Published on Jan 28, 2003
I remember seeing the D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) logo
sometime in the 1980s, perhaps in the same Circus magazine issue
with the Def Leppard Pyromania T-shirt and thinking, “Wow, that
band has a logo and they are really ‘getting it out there’ for the
people. They must really rock.” I remember spending a couple of
weeks looking for their CD, but I never found it, or if I did find
it, I didn’t have enough cash to buy it. Eventually, they fell into
the batch of bands that I never bought.
Imagine my surprise, then, when this CD arrived in my mailbox.
Immediately, I recalled the aforementioned thoughts and popped it
into my CD player. My jaw dropped, but not because this was a
tremendous release. It dropped because I can’t believe what a
complete waste of time this re-issue is. Bluntly, it is beyond
terrible. A bunch of songs that are so short that they don’t
develop any resemblance of a musical idea, a vocalist so hideous
even a Karaoke crowd would boo him off the stage, a guitarist so
sloppy the notes sound like mush and a drummer so incredibly
untalented that you wonder if it isn’t a four-year-old playing
upside down Lincoln Log cylinders.
Then you get to the last part of the CD and you have excerpts
from radio interviews. The band is asked to talk about how they
recorded their CD. They recorded it in their bedroom. The DJ
remarks, “Well, that’s pretty good sound quality.” The band
includes a pathetic cover of “Louie Louie” with a guest vocalist,
Nikki Sixx from Verbal Abuse. Oh my. I have no desire to ever see
that band live either.
The only remotely redeeming value of this CD is the lyrics. They
are reasonably well-written, begrudgingly admitted. The track
“Money Stinks” includes these lyrics, “Smell the power, smell the
health/ smell the poverty of America’s wealth/ Money smells of
evil, greed/ Capitalist wants and pumped up needs.” Typical punk
angst, though the “us v. the world” angle is mildy interesting.
Unfortunately, those lyrics are preceded by “I stayed at home
today/ And I’m not going back to work/ Money stinks/Money stinks/
This city stinks.” Wow. Talk about revelations and leaving the
listener guessing! What city stinks?? It’s a poetic device called
“concrete details” and these lyrics are severely lacking in
them.
If you have ever been curious about what this band sounds like,
you need to know that curiosity killed the cat. You’re not a cat,
but this crap will kill your sensibilities to good music. Pick up a
local band’s CD, don’t waste your time with this re-issue. Seek out
a punk band called Fetal Remains and their 1995 release One Day.
That is good and dirty punk. Seek out the self-titled Twits release
on Rotten Records. Seek out Dead Lazlo’s Place. Seek out any other
band except for this one.
By the way, this review is not reverse psychology whereby
telling you how awful this release is should make you want to go
get it. And even mentioning reverse psychology is not meant as a
ploy to generate sales of this pathetic release. I sat through this
twice. You don’t ever need to — I took my lumps for you. You can
send me CDs, though. I could use some good music to listen to so
that I can get rid of the pathetic taste this band has left in my
mouth.