Yuppie Pricks
Initial Public Offering (Phi Pi) Answering to no one, save maybe Wall Street‘s Gordon Gekko, where narcissism, arrogance, and loutishness are concerned, Austin’s Yuppie Pricks are those rare punks giving big ups to the GOP, the NRA, and the Dow Jones. Naturally, it’s all by design, as the Pricks have constructed an elaborate mythology of pharmaceutical fortunes and perpetual coke parties when they’re really just four dudes whose previous bands used to play places like the Bates Motel and the Blue Flamingo. Wall Street, Washington, and suburbia may not be the most original targets, but the fact is there’s not nearly as much satire in the world today as there should be, and those eternally bloated sacred cows are always ripe for skewering. The Pricks are hardly too upscale to refrain from writing a song about the “fat parade of ho’s” that is your average Tijuana donkey show. Musically, Initial Public Offering is rudimentary but effective, a jerky (imagine that), mechanical boogie that chains the Stooges and Devo together in the Buzzcocks’ basement. Just like most slime balls, the Yuppie Pricks are most engaging when talking about themselves, making “Loser,” “Song About Me,” and their “Anarchy in the UK” update, “Prosperity in the U.S.A.,” blue chips in this portfolio. Consumption doesn’t get more conspicuous than this — the CDs were reputedly manufactured in Canada for the cheap labor — so rack up a few lines of Initial Public Offering the next time you feel like being a complete tool for the man. (Ocean’s 11, Saturday, midnight)
This article appears in March 7 • 2003.