The code of the schoolyard demands laughter at farts, balls, and the sex lives of animals. That same directive guides
Every Solution Has Its Problem, the Columbia debut of Florida-based goof-offs
Start Trouble. But while they delight in taking toilet-bowl humor, drug references, and Surgeon General's warnings right to the precipice of bad taste,
Start Trouble's shtick leaves a sour aftertaste of mean-spiritedness and cynicism. Outfits like
the Bloodhound Gang and
blink-182 carry on the towel-slapping legacy of
Licensed to Ill, but they do so by celebrating tomfoolery instead of rudimentary bits about bud and buggery. It doesn't help that
Start Trouble's musical chops are a bit suspect. Behind the whiny, workmanlike vocals of
Luke Walker, the band does try on paint-by-numbers punk revivalism for "Graduation" and "Get Over It." The songs say little, even for that vapid, cash-hungry genre, but they at least have some melody and guitar chops to work with. Sadly, the majority of
Solution settles for the bland, blathering modern rock favored by late-'90s types like
the Flys and
Lit. "Please Leave" and "Non Stop" are thudding alt-rock disasters, hoping to squeak by on prurience ("I wanna f*ck nonstop/Baby I think you're beautiful," from the latter) and the undoubtedly expensive production and engineering of John Travis. "Chemical" shifts inexplicably into a
Sublime-ish reggae shuffle; no one seems to have noticed that
Walker copped
Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" for the verse. The vacant apathy of "Throw the Covers" ("Who was that chick? Did I stick her? Forget about it...") is replaced by the misguided balladry of "Diggin' Holes," where
Walker equates lost love with memories of endless bong hits and dissatisfying casual sex. For
Every Solution Has Its Problem's final insult,
Start Trouble includes an unimaginatively rocked-up version of the
Ludacris hit "Move Bitch." The track wasn't
Luda's finest or funniest hour. But as a cover choice it's appropriate in ways the band didn't intend, since the Atlanta rapper is a master of the outrageousness, slang, and sly sexual innuendo that so elude
Start Trouble on its debut. [
Every Solution was also issued with its bad words cleansed.] ~ Johnny Loftus