Bowling for Soup Albums (7)
What The Critics Say
Punky power pop pranksters Bowling for Soup have made a career out of matching catchy, unusually well-crafted pop music with clever, humorous lyrics suggesting that the band was eternally stuck in high school. With 2009's Sorry for Partyin', the group, whose members are quickly nearing middle age, seems to be regressing even further, trading in frequent references to cheerleaders and jocks for an extended penis metaphor ("My Wena") and a paean to shirking all manner of responsibility, including cleaning up dog doo ("No Hablo Inglés"). Elsewhere, the group makes a (mostly) tongue-in-cheek bid for chart success with "A Really Cool Dance Song," which matches a throbbing Lady GaGa-esque beat and electronic squiggles with the group's usual sarcastic flair, and delivers one of the best celebrations of all things brewski-related since Tom T. Hall's "I Like Beer" with the even more enthusiastically named "Hooray for Beer." As was the case with "Much More Beautiful Person" and "When We Die" on the unit's previous release, The Great Burrito Extortion Case, however, Bowling for Soup occasionally dispense with the silliness to get reflective; "Me with No You" is a midtempo, acoustic-based, straight-up sensitive heartbreak song that could easily be covered by any number of teen-pop or Nashville country singers. Throughout, the band varies little from its proven musical formula of catchy, snap-tight, and energetic guitar rock, but the primary focus on this album, as always, is on having fun, and Sorry for Partyin' makes forgiveness easy. ~ Pemberton Roach, All Music Guide
'The Great Burrito Extortion Case'
Release Date 11/7/2006
Tracks 14
Label Jive
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What The Critics Say
It's hard to dislike Bowling for Soup but it's hard to really be enthusiastic about them, either. They've been cranking out happy, hooky, humorous punk-pop since 1998, slowly crossing over into the mainstream without ever truly registering in the public consciousness the way that blink-182 did before them or Fall Out Boy did later. They've racked up a Grammy nomination and a genuine hit -- the quite clever "1985," a 2004 single that very well captured Gen-X's bewilderment at suddenly hitting their thirties -- but have managed to not quite be recognizable, a situation that their sixth album, The Great Burrito Extortion Case, is unlikely to change. At its core, it's not much different than what came before: it's still proudly goofy, poppy punk, stuff that's fun without quite being memorable. And while it's hardly worse than what they've done before, there is a subtle difference in tone on The Great Burrito Extortion Case: the group is seeming a little long in the tooth. It's not so much that they're reworking the same sound again and again -- they're a punk-pop band, so that kind of repetition is their stock in trade -- but their pop culture references seem a little shelf-worn and out of date, the product of a band that was in high school in the '80s. On "1985" that perspective helped craft the jokes, but here it's starting to wear thin, especially since there are multiple songs with John Cougar Mellencamp jokes that mingle with Joan Jett and Caddyshack references, making it all seem oh so 1985. (It also doesn't help that they have a song called "Val Kilmer" arriving a week after Kevin Federline bragged that he was like "Val Kilmer in how I'm bringing this heat," but you can't count this bad luck against them.) This kind of dated humor mingles with an increased juvenile sense of humor throughout the album, giving the impression that Bowling for Soup are pandering a little bit, trying to deliver what they believe today's teens want, but every once in a while they pull it all together -- the hooks and the humor gel into something like "High School Never Ends," which is catchy and contemporary, thanks to its Jessica Simpson and Tom & Katie jokes. And even when they're coming across like Gen-X cranks, they're still nimble and melodic, so it's easy enough to listen to The Great Burrito Extortion Case and enjoy it -- it sure is hard to get worked up about it, though. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Bowling for Soup Goes to the Movies'
Release Date 11/15/2005
Tracks 15
Label Jive
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Bowling for Soup's 2004 single "1985" was a big-time novelty. But unlike most novelties (trucker hats, pet rocks, glam metal), BFS have always supported their smart-alecky nature with solid hooks and plenty of good-natured humor. Seriously, you can't stay mad at these guys. They prove it again with Bowling for Soup Goes to the Movies, which kicks off with the theme to Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius and rolls happily along through songs that originally and un-ironically appeared in Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen movies ("Greatest Day"), Lindsay Lohan vehicles (their cover of "...Baby One More Time" is from Freaky Friday), and as the theme to The Drew Carey Show (BFS' trashy take on the Vogues' classic "Five O'Clock World.") Once songs have been, er, "Soup-ified," they all sound pretty much the same -- cranking guitars, lots of harmonies, and Jaret Reddick's thin but satisfying whine out front. But you have to give it up for a band that will admit this very observation in its liner notes. Those notes are almost the best thing about Goes to the Movies, since Reddick is so engagingly honest. He describes how each song came about and then how it played out; usually he's about to blow off the meeting when he decides to go at the last minute and writes a great song out of the experience. A lot of these Reddick didn't write, though. Besides Britney and the Vogues, Bowling for Soup tackle "I Melt With You," Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself," "Spanish Harlem" (for an unaired Luis Guzman TV pilot!), and the theme to Gilligan's Island. Goes to the Movies also includes "(Ready or Not) Omaha Nebraska," the band's theme song to ESPN's coverage of the College World Series, as well as the unreleased track "Sometimes." Because Bowling for Soup are such nice guys, they're forgiven for rhyming "thumbs" with "dumb" on that last one. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
'A Hangover You Don't Deserve'
Release Date 9/13/2004
Tracks 44
Label BMG
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Hot off their little bit left-field Grammy nomination for 2002's "Girl All the Bad Boys Want," Texan pap-rock veterans Bowling for Soup return with A Hangover You Don't Deserve. Big news: nothing's changed. "I almost got drunk at school at 14/Where I almost made out with the homecoming queen/Who almost went on to be Miss Texas/But lost to a slut with much bigger breast-esez." That's Jaret Reddick's line at the outset of "Almost," the record's Simple Plan-ish opener. Jaret next contrasts his everlasting love with the fickleness of fashion ("Trucker Hat"), and then, in the single "1985," tells the story of a mom lamenting the loss of her Julie "Tawny" Kitaen/Coverdale salad days ("When did Mötley Crüe become classic rock?"). All three songs are catchy, and they're matched in both hoke and hook by latter-album entries like "Last Call Casualty" and "A-Hole." And yet, Hangover just doesn't resonate. This is the fault of production and brand positioning. The album is packed with what's become the generically slick norm -- stuff like piano breaks, compressed vocals, and steppe farm chorus guitars. Midway through the pogo goof "Shut-Up and Smile," it's nearly impossible to tell whether this is Bowling for Soup, or Goldfinger, or Lit, or even Fountains of Wayne. (The latter's "Stacy's Mom" is even a thematic/sonic cousin to Bowling's "1985.") There's no doubting Jaret's talent as a songwriter -- his stuff is witty, engagingly self-deprecating, and catchy as hell. "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)" proves this -- its plea to a restless girlfriend to come back home "before you lose your accent" is both plaintive and snarky. And the intro to "My Hometown" is just great, where Jaret thanks all the friends he had before the Grammy nominations. But most of the time it's very hard to hear Bowling for Soup around Hangover's radio and video-ready sheen. This is doubly aggravating because such marketing will advertise Bowling's pop culture references and downplay the fact that, underneath the slickness, A Hangover You Don't Deserve is 17 tracks strong. (Where you at now, Good Charlotte?) In his review for 2002's Drunk Enough to Dance, a wise man wondered whether Bowling for Soup might one day match the mature noise pop genius of Too Much Joy. The only disappointing thing about this Hangover is that we're still wondering. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The band is called Bowling for Soup, the album's called Drunk Enough to Dance, and the cover features four guys in ugly power-blue tuxedos pulling funny faces. Gotta be awful, right? Well, not so fast -- no one is going to call Drunk Enough to Dance one of the great records of our time, but these guys do happen to bat at a higher average than the majority of punk-pop acts who've emerged in the wake of Green Day's commercial breakthrough. Jarret Reddick's songs sound tight, sharp, and hooky and, compared to most of his peers, he seems more puzzled than contemptuous of women, which is a welcome switch (the post-breakup gloating anthem "Life After Lisa" is a lot snarkier than it needs to be, but it's hard to blame a guy for being happy to not listen to House of Pain anymore). The music doesn't break any new ground, but drummer Gary Wiseman and bassist Erik Chandler push the songs forward nicely, and they have the good sense not to throw too many slow tunes into the mix. Drunk Enough to Dance will change no one's life, but the jokes are sometimes funny, it's significantly less obnoxious than blink-182 or Sum 41, and it has better hooks to boot; give these guys a few years to mature, and they might become the next Too Much Joy. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Let's Do It for Johnny!'
Release Date 5/16/2000
Tracks 13
Label Jive
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Rock on Honorable Ones!!!'
Release Date 1/1/1998
Tracks 15
Label FFROE
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The success of the slaphappy Hangover You Don't Deserve singles "1985" and "Almost" warrants this reissue of Bowling for Soup's first album, 1998's Rock On Honorable Ones!!! It was originally released on the tiny Texas label FFORE, but as the sticker on the front of Jive 's version says, it's "finally available to all non-Texans!" The BFS template is alive and thriving on Rock On -- it's by-the-numbers bash 'n' pop-punk in the vein of Nerf Herder or Diffuser. But while fierce originality isn't their game, being fun and clever and avoiding filler certainly is. Jaret Reddick writes songs about insecurity, girls, and insecurity because of girls, and he's unabashedly first-person about it all. "I have no idea what I did," he says in the breakup song "Corndog," and then he polls the audience. "Let me ask you, do you think I was wrong?" It's an endearing trick, and gives Bowling for Soup's songs a weight they might not otherwise have. In this way the band suggests Boston's Mighty Mighty Bosstones, whose own style is a hyper mixture of charisma, honesty, punk, metal, and ska. (That comparison is even more apt for Rock On Honorable Ones!!!, since cuts like "2113" and "Belgium" make good use of a horn section.) "Scope," "Kool-Aid," and "Cody" are just rock songs with pieces snatched from Cheap Trick and punk rock. But Reddick wavers between lovable haplessness and dumbfounded luck, the songs are always jacked with high-volume guitar, and they hold up longer than you might expect. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
