Major label woes are like STDs: Most musicians have had them at one time or another. By now, stories of the majors raping and pillaging innocent, doe-eyed artists are as commonplace as any status symbol, like bling-lights or surgical scars. Some bands even make movies about them. Nowadays, people hear tales of a Columbia A&R; guy pulling the plug on someone's grandma, or Rick Rubin butchering a random transient and storing him in his freezer, and nobody even bats an eye. Circumstances being what they are, Menthol could very easily wind up as just another name on the long list of artists screwed by their label, except for one thing: They got the shaft before it was cool. We're talking back in '99 here.
Hoop skirts were the fashion of the day, authenticity was still sitting in for irony in popular media, and The Strokes were just a gleam in a prominent modeling agent's eye. After an intensive four-year correspondence program with the Thomas Dolby Revivalism Institute begun subsequent to the release of Menthol's self-titled debut in 1995, guitarist/singer Balthasar de Ley finally earned his degree in Rock Science, and Menthol returned to the studio to cut a celebratory album. The throwback record sported bouncy, synth-driven hooks, heavy-handed power chords, and was in all respects a faithful emulation of "the music my mom did aerobics to when I was in middle school," according to de Ley. The resulting homage to new wave icons like Dolby, Devo, and the rest of t heir peer group was a sincere tribute, and Capitol (going through restructuring pains at the time) was having none of it. In '99, Capitol decided it was too busy selling the 70s to sell the 80s, and dropped Menthol outright, with no plans to promote the album.
After failing to get the master tapes from Capitol, Menthol re-recorded the same album, finally finding a release in ought-three with Hidden Agenda. Given the eight long years of recording, re-recording, and corporate struggle, it doesn't seem like this album was worth the effort. Danger: Rock Science is, for better or worse, a whirlwind synthesis of what passed for pop during the new wave boom. Retro keyboards factor in prominently, along with the occasional stadium-class solo and blasts of crunchy power-pop, but it misses as often as it hits, creating an album that's alternately a lot of kitschy fun or simply embarrassing. For every triumph of saccharine electro-strings and mellow harmony like the almost-power ballad "Strange Living", or even the ridiculous pomp of the Devo-inspired title cut, there's a bitter defeat like "Future Shock". The song tries hard, but between absurdly vapid lyrics and some cheesy licks, it's one of a handful of tracks not worth much more than a quick laugh.
There's such a thing as working too close to one's subject; by so steadfastly recreating the sound of that era, Menthol doesn't bring much of their own to the table. It's way, way too easy to discuss this album by name-dropping everyone's favorite 80s nostalgia factories: Staccato vocals a la Men Without Hats or Wall of Voodoo, synth-heavy melodies courtesy of Alphaville and a dozen other bands, and guitar flash approved by Corey Hart himself. If any of the names I've mentioned elicited a shudder or a twinge, then you get the point. Danger: Rock Science! is a fairly keen amalgam of half a decade's worth of music if little else, but Menthol's too heavy on pastiche, and weighed down by a surplus of ideas. Never forget, this wave rolled back out to sea for a reason: Not everything released in the 80s is worth reviving.
