Daycare ditties

The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show
(Vagrant Records)
1 1/2 (out of 5 stars)
Reviewed: April 8, 2004

Review by Tony Bonyata

This is exactly the type of thing that gives punk rock a bad name these days. Not that The Get Up Kids really have anything to do with the raucous, rebellious sounds of punk. Just don't tell their fans that, because many of them think that these jacked-up, testosterone-laden lullabies are the real deal.
There's certainly no denying that the music on the Kansas City quintet's fourth full-length album Guilt Show is filled with energy. Unfortunately, though, it's really nothing more than sugar-crazed emo-rock sprinkled liberally with saccharine pop melodies and choruses braying with obstreperous teen angst.
Songs such as the "Man of Conviction," "Wouldn't You Believe It" and "How Long Is Too Long" finds the band foaming at the mouth with a Blink-182 juvenility, while the more introspective numbers "Sick In Her Skin" and "Holy Roman" slowly chase their own tails before eventually nodding off.
There are a few moments on Guilt Show, however, that show a bit more maturity. "The Dark Night of the Soul," with its stinging guitar line and tantrum refraining choruses, along with the closing track "Conversation," which blends some of The Beatles' more abstract pop sensibilities with the angular rhythms of early Radiohead, point to a more hopeful direction for the band. Unfortunately moments such as these are not only delivered too late in the album, but are also overshadowed by the faux-punk daycare ditties that dominate this spotty effort.
While The Get Up Kids refuse to grow up, its only a matter of time before their audience does.