The Stupids - Jesus Meets The Stupids

Visible Noise

July 31, 2008, 09:13 AM

Views: 597   Comments: 0

Originally released in 1987 and re-released now on Visible Noise, ‘Jesus Meets The Stupids’ is an odd album, consisting of nineteen tracks of punk rock, comedy skits and complete randomness (a track of nothing but a single, tinkling piano, anyone?) To sum up this re-release: the songs aren’t tight enough, the shouty lyrics are mostly unintelligible and the comedy isn’t actually that funny.

There’s clearly talented musicians buried somewhere in this messy punk racket, as The Stupids tear along at a pace that shouldn’t be physically possible. However, this would be more impressive if they were able to play at such speeds with some semblance of a tune. The Stupids push the speed thing too far, and end up sounding like a group of people beating the hell out of their instruments. It’s like they’re trying to play five different songs all at the same time - and the vocalist is out of tune with all of them.
This tendency to go as fast as they possibly can regardless of what it sounds like becomes even worse every time frontman Tommy Stupid opens his mouth, because then the band play even faster.

During the instrumental sections, The Stupids take it down a notch and you catch sight of potentially quite talented musicians, capable of holding a song together whilst galloping along at a still-impressive pace. Nowhere is this clearer than on the instrumental ‘Pig Man,’ which chugs slickly along while free-wheeling guitars carve out some unusual and interesting riffs. But then it’s back to business as usual on ‘Brat’s Bite,’ as Tommy reappears and The Stupids resume kicking their instruments around. It’s as if vocals instantly signify that everyone has to go mental. The Stupids are much better when they slow it down and give some thought to what they sound like.
The skit sections are equally odd, with mind-boggling cries of “time to eat!” and “no drugs, no smoking, stay straight,” book-ending many of the songs. These will keep your finger firmly away from the repeat button, because who wants to hear the same ‘comedy’ introduction over and over?

The Stupids aren’t even that funny. They take randomness too far and end up just being confusing. Much of the dialogue is difficult to make out, leaving the listener even more confused. However, clips of them begging us to buy their album reveal a flash of self-depreciating humour that is genuinely funny. The Stupids also have the good sense not to make these buy-our-record skits preludes to any songs, so you can skip them if you’re not in an oddball-comedy mood.

While all the talking (and there is a lot of it) does inject some personality into this album it’d work ten times better if The Stupids were half as funny as they seem to believe themselves to be. Most of the time you’ll be wishing they’d just shut up and get on with it.

This album is very under produced, which usually works well for punk records, replacing slickness with raw guitars, snotty vocals and a chaotic live atmosphere. However, ‘Jesus Meets The Stupids’ really needs a studio polish, just to take that abrasive edge off and coax something resembling a tune out of the racket. As it stands, ‘Jesus Meets The Stupids’ is so chaotic, it’s difficult for the listener to find a way in.

While ‘Jesus Meets The Stupids’ is a messy affair that’d benefit from a polish and the occasional coherent hook, it does have youthful energy and enthusiasm in abundance, served up with lashings of couldn’t-care-less, punk attitude. Those, at least, are big pluses, even if there are a lot of things going against this album.

#1 | Subscribe | Send to Friend | Print | Discipline | Report