River City Rebels – Hate To Be Loved (Victory Records 2004)

by Dave Sharp on Jan 18^th, 2010

Reviewer: Kyle Burbank

These days, ska bands are really one of three things: 1) broken up 2) not really ska bands anymore or 3) someone keeping with it. While you’d expect the River City Rebels to be the first, the opening track on their new CD, Hate to be Loved, they seem like the second, but turns out they’re the third (that was one hell of a sentence).
The Motley Crue pretty boys of ska are still going and just released a record chock full of party-ska tracks. What’s party ska, you ask? Think about it, dumbass. The lyrics don’t mean much; mostly immature rhymes and containing the word “fuck” (exemplified most in the title track and “I’m So Vain”) and the drum beats don’t go much further than boom-chick boom-chick. But, hell, whatever.
While many of the tracks run together, some stand out like. The first of these is “Her New Man”, which has a 50′s type feel that could have been in Grease since I can’t listen to it without picturing some nerd with thick black glasses doing the twist. Another departure is the final track, “Bloody April,” which starts off acoustic and later adds a string arrangement. “Don’t Mess With Cupid” sounds kind of like Rancid without Tim Armstrong’s “so bad it’s really good” voice.
Hate to be Loved is one of those albums that have really only two purposes: to be played as background music at some frat house party and to be played at a live show. The Rebels seem like their material could translate to one hell of a show, but skanking by yourself in your room can only be so much fun. Overall, it’s all right in the correct environment.
Now let’s all sit and think of how many “blank City blank” bands we can think of…