The Tories - Wonderful Life (1997)

The Tories were a power pop band who released two albums around the turn of the century and Wonderful Life bored me beyond any album I’ve heard in recent memory. There’s nothing especially offensive about their sound. It doesn’t wear on me emotionally like some grunge does, it doesn’t seem immature like some hardcore and punk. It’s just very plain. These songs could be on in any department store at any given time and their inoffensiveness may be their downfall. Nothing sets them apart and if you’re going to play radio-friendly pop/rock, that’s especially problematic. The lyrics are so commonplace that it’s hard to identify with the band. They’re singing about things that everyone experiences (meeting a girl, good memories of a certain place, etc. plus there are some songs that are so vague in meaning that they could be applied to any number of circumstances) but they sing about them in ways that so many bands do. I identify with this music in the same way I identify with other people who like pizza, or other people who play video games, or other people who breathe. Instead of communicating any genuine emotion, they scratch the surface in such a way that I’m having trouble seeing how these songs are relevant to me. But I may be missing the point. Bands like this aren’t about depth or experimentation. It’s about catchy tunes that won’t alienate the masses by being to specific, either in theme or sound. If I’m rating them based on how much I enjoyed this album, it’s probably a 2 out of 10. If I’m rating them based on how well I think they accomplished what I think they were trying to accomplish, it’s probably closer to a 7. I generally err toward the former approach, but I want to be fair to these guys. The 14-year-old me would probably have enjoyed this more, and if one of these songs came on my shuffle, I probably wouldn’t skip it. If two came on back-to-back, I’d probably get bored. I don’t like this, but I don’t think it’s horrible. Just not for me. Radio-friendly rock music has its place on my iTunes, but I’m not liking this band.

3.6 / 10