ALBUM REVIEW: Mean Jeans – Blasted (Fat Wreck Chords)
Almost 30 years after they released their final album and played their last show, the spirit of the Ramones is alive and well.
Don’t believe me? Check out bands like Teenage Bottlerocket, The Lillington, DeeCracks, The Ramonas, and, all the way from Portland, Oregon, Mean Jeans.
They were formed by guitarist Billy Jeans and drummer Jeans Wilder, with the line-up completed by Junior Jeans on bass, and together they kick up a very enjoyable Ramones-core racket.
I’m a sucker for anyone who sounds like da bruddahs, so I have no idea how I haven’t come across them before. They’ve been around since 2006, and Blasted is their sixth album, and their fourth for Fat Wreck. But I’m glad I ‘found’ them at last.
They tear through 15 slices of catchy pop-punk whose subject matter includes space, aliens, dumb American pop culture, being unlucky in love, and partying hard. Too hard.
Mean Jeans make what they call slime punk, which basically means it’s loud, fast, and doesn’t take itself completely seriously. That much is evident from the opening track, I Don’t Give A Shit Anymore, which was released as the lead single.
It sets the scene nicely for half an hour of infectious energy and hooks, and singalong choruses, with subject matter including going to live in space armed with only a 12-pack of beer (Blasted To The Moon), living out of your car (Taco Bell Parking Lot) and seeing gastropods every time you close your eyes (Slugs).
There is a more serious side to Mean Jeans too; Look What Punk’s Done To You, Took Too Much and I Don’t Know What I Did Last Summer are loser anthems addressing the downsides of life lived in the fast lane.
Diagnosis is about mental health, while Lost My Mind is about the lasting effects of drug abuse, but on the flip side you’ve also got Something’s Going On, possibly the only song ever written about the cult 1986 comedy horror b-movie Class Of Nuke ’Em High!
Break Up With You, one of the standout tracks, bemoans the loss of a girlfriend, while Living Large On A Credit Card is about the ‘enjoy yourself now and worry about later’ mindset.
If Blasted doesn’t get your feet tapping and head nodding within a minute of the opening track, I suspect you must be dead already. 8/10.
