A few years back I had the misfortune to find myself in the bar of a popular steakhouse, seeing off a co-worker after his last day of work. Being a vegetarian and completely at odds with the suburban-cowpie set, I found my situation a little unnerving. But a sight rattled me even more. On the dance floor was a burly, tobacco-chewing roughneck, gyrating to Depeche Mode's "Policy of Truth." As I watched him dance -- actually his clumsy moves were closer to calisthenics -- all I could think was that this was exactly the type of guy who would have kicked my ass for listening to DM (or the Cure, the Smiths, etc.) only a few years earlier. Within months of this incident, Nirvana would break, Nordstroms would start selling Doc Martens, nose-piercing would become cliche, and radio stations across the country would change to "modern rock" formats. And all of it would be marketed as new.
Leave it to Dr. Frank, punk's poet laureate, to actually address the issue. With ten years of underground adulation and commercial indifference behind them, the Mr. T. Experience have been around long enough to remember when "alternative" was more, or should I say less, than a marketing term, a fashion statement or a sound. Back then alternative music was just that -- an alternative to the ingenuous, big-money slime that oozed out of the car radio at every turn of the dial. "Alternative Is Here To Stay," the title track on their new EP, is their tongue-in-cheek anthem to the alternative culture that has sprung in the wake of Nirvana and Mr. T's former label-mates Green Day's success. Here the band embraces Anne Rice, Tatoos, and the "modern rock revolution," with the same irreverence that has peppered much of their work. The fact that Dr. Frank's mock manifesto is delivered over a composite of early Ramones tunes only adds to the irony.
Dr. Frank's trademark eloquence and the turn of a few good phrases can't elevate the second track, "New Girlfriend," above its cliched three-chord rant, and the absence of a strong melody. He does far better when he takes that minimal approach and strips it down to just acoustic guitar and voice on "You Today," a cheery tune that belies some moody lyrics.
These songs lack the sonic punch of "The Mr. T Experience and the Women Who Love Them" EP released earlier this year. But that's to be expected from a band that has had more than its share of personnel changes, including a bass-player turnover ("Alternative Is Here To Stay" introduces Joel on bass) rivaled only by Spinal Tap's drummers. And without co-conspirator Jon von, Dr. Frank's light doesn't shine quite as bright. But these two EPs reveal a band that is still too clever, too intelligent, and too literate to ever reach mass acceptance. God bless 'em.