Tuesday, May 18, 2004
May 17: The Presidents of the United States of America - (self-titled)
What's more punk than a band with three guys and only five guitar strings? I was never that into the Presidents when they came out, but I can tell you the elementary school kids certainly were. I DJed a Catholic-school dance when I was in high school, and I think we played the entire Presidents album (the kids requested every song). So for today's CD, I thought I'd get the perspective of my brother, who was in elementary school at the time:
When people remember the Presidents they think of them as a novelty band, because of the hit singles "Peaches" and "Lump," but they were probably the most influential band for every male in Mrs. Wright's 6th grade class at Guthrie Upper Elementary. The Presidents were awesome because all their songs were really silly, but in a serious way. They weren't like Weird Al. They weren't parodying anyone, they were just weird. They didn't use all their guitar strings, and their songs were obout cats, dune buggies, and canned fruit. Aside from the late Poindexter!!, PUSA was the biggest artistic influence on my 6th grade band, the Lumpy Potatoes. Something about the Presidents spoke to kids. Whatever it was it didn't last. After their genius covers of "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "Cleveland Rocks" they kind of disappeared. They still put out new albums (I bought one. It was ok, there was a song called "Death Star" on it) and I saw on MTV a couple years ago that they were collaborating with Sir Mix A Lot. I remember that in the interview the lead singer called the rapper Mr. A Lot. It was awesome.
So there you have it. Let the mid-90s revival begin.
When people remember the Presidents they think of them as a novelty band, because of the hit singles "Peaches" and "Lump," but they were probably the most influential band for every male in Mrs. Wright's 6th grade class at Guthrie Upper Elementary. The Presidents were awesome because all their songs were really silly, but in a serious way. They weren't like Weird Al. They weren't parodying anyone, they were just weird. They didn't use all their guitar strings, and their songs were obout cats, dune buggies, and canned fruit. Aside from the late Poindexter!!, PUSA was the biggest artistic influence on my 6th grade band, the Lumpy Potatoes. Something about the Presidents spoke to kids. Whatever it was it didn't last. After their genius covers of "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "Cleveland Rocks" they kind of disappeared. They still put out new albums (I bought one. It was ok, there was a song called "Death Star" on it) and I saw on MTV a couple years ago that they were collaborating with Sir Mix A Lot. I remember that in the interview the lead singer called the rapper Mr. A Lot. It was awesome.
So there you have it. Let the mid-90s revival begin.
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