Get Some

Metal Albums I Need To Review #6 - FUCK THE RECORD, AND FUCK THE PEOPLE!

I have to preface this review with the tragic death of upcoming band Snot’s lead singer, Lynn Strait and his dog Dobbs. Both were killed in a car crash in December of 1998, and the growing Nu Metal scene was so affected by his death that Lynn’s friends and bandmates made an album in his memory. Truly a very sad story of a band that could’ve been. That aside, this album is pretty much opposite to the tone I just set, because this thing ROCKS! Snot’s debut release Get Some was one of the first non-mainstream metal records I ever listened to, and an absolute gem amongst a scene of Nu Metal that had already begun to wear its novelty thin. What made Snot different? Well, I’ll show you!

One of the core elements of Snot’s sound is the subtle but tone-defining genre-bending put on display on Get Some. At first, looking at the kind of campy but fun cover (RIP Dobbs), you may think it’s just “another late 90’s Nu Metal album”, but wait! While Nu Metal is definitely Snot’s primary genre, the band’s roots in punk make themselves very clear, embedded within most of these songs is the lyrical, vocal, and even sometimes instrumental matters present in punk. Lynn Strait STRAIT UP sounds like a punk singer, the chaotic and loud drums and prevalent basslines ring true to bands like Bad Brains or Dead Kennedys, and songs like Joy Ride, Deadfall, Tecato, and Mr. Brett are literally just punk rock songs! Punk isn’t the only genre that’s heavily referenced here, as mentioned before, the basslines on this album are very in your face, and they’re funky too! Every interlude (yeah, interludes on ya Nu Metal album.) on this album is essentially just an atonal, weird, mildly disturbing funk piece, and in other places, the music takes a ton of influences from funk too. All of this makes for an energetic, groovy, and wildly fun album that never once loses steam throughout its entire 48 minute run time.

Production-wise, it’s an incredibly raw and simple album, which works to its advantage. The pounding snares and kick drums, the head-bopping BEHS, and the biting guitar all work together wonderfully, feeling both appropriately raw and audible at the same time. Add Lynn Strait’s over the top, straight up coked out vocals, and you’ve got a recipe for a surprisingly angry album. Seriously, you wouldn’t tell by the seemingly tongue-and-cheek album cover, but Snot are not just here to play with you. However, some of these goofier songs are standouts, such as Snot, which is about the band “ruling your world” and “clocking all them girls.” Mr. Brett is a seemingly satirical (but still angry) jab at what punk rock has become, Joy Ride is supposed to be a very fun song about speeding, but unfortunately with how Lynn died, there’s a bit of sadness attached to it, and My Balls, which, well, it’s about “MY BALLS. YOUR CHIN!” However, there are many serious songs on this album. A few songs are about political unrest, violence, and more, those being Unplugged, Stoopid, Deadfall, and Tecato, the former 2 tackling political unrest and the latter 2 telling stories of lives going off course due to drug abuse and violence. The Box, Snooze Button, and I Jus’ Lie among others seem to discuss more personal Mental health issues.

The songs themselves are all incredibly strong, aside from the interludes, which, while charming and funky in their own right, kinda feel like wasted time that could’ve been trimmed down. As I’ve said earlier, the album opens with the band’s monstrously punky and frenetic self-titled track Snot, which is an ABSOLUTE BANGER! This is unironically one of my favorite punk-adjacent songs and one of the best Nu Metal songs of its time, just so energetic and fun. Stoopid slows things down a bit with this strange, loud ballad that again calls against conforming to the norm. Joy Ride picks the pace right up, however, with a punky riff so fun that I can barely describe it. Another ABSOLUTE BANGER! The Box is similar in tone and in quality to Stoopid, but Snooze Button really steals the show. It's perhaps the album’s angriest song, with some of the meanest backing vocals I’ve heard in any Nu Metal album. Genuinely phenomenal song. After a short interlude in the form of 313, the title track kicks in, which is unexpectedly one of the slower cuts on the album. It's clear they took time crafting this one, because while it isn’t my favorite on the album, it shows a level of pacing that no song on the album really compares to. Deadfall is kinda similar to Joy Ride, with it being a really fast, punky song, this time with a really good hook in the form of, “Who sent ya? SAMFUCKINPENICKPAH!”

I Jus’ Lie has some more traditional, groovy metal riffage that I really enjoy, and the same could be said about Unplugged. Tecato, while a bit long for a song as punky and repetitive as it is, tells a very bitter story about a man losing his sanity and way of life through unfortunate circumstances to have to do it all over again once getting out. It’s a really good bit of storytelling, but the song on its own goes really hard too. Mr. Brett is a cheesy song about punk’s “devolution” since 1982 (I guess Snot loved Minor Threat), and is also a callout to Brett Gurewitz, who left Bad Religion to focus on his label and “sold out.” Not super serious, but still a ton of fun. Finally, we have My Balls, which speaks for itself.

MY BALLS
YOUR CHIN

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day. RIP Lynn Strait and Dobbs.