnas, a four-piece female punk group, bang through their
ten-song debut
American Teenage Rock ‘N’ Roll Machine in just over 25
minutes, well too short to make a serious impression on the
listener. But those 25 minutes are not bad, though some rough edges
remain.

Led by vocalist Donna A., The Donnas lift some lines from the
Ramones bible (like the importance of the radio on “Gimmie My
Radio”), but there’s a major difference between the godfathers of
American punk and their daughters – The Donnas are an admittedly
horny bunch, and have no problem singing about it. (The Ramones
were more interested in sniffing glue than… oh, never mind.
Things like this will keep us from getting a family rating from
RSAC.)

Donna R.’s guitar work isn’t bad, though I would have liked to
have heard a little more in the lead department; she shows that she
knows her chops rather well. Bassist Donna F. is pretty hidden in
the mix, while drummer Donna C. occasionally shows some weakness in
her fills on the skins – though this could also be the fault of a
rather poor production job.

But it’s in the songs on
American Teenage Rock ‘N’ Roll Machine where The Donnas can
be heard to be serious about what they’re doing – unlike The
Ramones, The Donnas are willing to let a song stretch for a while
to get their point across. And while I can appreciate the teenage
hormones – they don’t get any easier at 27 than they were at 17,
let me tell you – there are times I wish they’d get off the subject
of teen sex (“Wanna Get Some Stuff,” (“You Make Me Hot,” “Leather
On Leather”).

So how is the music? Well… better than one would have
expected. Let’s face it, music from teenagers has been poo-poohed
throughout rock’s history (remember The Runaways? Bad 4 Good?), and
often it hasn’t been that good. The Donnas do show some musical
immaturity, but not so much that it cripples the album; indeed,
there are times where their skills on their instruments surprised
me. But this maturity only comes with time and practice – and,
hopefully, better producers.

But the biggest problem with the album is its brevity – it’s
real hard to base a judgment on less than a half-hour worth of
stuff. C’mon, ladies, couldn’t you have thrown one or two more
tracks on this one to pad it out just a tad?

American Teenage Rock ‘N’ Roll Machine isn’t a punk
masterpiece, nor is it the disappointment some would want to make
it out to be. For a debut album, not bad – but there should have
been more material to judge it on.