|
Gay for Johnny Depp - What Doesn’t Kill You, Eventually Kills You (8)
CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY
With a band name like "Gay For Johnny Depp", song titles like "Suckcess" and "Nine Inch Males", plus a hardcore sound that could flay the robes off a wrinkly priest, first impressions of this squealing punk mess are often of a careless attempt at coarse humour.
In truth, the sex puns and swearing simply conceal the same anti-establishment message that punk's been banging on about for years. GFJD's unique take on it is, yes, "fuck the system" - by fucking everyone else. Forget rules and social obligations, and just have fun. Johnny is just an example; fuck him, fuck Bush, fuck Obama, fuck anything that moves - but in a beautiful, free love kind of way.
So, when the message is "don't worry about anything, just enjoy yourself", it seems pointless to judge this record on anything other than the songs themselves. Fuck the aesthetic, "What Doesn't Kill You, Eventually Kills You" lives or dies on its hooks, and nobody should underestimate this band's ability to write them.
Here, the gimmick helps; a band called "Gay For Johnny Depp" can get away with shouting all sorts of entertaining things. In the past, slogans like "Hate masturbate! The only way to save the world" became unlikely anthems. This time they lyrics are unfortunately a bit less attention-grabbing, but the music's as spiky and inventive as ever, and there are still few other acts that would brazenly yell things like "She fucked him! He fucked us! They fucked each other! What a fucking mess!"
The low point is the Slade cover, cheekily renamed to "Cum On Feel The Boize". As a title it's a wonderful piece of propaganda, but the song itself doesn't sound like it belongs. Hopefully it doesn't mark the point where Gay For Johnny Depp finally let their image overrun their music.
Reviewed by Nick Oakden
What Doesn’t Kill You, Eventually Kills You is out now on Captains of Industry
You’ll like this if… you want to see Everytime You Die going toe to toe with Blood Brothers. In an Eighties tribute club..
|
|
|
CD Reviews 