We all know who The Vines are, and we also already know how we feel about them. Some think they embody everything that's wrong with rock & roll today. Some name them as one of the genre's saviors. Kurt Cobain idolaters look upon them with vomit-inducing disdain, while guys in iPod commercials seem to think they're pretty slammin'. Wherever you happen to fall on the spectrum however, chances are you will not end up liking this album.
I use the phrase "end up" very deliberately here. Though Winning Days contains a number of songs that you may initially enjoy, the music simply does not hold up to repeated listens. And your appreciation of a few of these songs will most likely be due to nostalgic novelty alone. Just as it was on 2002's Highly Evolved, The Vines' sound is planted firmly in the grunge/alt-rock genre that made us all go out and buy a flannel in 1992. The guitars are fuzzy, the structures are simple and the vocals are belligerently slurred.
Winning Days opens relatively strong with the hook-heavy anthem "Ride" -- the album's first single. Though it may sound suspiciously similar to their first hit, "Get Free", it's a pretty nice just-plain-fun rock song and is certainly the most memorable track on the album. "TV Pro" and "She's Got Something to Say" are other catchy standouts. Unfortunately, the rest of Winning Days' tracks range from just plain decent to just plain horrible. The closing track, "F.T.W.", is so awful it's downright embarrassing. The bad moments on this album far outweigh the good. So if you're still thinking about buying it, you should probably go ahead and think again. Trust me. This is a purchase you will eventually regret. Allow me to illustrate...
Remember those Magic Eye posters from back in the day? They just looked like a bunch of jumbled-up shapes and colors at first, but then you'd stare at them for a while and sort of cross your eyes a little (but not all the way) and eventually you'd see a dinosaur or the Starship Enterprise or something. Remember? They were pretty cool while they lasted. And if they were suddenly all over the malls again today, they would probably still be pretty cool. It would be fun watching everybody stare all cockeyed, trying to figure them out all over again. But just like it did ten years ago, their appeal would eventually subside.
The Vines are poised to share a similar fate. The reason those posters were so sweet is because no one had ever seen anything like them before. The same was true of the grunge movement. Though bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam certainly borrowed their fair share from alt-rockers that had come before, the movement they spawned was a groundbreaking breath of fresh air in the early 90's. The question is, do we really need to revisit it today? After hearing this album, most will agree that the answer is no.
The Vines are a fleeting novelty act that will no longer be entertaining to anyone five years from now. Their appeal is destined to subside, and probably soon. After all, why pay fifteen bucks for Winning Days when you've already heard it done way better a million times? You probably even have a copy of Nevermind lying around somewhere in your room this very minute. Do yourself a favor -- put it in, slap on that old flannel and remind yourself why you fell in love with a more relevant version of this music ten years ago.
1.5/4
