by John Bear
Daily Lobo
I just realized that I like NOFX for the same reason I hate the Rolling Stones.
Both bands are old and way past their prime. The members look like they have been to hell and back. Their new music pales in comparison to their older stuff.
I am a hypocrite.
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I didn't realize this until I heard Fat Mike utter the same sentiment on Wolves in Wolves' Clothing, the NOFX follow-up to The War on Errorism.
Yes, NOFX is too old to be doing the punk rock thing anymore. These guys are in their 40s. Punk is supposed to be a thing of youth, not middle age.
But I still like them. Even if the band hasn't put out a solid album since So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes - an album title they should have heeded - I will follow this band to the end of the Earth.
NOFX, why do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
One, hipsters hate you, so I automatically like you more. How many times has a punk rocker curled his lip at me for saying I love this band? More than I can remember. I just laugh when they say it. I laugh even harder when they tell me Dead Kennedys are too commercial.
Two, even though your last three albums have left something to the imagination - The War on Errorism has great songs, but lacks as a whole - you guys still put out better music than 99 percent of your contemporaries. Rock 'n' roll has gotten incredibly soft, pussy- footing around, not saying much. You guys still give it your all, even if you do suck, a state of being to which you readily admit.
Three, El Jefe. What other band has a guitar-pimping, trumpet-playing multi-impressionist? Forget about it, no one.
Four, you guys hate hippies. So do I. It's like we're the same person.
Anyway, Wolves in Wolves' Clothing finds the band continuing on the jazz-infused, occasionally reggae tangent that is oft imitated but never matched. Fat Mike, lead singer and bassist, has come a long way. His bass licks near virtuosity and his lyrics, as of late, possess a certain eloquence they lacked before. Melvin and Jefe kick savage amounts of ass on the guitar, and Smelly, the drummer, is still kicking the shit out of his drum kit.
This continuing improvement in musical and lyrical prowess, however, seems to detract from the band as a whole. These guys have built their entire careers on a solid foundation of sloppiness, so when I hear deftly executed instrumentals, I cannot help but yearn somewhat for their past when most of their songs sounded on the verge of falling to pieces.
Fat Mike's lyrics have transformed from odes to liquor and vaguely political tirades into straight-up hating on the state of the union. While I appreciate his concern about the country, I cannot help but feel mildly depressed that I have to get my politics from a washed-up punk rocker rather than my elected officials.
But I digress.
I am relieved that NOFX has retained the brain cells necessary to come up with puns with which to pepper its song titles. Names like "We March to the Beat of Indifferent Drum" and "Cool and Unusual Punishment," though they aren't great songs, are great titles. Overall, I'd say the band is old, worn-out, washed-up, played-out and needs to quit while it is ahead.
But it won't, and that's why I love it.
Burn in hell, Mick Jagger. Viva El Jefe.
Wolves in Wolves' Clothing
NOFX
Grade: B
