Care Bears on Fire
(S-Curve)
The most infectious example of fast times at rock ‘n' roll high school since the Donnas followed American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine with Get Skintight, Get Over It! feels like a scene from a cheerleader movie where the riot grrrls devise a scheme to rock the prom after locking the real band (play by Winger) in a closet.
They hit the ground running with "Pleaser," a portrait in youthful abandon whose opening riff makes the most of the Clash's "Police on My Back" while the vocal hooks recall Veruca Salt as Sophie sneers her way through put-downs as spot-on as "gossip makes her feel less dead." Nearly every song questions traditional high-school values, from the Pistols-go-surfing-with-Gidget guitar-rock of "Superteen," where Sophie pulls out of the chorus with "You've got it all, but what does it mean," to "Barbie Eat a Sandwich," where Sophie's solution to eating disorders is, naturally, eating. Of course!
And after several choruses of "Barbie Eat a Sandwich," she changes it up with a smile-inducing final line, "...or just an apple." But the instant classic here - their "Cherry Bomb" - is "Everybody Else," a non-conformist anthem that kicks off with Sophie demanding, "Don't tell me what to do, what to wear, what to say" on her way to a singalong chorus that starts with a taunting, "Na na-na na na-na na na-na na."
Standout tracks: "Everybody Else," "Pleaser" A. WATT
