Her Sonic Youth CD's were nowhere to be seen

James Bourne, you are a pop genius. But--and I say this gently, and knowing it doesn't really matter...


...could we please get you to change your hairstyle? I won't even worry about clothes yet, and I'm not saying you have to get spikes, but could we just redye it? Maybe? I know it doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things, but it just seems strange to see someone with such amazing talent looking...awkward.

(P.S. When are we getting another Son of Dork album? And is it true you are going to tour the U.S.? Please do not be infected by the music here--if you come back sounding like Hawthorne Heights, I may very well be heartbroken.)

Anyhow, James was a member of Busted and, since the group's breakup, has put together the group Son of Dork, which has released one album and an excellent soundtrack-only song ("We're Not Alone"). My relationship with their album, Welcome to Loserville, has been far from what I expected. I may have said this before, but I thought their album would definitely be one of the "instant pleasure" types--if you're going to enjoy it, you'll enjoy it immediately. For some songs, that turned out to be the case; as much as Son of Dork seem to be disliked throughout pop circles, I instantly loved songs like "Ticket Out Of Loserville" and "Eddie's Song." However, in the months since I first got the album, something unexpected happened: I've begun to like more and more songs on it. I always liked the album, but now, there's only a couple of songs on the album I'm not particularly fond of, and I can't imagine why I didn't love songs like "Holly, I'm The One" and "Little Things" instantly. In short, Welcome to Loserville is a grower, something I never would have expected. Today's song, though, is one of the "instant" ones for me.

Murdered In The Mosh--I don't want to hear that Son of Dork/James don't like pop, or think they are better than boy bands/"traditional" boy bands--this song, and others on the album, show that they think that kind of posturing is ridiculous ("Boy Band," which is tongue-in-cheek, could be confusing in that respect, but the references are there all the same--"Good Charlotte said they liked McFly/is half their fan base gonna cry?").* How can you not love a song with the line "Just go to concerts that you love/'cause there's no shame in liking Backstreet Boys"? The whole song fits with this; it's about a girl's attempts to pretend she likes hardcore rock, because it's "cooler," even though she likes pop, and how ridiculous that makes her look. It's not the fact that she doesn't know Jane's Addiction's songs that makes the boys "fall over laughing;" it's that she claims to be "into Jane's Addiction," but doesn't know the words to their songs.

Enough lyrical analysis: the real reason to love this song is its catchiness and ability to make you want to go bounce off the walls. Yes, the sound is a little harder than Busted's, but not too much--maybe some more emo or rock influence, but really, mainly just that rushing, driving feeling. There's usually a template that songs like this follow, where the pace picks up about two-thirds in, but "Murdered in the Mosh" has this great slowed-down ending, where it gets the tiniest bit choral--no more shredding guitars, but instead overlapping, uniting voices.

I know it'll be unpopular for me to say this, but their album is really great and fun, and I definitely recommend buying it; you can get it here (physical) or here (digital). This song, though I love it, isn't even the best on the album, so, if you even sort of like this, Welcome to Loserville is a worthy purchase.

Next up: maybe that remix.

*If you want to dislike them because of their music, I have no argument with that--it's all to taste. To be honest, a much deeper analysis of the dynamics surrounding Son of Dork in relation to issues like this could probably be done, because--if we look beyond their lyrics (or even into them more)--it probably is more complex than I've made out here. I think the same general conclusion would still be reached, though.