 It's
been easy to forget that punk rock was about pop as much as
anything. Yeah, there was that whole "rebellion" thing, but that didn't
truly take root until later: the initial punk bands, and their
forebarers, were obnoxious for the Hell of it (Sex Pistols,) punk by
virtue of having no other choice (the first indie release of the
Buzzcocks' "Spiral Scratch") or so completely pop that they verged on
bubblegum (The Ramones.) Yes, the early bands had those record geek
influences that everyone associates with the punk underground these
days (The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, etc.) but what many call
"real" punk now is closer in spirit to the post punk / no wave
movements from the late 70s / early 80s.
This selective memory has resulted in the often disparaging term "pop
punk:" bands like Blink 182, Good Charlotte, et al have gotten a bit of
stick for commercializing punk by making it "pop," as if that's not
where this stuff started in the first place. Not only is it unfair and
inaccurate, it completely ignores the simple fact that these bands suck
because they suck. No need to ruin the reputation of a perfectly
good sub genre just for the sake of mocking a handful of poseurs.
In the interest of rehabilitating the term, I present Rangsteen,
bastard sons of the true pop punk legacy. Yes, there's sweat and snot
in equal measure, but it's all in service of the tune, making "Dance In
Hell" the kind of record that never gets old. They're not reinventing
the wheel here: there's nothing unpredictable about their high energy
skinny tie rock 'n' roll because there doesn't need to be.
"Dance In
Hell" was put out by Stay
Free, the in house label for Firestarter / Teengenerate member Fifi, a
man who knows his punk / pop. Like Firestarter and Teengenerate,
Rangsteen know their history, but don't simply go through the motions
of repeating it. Nor do they get unduly caught up in worrying about
experimentation or shaking things up within their chosen playing field.
They simply capture the sound and
the spirit of 80s power punk, pulling in the expected signifiers (hand
claps, crunchy guitars, the occasional affected British accent) without
letting reverence get in the way of a good time.
While
Rangsteen fit firmly in the above pop / punk rant, their true
spiritual forebarers are the New York Dolls, whose "Pills" gets a
workout here. While the cover is nice and all, the band really shines
when they pull out their own songs. "Baby No Cry" is a textbook case of
a maddengly catchy pop song: chiming guitars, call and response chorus,
a whip smart, brief guitar solo that actually recalls mid 70s Thin
Lizzy (a band that gets none of its well deserved pop kudos.) "Minutes"
is another song in the glam/pop/punk mold, elevated chorus and crunchy
sweet backing. Punk it may be, but it's only a couple of distortion
pedals from the Bay City Rollers, which is a good thing indeed,
especially for a band that loves volume as much as Rangsteen.
Tunes are necessary to pull this stuff off, and while that's often
enough, Rangsteen adds a bit of depth with the title track, a poppy,
surprisingly friendly sounding (considering the title) sugary
concoction that recalls Cleveland power poppers The Mice, all the way
down to Rangsteen guitarist Koji's vocal similarities to The Mice's
Bill Fox. It's also not all pop: opening track "最低デ最高"
("Maximum / Minimum") is all scruffy shout out, closer to an audience
chant than a pop song, and "Shakin'" is a one minute trudge through
sleazy trash blues.
As is the case with bands like this, they're not going to change your
life. There's no particular boundary stretching, and they seem
perfectly happy to keep their frenzy well within the borders of three
minute pop punk. But as anyone who has ever experienced the joy of
dancing around like a lunatic to three minutes of teenage heartbreak
and loud guitars, Rangsteen are another entry in a field that can
always use one more.
---
Available at Tower Records Japan
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