All
American Rejects - When the World Comes Down
(Interscope)
However vehement my criticisms of an AAR
song, I usually fail to avoid attaching at
least one positive connotation. If I was extremely
specious in my approach to the mainstream,
I could guiltlessly dismiss them as yet another
crass, intolerable Blink-182 rip off... but
this couldn't be further from the truth, and
I refuse to take the easy way out. Do I hate
them? Not quite. Will I in the long run consider
them a fine wine aged to perfection? Not likely.
They're more like a sickly bon-bon I'll only
chew into on the rarest of occasions. They're
the pretty, popular girl I can admire from
afar, but when it comes to the crunch, can't
stand the sound of. AAR can be, on a superficial
basis, nothing short of mellifluent - but
all the while deeply grating beneath the surface!
I’m sure you get the point.
I enjoy listening for the sake of intrigue
(so why do people like them as much as they
do?), but will shamefully confess to having
half-enjoyed the hooky songs here such as
(opening track) "I Wanna," and "Damn
Girl," and the dramatically stripped-down
acoustic effort "Mona Lisa." You'll
never witness me confessing to even remotely
appreciating the big-headed strut-to "Gives
You Hell" or "Breakin'" - ""break
break break bra break break break" (say
no more) - and I swear I've heard "Real
World" a thousand times before. "Back
To Me" sounds like a poor (er) version
of a Westlife number.
Don't get me wrong, the All American Rejects
write some (some!) quality pop songs... but
I just find 80 percent of their material abhorrent
for reasons most will probably perceive as
irrational. For the bulk of it, issues with
the corny rhyming combined with Tyson Ritter’s
more often than not annoying voice act as
a repellent from further listening. Call me
narrow but when it comes to commercially viable
pop-punk (can AAR still be called as pop-punk?);
I'll stick with bands less detrimental to
my patience.
When the World Comes Down - striking,
distinct, unforgettable... in some of the
worst ways. – Dick Nothing
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