3/22/07: Life In A Blender “Chappaquiddick” (1992)
In a stronghold for hype,
Life In A Blender perseveres as one of New York City’s most unacclaimed bands. They’ve still managed to put out five fine albums over the past 20 years—with the latest being
The Heart Is A Small Balloon. How is it that this articulate and clever pop act hasn’t gotten any overblown attention?
It couldn’t help that the members were already overaged (and even mature) by 1992’s
It Likes Me. Also, the band made the mistake of recording two songs—out of 22 tracks—that sounded like conservative content.
A tune like “Guns” could possibly pass for an anti-gun anthem. The big problem is that the song’s gun-nut narrator sounds really cool. Any stalwart defender of Second Amendment rights will sing along with these kinds of lyrics: “Standing steady/I am sturdy/I shoot my car/Because it’s dirty.”
Life In The Blender, however, abandoned their wiggle room with “Chappaquiddick.” The song begins with some nicely slurred dialogue (perhaps lifted from an old film):
“I suppose you’re going out again tonight.”
“Yeah, so what?”
“You have no business staying out half the night, and coming home all liquored up.”
“Look, I’m getting sick and tired of being treated like a kid. I’m making as much money as you are, and I have the right to have a little fun.”From there, the song lurches into gear as a hiccupping barrage of catchy madness. There’s a reason why this is one of the tunes where the lyrics aren’t included in the CD booklet. This might be the only song ever recorded as a
Wazmo Nariz tribute. The stuttering lines eventually announce that there’s a drunk guy and a car going off a bridge and there’s someone who needs to take their head off the dash.
And yet the song ends with a final declaration: “Bring the car to the top of the river, and figure it out.”
The only person (besides us) who’d give “Chappaquiddick” a good review was Roger Mudd, and he’d already been safely tossed out of the mainstream media. Life In A Blender was probably already feeling like outsiders themselves.
The Heart Is A Small Balloon is still a fine album, though, and that means they’re the only NYC act maintaining strong quality control after two decades. Well, them and Professor Irwin Corey.
Make it your own: It Likes Me seems to be the only Life In A Blender album that’s become a collector’s item. It’s certainly a rarity. You can still buy
a pricey copy at the
Fang Records site—along with most of Life In The Blender’s catalog. We support our local artists, but it’s only fair to point out that
Two Legs Bad (pretty good) and
Tell Me I’m Pretty (truly great) can also be found real cheap on Amazon.
