Fluffy
Black Eye
»
Fluffy
Black Eye
The Enclave, 1996
RiYL: L7, Babes In Toyland, Ash |
That's really all one needs to know about Fluffy, heralded upon the release of this album as the newest girlie punk darlings from across the Atlantic. Whereas bands such as Elastica draw in listeners with a combination of clever songs and innuendo-laden lyrics, Fluffy's lyrical vision is about as complex as the instructions on shampoo.
In fact, if Fluffy followed any kind of pattern in writing the songs on Black Eye, the band's first full album following the earlier release of a live EP, it would probably look something like this:
1) Turn up your guitar really loud and copy every power-chord riff in the book.
2) Lead singer -- eat a bowl of Shredded Wheat for that extra scratchy effect for your vocals.
3) Whole band -- act and dress like thuggish street trash, then take pictures for the CD liner notes to prove it.
The songs on Black Eye are so poorly written, it's almost criminal. Check out this awful attempt at irony in the song "Hypersonic'': "got to reach my super climax / although the pleasure gives me pain / gotta thrust further / gotta touch the cream." Anyone who can't catch the meaning in that line, please march right back to sixth-grade sex education.
Or how about song titles such as "I Wanna Be Your Lush,'' "Technicolour Yawn'' and "Psychofudge?'' Who wrote these? Madonna? Johnny Rotten?
So what it really comes down to is this: How long will listeners be able to tolerate Fluffy's blatherings before turning the CD off? My guess is about four songs. If you can last longer, pat yourself on the back. You've got more punk running through your veins than should be allowed by law.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"