Unlike what common knowledge has told you, hard rock did not die after the release of Nevermind. Even through the 21st century, we had hard rock bands conquer the Billboard charts. Some of these revivalists were decent, such as The Darkness, Queens of the Stone Age and Wolfmother. We also had some mediocre bands such as Jet that merely copied the hard rock sound. And then we had bands such as Saving Abel and, the subject of this review, Buckcherry that emphasized everything wrong with hard rock: the misogyny, the obnoxiousness, the crass commercialization. Buckcherry is already pretty shameless, shameless outside of music. But when you listen to their breakout album 15, you’ll cringe.
When the album is rocking, 15 really loves to show off its libido. Just like Louis XIV or Nickelback, Buckcherry isn’t afraid to boast about how much they love to fuck. Fucking inside a car? Listen to “Next 2 You.” Fucking while getting high? Listen to the opener “So Far.” Going to Brooklyn just to get laid? Listen to “Brooklyn.” Fucking whores until they’re tamed? Listen to “Crazy Bitch.” Hell, if you didn’t get the point that Buckcherry loves to fuck, their music video for “Crazy Bitch” featured strippers (among other classy things).
All of this misogyny and fucking would be forgiven (see Guns N’ Roses) if the album wasn’t frustratingly generic. Buckcherry lazily mixes hard rock’s machismo with the blandness of commercial rock. Even with Josh Todd yelling and swearing, everything sounds too controlled. The guitars solos resemble that of Angus Young or Slash, only more contained. Josh Todd, in his nasally Brian Johnson-lite voice, gets grating fast with all the yelling and sneering. The aforementioned “Crazy Bitch” is the worst offender on here, consisting of pure misogyny and nauseating lines such as “You’re crazy bitch/But you fuck so good, I’m on top of it.” It’s one of the most vulgar, reprehensible piece of shit to ever become a hit song, let alone be released as music.
It doesn’t get much better when Buckcherry tries to write sentimental songs. It is as though the band wasted all their testoterone on the fucking, leaving them flaccid for the ballads. “Carousels” resembles like a diluted Aerosmith. “Sorry” wants to be another “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” but comes off as a pop-rock Goo Goo Dolls ripoff.
15 isn’t completely awful. At least Buckcherry sound like they’re having lots of fun being sleazy. “Onset” features a sick guitar lick. “Out of Line” sounds like if AC/DC decided to experiment with effect units and features an excellent, menacing guitar solo. And if you ignore the lyrics and ballads, 15 does an OK job at being background music for a mindless, drunken party. But once everyone gets sober, 15 becomes a nuisance.
Grade: 4/10
Outside The Aggregator 