Search - Mindless Self Indulgence :: You'll Rebel to Anything (+ 1 Bonus Track)

Steve A. (Cenobite) from EUGENE, OR
Reviewed on 4/29/2008...

This is the edited version, just an fyi for everyone. There unfortunately is no version of this cd with this artwork that isn't edited. Great cd nonetheless.

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Explicit version is a great album but very poor and underhan

Mr. Tangent | Mount Vernon, Missouri United States | 03/15/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"**This review was originally made for the uncensored version, see my advice below for buying considerations**



I'll break this review in to three parts. First, the review of the album itself. Second, the review of the tactics used by MSI and Metropolis Records to sell this album. Lastly, my advice on getting everything that should have been included on one album.



1. The review of the album:



Simply put, if you like previous MSI albums, Babyland or stuff like Korn you'll eat this up. It's another top notch hybrid electronic, punk/metal, lofi quasi-hip hop, quasi-post-industrial genre-bending album. I suppose this would have fallen in to the label "coldwave" circa mid-90's post-industrial labeling. It's not exactly coldwave, not exactly anything other than the sum of its influences, which seem to be mainly hip-hop, post-industrial and punk/metal. The highlights of the album are definitely "Shut Me Up" and "Stupid MF", although there isn't really a weak track here. Another bonus is a positively weird cover of Rush's "Tom Sawyer". Be sure to put the CD in your computer as there is a video for "You'll Rebel To Anything" (it's a neat collage of old 50's propaganda footage mixed with weird cartoons, vintage stock film interspersed with just general weirdness.)



2. Commentary about questionable gouging of consumer by label/band:



There is absolutely no reason for there to be three different versions of this album except to rip off the consumer. Period. In an interview Jimmy Urine said they released a clean version for people who couldn't buy the album in places like Wal-Mart. Who cares about Wal-Mart? For someone so outspoken and inspired by punk, it bothers me that he'd cave to pressures to release an edited version of anything, let alone an entire album. That leads me to believe it wasn't an effort to cater to the imbeciles who buy music at Wal-Mart but rather a flimsy excuse to release a different version of the album, with different artwork and different bonus tracks.



When I used to buy a lot of electro/industrial (circa mid-90's) I remember this type of crap burning the hell out of me. I'd buy the import of a particular artist (say, someone like Haujobb) and then a year or so later a domestic version would come out with bonus tracks. And it'd cost LESS to boot! So all the "early adopters" and people on the cutting edge would get burned over and over. I can't tell you how many CDs I bought like that when I used to buy a lot of obscure electro/industrial music. It's a trick in order to separate you from your money, nothing more. If they cared only about exposing underground music to a new audience then they'd simply license the album and release it exactly as it was originally in Europe. But I digress.



3. My advice:



Buy the explicit version, then download the bonus tracks "La-Di Da-Di" (bonus track on vinyl) and "Mic Commander" (bonus track on clean version) off teh intarweb and say fsck you to Metropolis Records/MSI for forcing us to buy three versions of the same album in order to get two extra tracks, different artwork and a bonus video (the clean version of this album has a "bonus rehearsal video for 'Diabolical'"). Alternately, if you feel like giving MSI more of your hard-earned money, you can at least get the track "Mic Commander" on iTunes Music Store by itself.



In summation, MSI are a great band and if you like punk, electro-industrial, metal with electronic influences (Fear Factory), hip-hop, nu-metal, coldwave/aggro-industrial (Ministry) then you'll probably totally dig this album.



Also, check out Jhonen Vasquez's video for "Shut Me Up" on myspace (or just do a google search for it). The ex-Johnny the Homicidal Maniac/Squee/Invader Zim/etc. mastermind pulls off one of the funniest videos in a long time."

Clean music can still be good!

Mr. Tangent | 04/19/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Yeah, it kinda loses it's kick without the bad words, but it's still a great CD by one of the best bands out there. It's funny listening to them censor things that I didn't even know were obscenities. I was a little pissed at first with MSI for making me buy two albums just for one bonus track and one video, but the CDs were only 10 bucks each. You can get both for about the same cost as one crappy pop album of your choice.



And as for an actual review of the music, just look at the review of the un-cut version. It all applies, and the bonus track and video are great."