Buzzkill
House of Bad Touch (Alternative Tentacles)
Suddenly it’s 1984 — again. Just when you thought that the world was free of the scourge of Eighties hardcore, the happy folks at Alternative Tentacles shove this Buzzkill CD right down your throat. Kerosene-throat vocals, squiggly noise-guitar solos, berserk drums pushing 500 beats a minute, songs shorter than Pauly Shore’s career, man, it’s all here. Rather than songs about Reagan, however, the Buzzkill fellers sing about Jerry Springer, kicking your ass, O.J., and being too sensitive (they had to bring some things up to date). And the funny thing is, they do it pretty damn well. It’s abrasive, annoying, and a little puerile, but it’s enough to knock some jaded hipsters upside the head and get their damn attention. One thing’s for sure: This New Jersey trio, with their rock that harkens back to the days of Ms. Pac-Man and “Where’s the beef?” is more compelling and more just plain fun than the carefully done-up angst of Korn or the la-la boy-rock of NOFX and their myriad clones. Guaranteed to piss off people’s parents. (Atomic Cafe, Saturday, Mar 18, 10pm) 
This article appears in March 10 • 2000.