Try, if you will, not to sing along with "Lump." It sticks in your brain after the first chorus and won't leave until you hear something supremely catchy just to scrape the chorus out of heavy frontal lobe rotation. Musically, they keep everything very minimal (they have only five strings between bassist Chris Ballew and guitarist Dave Dederer) and use their incredibly twisted wit to engage the listener. From the punkish "Lump" and "We Are Not Gonna Make It" to the funky "Boll Weevil," the Presidents are the perfect antidote to the serious, heavy-handed rock perpetuated by their Seattle brethren. --Adem Tepedelen

Album Description
2008 reissue of the fabulous debut from the Seattle Alt-Rock trio, originally released in 1995. Features the hits 'Lump', 'Peaches', 'Kitty', 'Dune Buggy' and more.

The CD begins with one of the band's best: "Kitty". The second single on the album is actually the reason I became such a huge fan of The Presidents. "Peaches" and "Lump" also took part in that. Most people know it by now. One of my particular favorite songs here is "Feather Pluckn". The first track was pretty straightforward, as it was about a cat, but "Feather Pluckn" is a great song about nothing too specific. The first verse reads: `10 million monkeys all pick up guitars / 5000 fishies rockin really really really hard / check out chickie, drivin piggy's little blue car' with a background shout of `...and nobody taught them how'. There's really nothing we as fans can relate to, but it's still an awesome song. All I have to say about "Lump" is if you like it, you'll like the entire CD. The main single showcases the album's sound quite well. The song "Stranger" is also one of my favorites. It's about a striper and is a little more harmonious in its beginning than the previous three. The citation of the Lynyrd Skynyrd hat is hilarious yet smart at the same time. A song that's become a fan favorite over the years is "Boll Weevil". "Boll Weevil" is catchy, but it took me a while to fall in love with it. It's about a bug; as if you couldn't guess. What I said for "Lump" easily goes for "Peaches" just the same. There's just so many excellent songs that it's hard to find a low point. And "Dune Buggy" is certainly not a low point. Again there's not much to allow us to relate, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's a stellar rock song.

Starting off the CD's second half, The Presidents produce their most cynical song. The title "We Are Not Going To Make It" kind of speaks for itself (seeing as how they have, in fact, made it). And the false start that I'm pretty sure was intentional gives the song true character. It will always be a certain favorite of mine. Next we have a cover of MC-5's infamous "Kick Out The Jams". It's one of the shortest (at 1:24 or so) yet still one of the best. Again, it'll always be a favorite. With the exception for the start of "Stranger", all the previous songs have been hard rock songs. But "Body" breaks that mold; in a manner of speaking. "Body" tells the tale of different reptile deaths that become embodied in the singer's head. Hence the phrase `I can't get your body out of my mind'. It's a fun song, but is rather sad in the end. Another fan favorite is "Back Porch"; and that's for good reason. The way the band handles the `two-string/one-string/no-string guitars' part is amazing and probably makes the song good in its own. The worst song on the disc is, hand's down, "Candy". It's not terrible, but on the other hand I find myself usually skipping over it. Even if "Candy" is moderately bad, the closer "Naked And Famous" makes up for it. I'm not sure if The Presidents' singer is actually a nude model, but he tells a funny story nonetheless. All in all, "Naked And Famous" rounds out this 5-star release with absolute perfection. `Everybody wants to be just like me / I'm naked and famous' wraps it up quite nicely.

To conclude this review, there is not enough good things I could begin to say about The Presidents Of The United States Of America and their debut. It was just so great to see a new type of music. And this type of music seems to be living on thanks exclusively to this band and this CD. If you enjoyed "Lump" and/or the other two hits from this album, you MUST own this CD. No matter what your musical preference, you should be able to enjoy all these songs; or at least form seedy opinions about them. This is one of the top 10 albums I own and will always be in constant rotation in my CD player. The only way you'd not be able to enjoy this type of music is if you lack a sense of humor, dislike occasional simplicity, or you hate straight-up rock & roll music. Otherwise The Presidents Of The United States Of America are surely for you. Don't miss out on one of the 90's greatest American rock groups; and one of the greatest albums ever.


Short But Sweet Presidential Address   June 27, 2000
 15 out of 16 found this review helpful

1990s new rock needed levity after Kurt Cobain's death, Scott Weiland's addictions and dark grunge records like Soundgarden's "Superunknown." The Presidents of the USA wouldn't see the new millennium, but provided an unforgettable debut mixing hard rock with a touch of goofiness and cornpone humor.

Make no mistake, this trio could rock as its cover of MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" attests. They also reference ZZTop, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Beatles musically and lyrically. The topics were fun ("Kitty," "Lump," "Dune Buggy") and the group had a way with a guitar hook. Moreover, like that fun 60s rock, the Presidents made their points quickly and got out (most songs struggled to make it to three minutes.) This is the album the infamous Shaggs wish they could have made.

But it wouldn't last. Green Day took the same approach, added a whinier voice, slacker world view and a touch of schmaltz to bring LPs like "Dookie" and songs like "Time Of Your Life" to the charts, while the Presidents recorded another year, cut a movie theme, then split. A shame, really, we could have used tunes like "We're Not Going To Make It," and "Peaches" one of these every couple of years, to remember that rock and roll needn't be angry to be enjoyable - or good. Recommended.


a wonderful change of pace   July 29, 2004
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I haven't listened to any of the band's other albums; I can only hope they are just as good as this one.

The President's style is relaxed and enjoyable. Every song on this CD is catchy and a lot of fun. There's nothing " deep" or " meaningful" about the songs; they are just enjoyable.

If you're ever in the mood to just flake out and smile, this CD is perfect. Some songs may actually make you laugh.




3 and a half stars for the silly trio   July 20, 2003
 6 out of 9 found this review helpful

I must admit, this is a very, very ridiculously silly album. Everything about the album, and the group (starting with thier name) is silly. The singer plays a guitar with only three strings for Christ's sake. Putting all the silliness aside, this album has some really great songs. It's a very fun and spontaneous album. Of course the lyrics don't say much, like "12,000 monkeys rocking out guitars, nobody taught them how," or who can forget "Millions of peaches, peaches for me. Millons of peaches, peaches for free." Not the deepest thing you can hear, but they present these ridiculous lyrics in a very catchy, rockin way. They're like a more rockin Wierd Al. And the thing I like is how they don't take even themselves seriously singing a song called "We're not gonna make it." They sing "Cause there's a million better bands with a million better songs." Very true, but I'm still keeping this cd in my cd collection.


I miss them already   December 6, 2004
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

Now if you ask me, and many 90s musical fans do now and again, The Presidents of the United States of America are possibly the best band to have ever broken up after achieving such critical acclaim. Plus that, they helped out Shonen Knife on a tune or two and that says something about the generosity and willingness of the band members... something commendable and worthy of respect.... If you ask me. Now, if I was them I would have opted for a name requiring less time to pronounce, after all 15 syllables is a bit much for a pop group when you have successful bands out there getting by with one syllable names and doing just fine. However, their music stands up to the challenge and me and the twins can't stop singing "Lump" for three weeks after we play it on the hi fi system in our double wide trailer. In fact, we like to play it so loud that it makes the aluminum sides rattle and shake. That might be because our double wide is getting kind of old and rusty and I ain't never spent any time on maintenance and repairs because I am too busy with other things, and plus that, I got me a line of old refrigerators lines up against the outside of the trailer and I run a chain through the handles and put a padlock on the chain and turned them old refrigerators in to recycled storage units and saved them from the county dump. I am, you see, an environmentalist as well as a music fan.

This band is light hearted... or I guess, they were light hearted. Unfortunately unless there is a reunion of some sort, then all we got is their output on CD and that is that. See, they broke up just as the world was catching their drift and by the time the masses were all in tune to their output, they were gone. Kind of like the time Charlene Shagnasty over on the other side of Stillwell, and that young feller from Bolton were talking about marriage and set a date and get them a preacher and a caterer to serve up ribs and collards at the reception and everybody here abort was all excited and anxious for the wedding because Charlene is kind of homely and we didn't expect her to ever find herself a man, but that boy from Bolton was a real good catch and found it in his heart to look past the homeliness and see her inner beauty... but then they called it off on short notice and we all were still excited and worked up for her before we knew they'd called it off. It's kind of like that.

However, unlike Charlene and that boy from Bolton, the Presidents of the United states of America left behind these here CDs for us to listen to and we can still enjoy their music... and I reckon they still get residual checks for all the CDs that are still sold, so in a way of congratulating them on a job well done I encourage you to buy this here CD and listen with pleasure while they take their residual checks and use them to pay off the mortgage on their houses or buy a second car or something.