God, I should really hate this, but I don’t, and I can’t rightly explain it. Maybe it’s because Chris Shiflett has a Grammy for Fighting Foo, got visited by the Secret Service for wearing a Not My President t-shirt, was in No Use For A Name and 22 Jacks, plays in the Me First And The Gimme Gimmes and he’s still not a dick. That probably has something to do with it. Jackson makes clean, light, starry-eyed pop that’s easy to digest, has a bunch of undeniable hooks, doesn’t make me cringe, and is a good compromise if I have to put on something that doesn’t have a lot of swearing or loud guitars.
–todd (Magnificent;