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.