Smart guys have played dumb while strapped to guitars for a long time. Sometimes they’re credited for doing so, often they’re derided. Pissed Jeans—armed with stripped-down thrash record King of Jeans and no small amount of unblinking self-awareness—get the benefit of the doubt.
Critics trip all over themselves hailing Pissed Jeans’s mundane, meandering lyrics as refreshingly free of pretense. I don’t necessarily see it that way. Most songs seem to be written from the perspective of a character, a move I prefer to think of as “the world’s oldest cop-out.” The rush to announce King of Jeans as a return to no-nonsense grunge seems odd, as grunge is a figment of your imagination and this record strikes me as nothing more than a punk rock record for old people. Old enough to appreciate the absence of macho posturing or technical gee-wizardry that seeps into nearly every corner of modern heavy music. The music press have embraced Pissed Jeans, perhaps due to their status as a Sub Pop pet project or the mystery surrounding a part-time band that doesn’t tour often.
No manner of hype or hyperbole can distract from one thing: this Pissed Jeans record will kick your ass.
Even after multiple plays (as many as 10?), the opening track “False Jesii Part Two” is an undeniable monster. A beat-your-steering-wheel-into-a-pretzel, punch-a-stranger-on-the-subway classic that doesn’t so much set the table for the next 11 tracks as set you up for a good beating.
Repeated listens of a record help drive the value of sequencing home, as evidenced by many of the 10 Listens review. It cuts both ways for King of Jeans. In one way, the album is set up like a great live set; an electric opener that capitalizes on all the pent up excitement and drunken energy. Longer, slower tracks like “Pleasure Race”, “Request for Masseuse”, and “Spent” provide ample opportunity for collecting one’s thoughts and one’s teeth off of the ground before the next balls-out attack on your senses. “Request for Masseuse” also allows time for the listener to reflect on the proposition of paying for a happy ending; a thoughtful gesture to say the least. “R-Rated Movie” adds enough of a hint of melody to the album’s later tracks to come as a welcome change of pace without compromising the straight-ahead vision. There is a downside of opening with the indisputably best song, one that leaves you gasping for air as “False Jesii Part Two” does, I often found myself dialing up King of Jeans but only staying for the first song.
The elemental aspects that make Pissed Jeans great are reflected in the production. Fuzzy guitars, blown out bass with clean & clear drums don’t get in the way of sheer energy of the songs and strength of the riffs. All bands in this realm are only going to be as strong as their riffs, and King of Jeans has ‘em in spades. Excellent noisy lead guitar parts help to build on the howling vocals and persistent, cohesive push; giving the whole thing a lot more depth and polish than four kids crashing around their parent’s garage.
Pissed Jeans don’t exactly wear their influences on their sleeves, but they hardly hide them. Familiarity bubbles to the surface in a way that doesn’t distract but merely reminds of me things from the past. A little Black Flag here, some Negative Creep-styled Nirvana there. The Jesus Lizard and similarly raw, boozey bands are difficult to ignore also, but none of it kept me from appreciating King of Jeans on its own merit.