... Their latest full-length (not literally!) album Pump Up The Valuum see them getting ever more popular than they were before. Actually I would say that NOFX hate the media, with comments likes this you can see why:
“…So a lot of people wonder why we don’t ever do interviews. ... Read review
Pump Up The Valuum - CD
And Now For Something Completely Similar Take Two Placebos And Call Me Lame What's The ... more
Matter With Parents Today? Dinosaurs Will Die Thank God It's Monday Clams Have Feelings Too (Actually They Don't) Louise Stranger Than Fishin' Pharmacist's Daughter ...
Pump Up the Valuum - NOFX
The band who, despite staunchly avoiding all contact with the international rock media, ... more
have become the ultimate punk bench mark may well be embracing irony when they choose to open their umpteenth collection with a song entitled "And Now For Something...
Pump Up the Valuum - NOFX
The band who, despite staunchly avoiding all contact with the international rock media, ... more
have become the ultimate punk bench mark may well be embracing irony when they choose to open their umpteenth collection with a song entitled "And Now For Something...
A review by ia_young on Pump Up The Valuum - NoFx May 3rd, 2001
Author's product rating:
Originality
Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics
Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks
Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Good
Value for Money
Advantages:
great songs which are funny
Disadvantages:
none, well album a little short
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
While NOFX certainly don’t like the media and as far as I can see have tried to steer away from being a hugely successful band, which if they wanted to they could. Their latest full-length (not literally!) album Pump Up The Valuum see them getting ever more popular than they were before. Actually I would say that NOFX hate the media, with comments likes this you can see why:
“…So a lot of people wonder why we don’t ever do interviews. Here are a few of our reasons, we mainly stopped because were tired of being exploited…”
What they are basically saying is that they don’t want to be used in order to boost the sales of someone’s c****y magazine, they also don’t want to appear on teen magazines (I can sympathise!). NOFX are very happy with how successful they have become without the media and are quite happy to stay out of the mainstream.
~~A Little about NOFX ~~ They are a small punk band from someplace in America, who cares it is a very big place, they have had numerous albums, EP’s out so many that it is hard to remember them all. Their bass player, Fat Mike, set up his own record company, Fat Wreck Chords, which has many other successful (well not commercially, but successful) punk bands such as Lagwagon, Less Than Jake, No Use For A Name and many more. I’m sorry about that I appear to know less than I thought! The band consists of the following people, Melvin, Fat Mike, Smelly and El Hefe.
** By the way, never take NOFX seriously, their songs are jokes and so are the covers and inlays to their records! **
~~Pump Up The Valuum~~ Released in 2000 this is NOFXs most recent release, although if I have not updated this before the next record please ignore. The front cover is unforgettable, it is a doll nurse, with a blue tint to her skin necking a bottle of pills. Anyway forget about that, lets talks about songs…
* And Now For Something Completely Similar * This is the first track the grace this gem on an album and is a stupid little song taking the piss out of TV channels and how they repeat a lot of the shows that they play.
* Take Two Placebos And Call Me Laim * This is the second song on the album and is a song about how it is c**p that people get used. The people being used should run away and hide somewhere so they can’t be used.
* What’s The Matter With Parents Today? * This is the third track on the CD and is piss take out of what’s the matter with kids today. In this song the roles are reversed and it is the kids getting stoned, drunk and hanging out where the kids should be.
* Dinosaurs Will Die * This is the fourth track on the CD and is an attack at corporate record companies. The Dinosaurs are these record companies and the only ones who will survive are those who write music for the love of it not for the money.
* Thank God It’s Monday * Here we are at the fith track and yet again another reversal of a popular say, “Thank God Its Friday”. This song is about someone who only works on the weekend, so Mondays is his or her calling.
* Clams Have Feeling Too (Actually They Don’t * At the sixth track on the CD you must be thinking these people are weird and twisted, you’d probably be correct. This song is about comparing animals to different groups in society then singing about how bored clams must be with no feelings, which makes it okay to eat them.
* Louise * The seventh track on this CD is a lovely, clean, radio friendly song about a bloke named Louise! Actually scrub that, it is probably the last song that would be played on the radio. It is a song about a girl called Louise, who is a sex addict!
* Stranger Than Fishin * Welcome to the review of the eighth track on this CD, this is a song about strange things like how some musicians can make it, as they are so bad, or something like that?
* Pharmacist’s Daughter * On the ninth track on the CD the song is about how cool it would be to be in love with a pharmacist’s daughter! Lots of free drugs in return for his love!
* Bottles To The Ground * This is the tenth song on the CD, this song is about getting drunk. More specifically it is about how many rounds until you pass out or something along those lines? You make up your own mind if you decide to purchase this CD.
* Total Bummer * This is the eleventh track on this CD. It is a song about someone who doesn’t want to be lonely, sad and they can’t take it they just want everyone to go away. It is just the though of her that keeps him going… I think?
* My Vagina * This is the twelfth track on this CD and is about a bloke getting a sex change and all that this entails to the smallest detail. This is a very amusing song and would probably offend a few people, great lets play this one full volume!
* Herojuana * This is the thirteenth song on the CD and is a song about growing up and drugs. Stating that the only real problem with drugs is getting really good ones! And they want to know when tey get to make their own decisions.
* Theme From A NOFX Album * This is the last, fourteenth, song on the CD and is probably the worst. It is a nice little song, which is basically all about NOFX and how they got to where they are now and how they did it. It features an accordion, Timmy the Turtle, some really cool impressions from NOFX.
~~My Thoughts~~ If you are not into this kind of music or you are easily offended don’t get this, although I do say don’t take NOFX seriously! Apart from those of you this is a very good album and is worth the money that you will pay for it, unless you copy it, although I don’t recommend you do this, the inlay is adds to the feel of the CD, read it, it is very funny!
Advantages: in the opinion.. Disadvantages: in the opinion..
Well they've now been going 15 years believe it or not and here they are with another great album! Here is a little run throught of all the songs and what they are about: And Now for something completely similar: This song is a short intro which consists of fast guitar riffs and fast drumming,and of course some singing, a great way to kick off the album! Take two Placebos and call me lame:This is a micky take out of "Placebo" as with most NoFx albums ... ...a nice start to the album. Whats the matter with parents today?: This song is about parents these days, it has lyrics such as "Dads dressed up like motly crew and why is mums hair dyed blue?" a micky take out of modern day parents they basically sing basically the opposite to what they are like in real life, a funny song! Dinosaurs will die: This track starts off with a humourus warning saying "this is not a test of the emergancie broadcast system, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Lots of cool songs Disadvantages: Maybe too much like 'So Long'
...be their last. While Pump Up The Valuum still holds NOFX to the old skool punk attitude they helped to forge, my only concern is that at times it sounds a lot less happy (once again this was a gripe I had with the previous record).
I do say at times (and that also does not mean that the songs are not good). For the rest, Fatty and the boys are as loud, vulgar and punked up as ever!
Although the album takes a swing away from their famous ska beats ... ...Album'), it does not fail to deliver in diversity. There are the sad (yet really catchy) songs like 'Dinosaurs Will Die', 'What's The Matter With Parents Today' and 'Take 2 Placebos...' which will have you nodding along in a state somewhere between frustration, sorrow and dumb happiness.
Then there are the downright hilarious 'White Trash' style upbeat dirty-punk tracks like 'Pharmacist's Daughter' and 'Clams Have Feelings Too'. These tracks stand ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Another astounding offering from one of the finest punk bands ever. Thankfully, no big changes in their style - they are still as punky as ever! A little more so than their last release, "Punk in Drublic", and a lot more so than the slower "Heavy Petting Zoo" from '96. Like all other NOFX albums, there is a good amount of very catchy songs (which you just can't get out of your head!) and pleasing lyrics to keep you listening again and again. One ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: It's got some pretty good fast songs Disadvantages: It's got alot of not very good songs
I am such a big fan of NOFX, so, as you can imagine as soon as I heard that this album was coming out I was so excited. I pre ordered it and got it in the mail the day it was released. As I placed it in my CD player my hands were shaking with anticipation. I pressed play and started to listen.
I played through the first four songs which were fast and fairly good songs (And now for something completely similar, Take two placebos and call me lame, ... ...and I was thinking yeah, this is alright but it's not really classic NOFX, maybe it'll get better later on?!? Then the unconceivable happened- It got worse!!!
The next three songs were really lame and although they were quite melodic, they were uninspired and did not get me amped so I got bored listening to them.
The song after that (Stranger than fishin') was pretty good and started to remind me of the NOFX that got me into punk, but this was ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: rockin album and worth every penny Disadvantages: some songs are very short
NOFX do it again with this great new album. It gives a wide range of sound as is my personal favourite of all there albums. The songs are short and sharp just as punk rock should be. If you are a huge fan of indie/punk music then you shouldn't miss buying this album. Many of todays bands say that NOFX were there inspiration and even though they are 30 odd years old they still are the number one in the punk rock industry and this album demonstrates ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Good use of guitar, funny, catchy, punk Disadvantages: Inlay card could be better
...Funny, Catchy, Clever.. what else does a punk album need? politics, maybe, but besides that, it sticks to the punk idea.
This album is arguably NoFX's best (pumpup the valuum is another contender), after listening to this album, you'll see why. It is extremely funny, especially the first time you hear it. With the catchy tunes, you are immediately attracted to it, but as you listen to it more, your love for it starts to grow.
Of course, if you're not a lover of punk/alternative music, chances are you wouldn't appreciate this album. But, if you've heard punk before, and you want to give it a try, this is an album to start off with. This is punk at its best!
If you're looking for sophisticated lyrical content, you wouldn't like this album at all.
NoFX, as you will hear, are not too original musically, but lyrically they are, as...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Album Notes: NoFx: Chavin, Lek, Ton, Toe. Additional personnel: Spike Slawson, Kent, Turt, Jay, Limo San (vocals); Bill Hansson (accordion). All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. PUMP UP THE VALUUM is just one more episode in NoFx's perfectly arrested development. The band begins its umpteenth album with a perfect introduction, "And Now For Something Completely Similar," a play on the old Monty Python line; NoFx's greatest asset lies in its ability to stick to its guns and avoid the pressure to mature, or even mutate. On PUMP UP THE VALUUM, Fat Mike and the gang are still writing brilliantly bratty two-minute punk rants about authority figures, the system, and anything else that comes to mind. This is basic punk, and NoFx is refreshing and fun in its familiarity. The playful lyrics perfectly traverse that dental floss-thin tightrope between painfully silly and overbearingly clever. The seemingly spontaneous call and response of the joyfully pointless "Clams Have Feelings Too (Actually They Don't)"--"no clam eyes to cry clam tears"--is perfect pop-punk anarchy. NoFx won't and shouldn't ever grow up; it'd be a shame if the band ever stopped singing about women and drugs and inertia and sexual frustration, and its ilk, in its own singularly wide-eyed way.
Album Reviews: CMJ (7/00, p.58) - "...Brisk, wound-up melodic blasts of punk that clock in at under 3 minutes a piece....it's a formula this band long ago perfected..." Melody Maker (5/30/00, p.56) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...a relentless stream of neck-snappingly fast 3-chord workouts boasting hooks you could land whales with and lyrics that vary from the sublimely inspired...to the mind-numbingly rubbish...held together by a rich seam of self-deprecating humor..."
Titles on disc 1
1.: And Now For Something Completely Similar
2.: Take Two Placebos And Call Me Lame
3.: What's The Matter With Parents Today
4.: Dinosaurs Will Die
5.: Thank God It's Monday
6.: Clams Have Feelings Too
7.: Louise
8.: Stranger Than Fishin'
9.: Pharmacist's Daughter
10.: Bottles To The Ground
11.: Total Bummer
12.: My Vagina
13.: Herojuana
14.: Theme From A NOFX Album
15.: Lower
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Listed on Ciao since : 12/07/2000
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