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Stinky Sophomore Album From Skunk Anansie

Remember that moment of recognition when you realized that, beyond the

muscular bod and groovy tattoos and the impressive amount of sheer noise

he can make, Henry Rollins basically sucks? It's a feeling that once

again rears its ugly head when listening to Skunk Anansie's sophomore

album Stoosh. In fact, U.K. rockers Skunk are basically a PC

version of The Rollins Band, with the big-mouthed, raging, tattooed, short

hetero (?) white boy replaced by a big-mouthed, raging, tattooed, short

lesbian black girl named Skin. Otherwise, the song, or lack of it,

remains the same.

Mostly what we get on Stoosh is hack retro metal dressed up with

some "hip" '90s soul-funk touches. The album's "anthem," "Yes It's

Fucking Political," sums up what's wrong with Skunk Anansie approach,

being a truly obnoxious song which brings to mind an unholy marriage of

The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Country Joe And The Fish: dumbass funk-rock

and dumbass political rock all in one smelly package. "Yes it's fucking

political / Everything's political" rails naughty Skin, trying to summon

the requisite amount of outrage: if there's a Woodstock III, man, you know

she'll be there, cause she's just so committed that it hurts. As is

the whole album, this one's designer agit-rock, a suitable fashion

accessory for naive university undergrads who think they're being radical

by getting a few body piercings and tattoos. Not to mention the British

rock critics who so often let a band's good intentions deafen them to the

reality of their (lack of) talent. They'll praise Skunk Anansie and

pillory Marilyn Manson, when the truth is that Manson has more originality

in (name your fave Manson appendage) than Skunk Anansie has in their

collective bodies.

What's really sad is--once you get past all the sound and fury signifying

nothing--how bland an exercise Stoosh really is. As with most

PC-influenced "art," there's an underlying Puritan philosophy at work here

in which the band seems to be setting itself up as the moral arbiters of

rock and roll: "Just because it feels good / doesn't make it right"

perennial victim Skin whines on "Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)."

Duh, kewl. Other Big Topics (tm) tackled include infidelity in

"Infidelity (Only You)," and apathy in "We Love Your Apathy." Get the

idea? After a few songs, your skull gets a bit sore from being repeatedly

whacked by Skin's bag of political bricks: yep, this is one heavy

band alright.

The big problem with Stoosh is that it soon becomes apparent to the

discerning listener that all this heavy duty politicizing is being

employed to distract attention from the fact that Skunk Anansie is in

reality a bar band with ideas above its station. From the sub- Chili

Peppers "Milk Is My Sugar" to the cigarette lighter-waving ballad "Brazen

(Weep)," this is really standard '80s hair-band metal gussied up for the

'90s with the proper dose of angst. Admittedly, the band creates a few

sparks on "She's My Heroine," whose bombastic chorus recalls, of all

things, The Scorpions, and on the aforementioned

"Infidelity (Only You)," where Skin's soulful emoting over a dying

relationship rides delicately atop a bass-heavy, stop-start funk rhythm

from the band. Moments such as these, however, are too few and far

between on Stoosh. Overall, this album--perhaps appropriately,

given the band's name--kind of stinks.

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