1. I'll make no bones about it. I absolutely hated Squad Five-0's first two albums. I found their poorly produced mix of ska and punk and insipid lyrics very nearly unlistenable.
2. Glam metal appears to be coming back into fashion. More and more punk bands are declaring their style as "glam punk," and with VH1 dedicating their Behind the Music show to more and more hair metal bands, it appears that we may very soon be in the grip of a full-scale '80s metal revival.
3. I have a special place in my heart for all the old, great glam metal bands, such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Poison. I love glam stage theatrics and pyrotechnics, and I'm even willing to overlook the banality recurrent in the genre because of it.
4. I received a tape in the mail a few months ago that included two songs off of Squad Five-0's latest album, Bombs Over Broadway. I was very much taken by these songs, especially the bizarrely catchy title track:
Countdown 5-4-3-2-1
The end is near, baby, here it comes
The neon lights of the city burn
And the sirens warn: bombs over Broadway!
Lady Liberty is laid to rest
"Give me liberty or give me death"
Her dream died with her last request
She didn't expect bombs over Broadway
5. Lead singer/guitarist Jeff Fortson doesn't really have the multi-octave vocal range needed for true glam metal. Instead, he uses the snotty punk vocals of The Ramones or New York Dolls as well as those groups' New York lyrical imagery. (Fortson also manages to throw a sly reference to The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, into "Tramps On the Run.")
6. Bombs Over Broadway is just as cheesy as the rest of the band's material, but this time, they've found a way to make their cheesiness fun rather than obnoxious. In other words, they've found their niche. I predict that in a matter of months, independent punk bands all across the nation will be declaring their style "glam punk" and ripping off this album (if they haven't already done so).
4 tocks
Other coverage for this album
ReAL Magazine 2000Reviewed by Shawna T.Bombs away! Squad Five-O's new release Bombs Over Broadway is guaranteed to blow you away with a flashback to the eighties. Their new album sounds like a hair band clashing with retro punk. It's almost like someone put Poison, Rancid, Husker Du, Faster Pussycat, Crashdog, and the Clash into a wrestling rink. The quality and depth of this album is the most surprising thing I've heard since Alice…Bandoppler 2000Reviewed by Earl CampbellThe premise of reviving glam rock is enough to make any self-respecting member of a post-modern society cringe in chagrin (and in painful memory of their exuberance over cutting holes in jeans and going ape at Warrant concerts), but Squad Five-0 have always found a way to be the exception to the stereotype. Let's reflect. While ska and punk anthems were becoming more and more reviled, Squad was…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by Tom BastianThe first thing that came to my mind with this new Squad Five-O album is that it's a fun album. It's one you can put in and just have fun to. It rocks, you can sing along, and it's got plenty of attitude. As most of you already know Squad Five-O has gone from ska-punk to punk-ska and now to glam rock. Sure the band and some of their fans seem to be calling it rock n roll, but in reality it's glam…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by JamesPoison called. They said they wanted their setlist back. Granted, if you've seen Squad Five-O's live show in the last couple years, you know that "Bombs Over Broadway" stems from their innate tendency to re-establish the reign of "Eighties Hair Metal". Unfortunately, in a more broad and marketable sense, this album is hardly relevant. In my quest for an excuse to say, "hey! these boys are onto…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by ChrisIt's been a while since I'd heard the talk about how Christian music is just a bad rip-off of the mainstream music of the time. Squad not only seems to want this conversation started again, but they've done so by propelling themselves 15 years into the past. This record is a lot of BAD 80's glam rock sounding stuff, without any of the virtues of the genre. The production quality is not even up to…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by Luke HarlowFrom the opening of the first, and title track, "Bombs Over Broadway" to the final song "Don't Look Back," it is clear that this record is about one thing: rock and roll. If one thing is certain, this album does rock. If every classic glam rock song was taken, influenced by punk, and then condensed into an 11-song album, the result would be "Bombs Over Broadway." Nothing is too complex here, just…Art for the Ears 2000Reviewed by Marco PovervestGlam from the streets, that's perhaps the best description I can give this record. What you hear is raw rock 'n roll with a punky garage sound. And at the same time there's a glamrock twist to it. A song like Renegade has an Alice Cooper feel. The same goes for Restless Youth with its bluesy flavor. Some of the other songs are sleazier like the uptempo Lost Boys which is more in the punkrock…Similar sounding releases
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