Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll Redux?

A history lesson: The late 60’s housed famed events such as the women’s rights movements, college protests, and naturally Woodstock. The music made the era with its thought-provoking lyrics and creative musical stylings that encouraged people to think and react. Fast forward twenty years and we enter the 80’s, home to bad fashion, heavy metal, long greasy hair, and cocaine classics like “Less Than Zero;” arguably a step in the wrong direction. The Stereophonics 2005 album Language, Sex, Violence, Other? revisits that questionable era of the 80’s with their stylin’ album cover, grunge instrumentation, falsetto-harmonizing voices, and shallow lyrics. Entering the decade in full force, the first track “Superman” includes repetitive bass lines and forceful guitar solos capped with such lyrics as “You got that woman but you want her gone/ So you can fuck a teenage blonde.” The sexual innuendos continue in track 2, “Doorman,” with “suck my banana/ suck it with cream.” The lyrical content and glam rock fatigues hardly lessen throughout the album, with the exception of “Lolita” and “Feel,” which include the Brit-rock we all know, love, and possibly expect from the Stereophonics. Although “Lolita” includes 80’s characteristics such as obnoxious keyboards and overuse of the electric guitar, the lyrical lines are softer and seemingly more intentional. The droning, hodgepodge of sound in “Feel” allows the lyrics and solo lines to emerge more gracefully.

If you haven’t already had your fill of 80’s music (or 80’s inspired for that matter), then this is the album for you. Just imagine them all in tight leather pants and the fantasy is complete.