Jet - Shaka Rock
Rating
RIYL
WolfmotherThe Living End
The Hives
Release Date
08/25/2009
Label
Five Seven MusicTracklist
1. K.I.A. (Killed In Action)2. Beat On Repeat
3. She's A Genius
4. Black Hearts (On Fire)
5. Seventeen
6. La Di Da
7. Goodbye Hollywood
8. Walk
9. Times Like This
10. Let Me Out
11. Start The Show
12. She Holds A Grudge
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Try following up a debut album that went eight times platinum in your home country. Then try following up a sophomore album that sold almost a million copies worldwide. Therein lies the problem for a band reworking the best of rock and roll into the new millennium. Australian rockers Jet were thrown into stadium rock greatness on the back of Get Born and the multi-national success of the single “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” Now six years later and with nothing new to offer, Jet have released their third album, Shaka Rock.
Expectations for the album weren’t high after the first single “She’s a Genius” was released in Australia. A gutsy bass riff soon followed by a distorted lead guitar heralding way too close to the same riffs used in the song that started their career. Even with the primal rock scream of Nic Cester, lyrics like, “She only listens to the radio / to see who’s alive,” can’t be taken seriously, and when he proclaims in the album's opener, “I wanna kung-fu kick ya / in your four-wheel-drive,” one might question why they’re even listening at all.
The general impression after the first few songs is that this small town Australian band hit the big time too quickly and spent too much effort trying to impress Hollywood. There is a brief reprieve from this with tracks “Seventeen” and “La did da” stepping into a faster-paced, melody driven style, highlighting the album. Unfortunately, this does not last; a touch of arrogance born on debut album superstardom sees the Jet lads following in Eminem’s shoes and saying “Goodbye Hollywood”. This whingeing balled of the low points of the American music scene shows Jet as a bunch of spoiled little boys trying to find someone or something on which to blame their inadequacies - “Goodbye Hollywood / you just don’t fit me like you should / your sweet success don’t taste that good / I just don’t need you like they said I would.”
By no means have Jet had their run and should give up, but like so many other bands offered success at the first glimpse of talent, they need to focus more on making decent music rather than trying and struggling to sustain the Hollywood success of Get Born. The honest thing is that they’re a one-hit wonder band not working hard enough to escape the category. For anyone versed in Jet’s catalog, Shaka Rock won’t be likely to impress, and for those too new to this small town Australian band, your money would be better spent on their earlier works.
--Sandy Powell
Comments
Lehigh Valley, PA
All I know is that I hear the damn single on the radio at work ALL the time and each time I hear I dream up new ways of taking my own life.
Somewhere in New York
This band had two singles that were catchy and sounded exactly the same. I can't see them lasting much longer. Thank god I don't listen to the radio at all, I'm sorry Bill.
"If someone gives you a kazoo and toots around the house to MTV, they're not gonna fuck you." - David Cross
This is one of the worst popular bands of all time. Nothing about them ever came off as more than a gimmick. What a miserable group.
http://www.myspace.com/paulson
http://www.twitter.com/GetFreshUSA
http://www.GetFreshUSA.com
Dubuque
Yeah I liked 2 songs of their first album and that's about it.
Facebook / MySpace
View Chris Conlan's profile on LinkedIn
Lehigh Valley, PA
Yea, I'm subjected to it at work. I have no choice haha
Dubuque
Imagine me. I work in new construction so all I get to hear is country music. Thank god for the times I get to listen to my Zune.
Facebook / MySpace
View Chris Conlan's profile on LinkedIn
Somewhere in New York
I would definitely take Jet over country any day.
"If someone gives you a kazoo and toots around the house to MTV, they're not gonna fuck you." - David Cross
Sunshine Coast, Australia
it'd be a bad fucking day.
cheers guys
"If you want something done right, get a fucking Australian band to do it" - Chris Cheney
Baton Rouge
Even the "hit" songs by this bands make me want to shove cardboard in my ears. That riff from "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" is one of the most obnoxious combinations of sounds I have ever heard.
Kudos for having a Zune in an IPod world, Chris.
Boobs
http://thenicsperiment.blogspot.com/
Fort Bragg, CA
Zune fo' life!
Also, that is some of the worst artwork I've ever seen.
Minnesota
Yeah, I was Zune for life too... until I got an iPhone. Man, I love that thing.
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