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Just Like That, Rock 'n' Roll is Fun Again

Eddie and the F@#k Munkys (Independent)

Eddie and the F@#k Munkys

By Kevin Gibson

Now I've heard everything. And if you think a group that sounds almost like a cross between Ween and the Ramones - with a little Beastie Boys thrown in - might be to your liking, you should hear it too.

These eight songs written by main Munkys and Louisvillians Mike Chandler and Derrick Wade Manley could be described as thoughtfully irreverent. One minute they're singing about the psychology of 2-year-olds and the next they're demonstrating the Heimlich Maneuver in song. Mexican zombies eating bologna? It's here. Sexually ambiguous men in denial? Here. At times the lyrics are outrageously silly, but almost as often there is biting social commentary bubbling just under the surface.

And if these two- and three-chord songs are painfully simple in structure, they're almost annoyingly catchy and always intriguing in their own way. For instance, "Getting Pissed Off" describes a day of being first in all the drive-through lines (as in, "The cars behind me were getting pissed off"). But the narrator casually mentions that, for instance, he was in the Wendy's drive-through line because he wanted to apply for a job and in the bank drive-through line because he needed a loan. Who goes to the drive-through window for transactions like those? No one, except the gently warped narrator, which forces the listener to see these scenarios through a pair of eyes one would scarcely be able to imagine otherwise. And the point behind it all is that society is in too damn much of a hurry to do pretty much everything.

Similarly, "When Pigs Fly" describes what might happen if pigs actually did fly one day. Hell would freeze over, grade-schoolers would all get tattoos, an M&M would melt in your hand, Kathie Lee Gifford would let adults make her shoes and we would all have to make good on the things we said we would do, well, "when pigs fly," like watching an episode of "Will and Grace" or admitting that golf is a sport. Once again, you have to hear this in context to truly appreciate it.

You also should know that this disc is a homemade recording - and it sounds that way. The first seven songs feature Chandler and Manley doing it all themselves; then track eight, a live version of the aforementioned Heimlich tune, kicks in with a full band and offers a much more aggressive sound. But the accessible melodies and lyrics are the focus and they work surprisingly well. Dr. Demento really, really needs to hear this.

Check out the Munkys at www.thefmunkys.com

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