One of my favorite albums of last year was also one of the most unexpected.
PopUp Jim Bob was an album from the lead singer of the band Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine. Even for a band from the 90s (and plenty of nostalgia offerings like the Friends reunion), they seemed particularly ensconced in a previous era.
Yet, Jim Bob Morrison was precisely the voice we needed in that strangest of years. If you haven’t, go and listen to “Jo’s got Papercuts” the best single on a album skewering gun violence, fake news outlets and Morrissey, among other things
Carter USM was always biting and clever in their lyrics. Jim Bob hasn’t lost anything navigating a course that sees a lot of critics compare him to John Cooper Clarke and revealing that the lineage was political bands like Crass and Chumbawamba. Morrison finding the best way to comment on society is via character sketches.
Who Do We Hate Today feels very much like a sequel. That’s not a bad thing in this case. Subjects here read like the newspaper headlines: Toxic masculinity, the lockdown, violence and terrorism.
Yet, the standout song isn’t angry, but sweet. A shoutout to the unsung heroes with that trademark JimBob twist on a pop classic- thus we have a song subtitled “You’re so modest, you'll never think this song is about you”.
Elsewhere, you can just about read the track listing with “Karen is thinking of changing her name”, “Shona is dating a drunk woman hating Neanderthal Man”, “The Summer of No Touching” and of course, the title track.
Interesting enough, though the album has had chart success, BBC6 won’t touch it for its Covid theme.
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