Reason Todd Taylor has a well-deserved spot in my “Hallowed Halls of People Who Are Infinitely Cool” number #1,697: He introduced me to the charms of M.O.T.O., way back when we was both writing for Flipside. To paraphrase Renee Zellweger, they had me at “Dick About It,” the very first song Todd played, and that initial spin has resulted in “Dance Dance Dance to the Radio” being one of my all-time songs with only two chords in it. Dunno where this album fits into their pantheon (by the demo-quality sound of it, I’m guessin’ pretty early on), but it has all the things that makes their stuff so cool—strong hooks, smart aleck pop music references, and a lack of self-importance that cuts low the posturing and vaults up the rockin’. You want pop punk like the Queers, or Blink 182 or whoever else is the big shit this week? Fuck that. These guys are much, much better.
–jimmy ([email protected])