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| Rangsteen - Dance In Hell |
| 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. |