Something Old and Something...well...Also Old

Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!!

I have always thought there was a lot of a intelligence and sincerity hiding in the three minute blasts of pop/punk Green Day have been throwing at us for nearly 20 years now. I heard "When I Come Around" in a bar the other night, and it sounded just as fresh and relatable as it did when I was 12. I could barely eat my cheese fries!

Green Day has a history of releasing albums that sound like reactionary opposites to the preceding album. After the (mostly) sunny, lighthearted Dookie, the band released Insomniac. An album filled with drug fueled, walls-closing-in paranoia. I actually like Insomniac more than Dookie, even though I know I'm wrong. The easygoing, and not as good, Nimrod followed Insomniac two years later.

In 2000, Green Day released their biggest curveball of an album to date with Warning. I can still recall the confused feelings in my 16-year-old brain after hearing Warning for the first time. No songs at a breakneck speed. More pop than punk. A mellow album that owes more to Rubber Soul-era Beatles than Rocket to Russia-era Ramones. A song-focussed pure pop album that bests any pop/rock album put out this decade. Basically, I'm not going to argue with anyone who says Warning is the best Green Day album.

One month before the 2004 presidential election, Green Day released the ambitious American Idiot. A fucking 13-song punk rock opera! When you unashamedly name your Bush-bashing concept album American Idiot and it goes on to sell a bizillion copies, I am happy. If all goes as planned, the million 14-years-olds who bought American Idiot in 2004 will say, "Fuck you, Mom and Dad," and make a progressive decision when they vote this November.

Ah, and now that brings us to the present. So, how do you follow one of the most successful albums of the decade? You secretly change your band name to Foxboro Hot Tubs and release an amazing garage rock revival album. Bop! Green Day have never hidden their affection for the Kinks and 60s garage rock, but it has never been as clear as it is on Foxboro Hot Tubs' Stop Drop and Roll!!!. Thirty-two minutes of pure garage-pop bliss. Yeah, yeah, "Didn't this whole grarage rock revival thing burn out like six years ago?" Well, none of those bands ever made anything as completely enjoyable as this album. Stop Drop and Roll!!! could very well end up being the best 32 minutes of your day everyday this summer.

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