Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too

I've been claiming "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals as my favorite song for years (since the first time I heard it back in the '90s, actually) without owning the CD it was from. I finally broke down and decided to buy Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too when I saw a used copy for $1 on Amazon ($4 with shipping). Not a great sign when an album goes that cheap, but I thought I might be pleasantly surprised. If anything, at least I would have another copy of my favorite song.

This album is odd in that I don't know whether to recommend it or not. True, I can't stop listening to it. There are some really catchy, sophisticated pop hooks on here, both fun and melancholy, that draw you in. Besides my favorite song, which is, of course, awesome, a few of the other tracks show similar brilliance. But the lyrics are another story, ranging from immature to crude to just plain cheesy. Case in point, "Someday We'll Know", possibly the cheesiest lyrics I've ever heard in my life. Most of the songs are about some guy pouting because this great girl dumped him, and given how immature and under the influence this guy sounds, you can't really blame her.

However, maybe I'm weird because I find the cheesiness of the lyrics sort of funny, and Gregg Alexander's subversive commentary on society is good for a few laughs. So my final recommendation is to buy this if you like pop music and can stand a few stupid lyrics.