Boy do we have short memories?!!

You may not remember when Pink’s debut, a stunning, if not entirely original, concept album called Can’t Take Me Home was released. It got terrific reviews. Nearly A’s across the board. Then Pink released her sophomore record M!ssundaztood and it was hailed as a terrific album too. However, few if any media outlets even talked about the craft of the album. Rolling Stone, SPIN, every magazine was hailing Pink’s return to real music, as if her foray into R&B were some kind of mistake. Suddenly her debut was treated like it wasn’t good, everyone suddenly thought it was awful, and exploitative, and constrictive.

What I think about this album is really secondary to what I feel is the issue at hand. I bought M!ssundaztood and listened to it. I wasn’t sure what to look for that would warrant the album an A. But I’ll tell you what the issue is. It’s this assumption that adding fake guitars (yes, that’s right, read your liner notes, few songs use actual guitars) makes the song more authentic (read: more rock) than the fake guitars and programming in a R&B or pop song. See the MIDI/Sound Design, that is the machine that manufacturers the soundscapes of much of this album.

Basically, the idea is that if you move from the overproduced R&B to the overproduced rock of today, then you’ve somehow arrived. You’re a true artist who was "misunderstood" and manipulated. But what they are really saying is that the only real music is still rock. The assumption that rock is the home base of American music, the origin and apotheosis of American music continues to plague the way music is reviewed. What y’all need to know is that what you call rock is like Michael Jackson, a sadly distorted and whitened and distilled, pathetic version of a music that most America couldn’t accept until Elvis came along, shook his hips and cheapened it.

Harsh? Perhaps, but it serves my purpose. Pop music is treated like the plague cause it rapes and pillages modern R&B and hip-hop, but rock continues to become more and more of a parody of itself. And for an appropriation, that is really rather disgusting. Few if any bands know more than 4 chords. Many of the best bands are just session players for the front man (Nine Inch Nails) who does most of the work.

The funny thing about this album is that there is little if any real rock on here. The most glaring example is the song Misery with Stephen Tyler. Sorry, y’all that’s a blues melody. But then most people wouldn’t know that Tyler’s voice has always been more bluesy than rock. But it is labeled a rock song. Misery is the standout track on the album, not because it is more rock or more acoustic, but because it is a damn good song that, although hugely derivative of any number of blues songs, is more heartfelt than reactionary.

And therein lies the problem with the album on the whole. Pink was so annoyed by being lumped in with blond pop singers, which admittedly was moronic, that she went out and did a whole reactionary album. The production of nearly every song is heavily produced, but most of it is wasted putting fake guitar sounds in the background so it doesn’t sound overproduced. But it is. The thing Pink can’t hide is her voice. It is a bluesy R&B voice if I ever heard one. Derivative? Well, sure but whose isn’t. Her ability to write a strong lyric saves every song on the album. If you don’t think she can sing listen to the gorgeous vocals on Misery, Gone To California, Dear Diary and most notably Eventually. But as good as her vocals are on this record she might never match the vocal perfection and ingenuity of Stop Falling from her debut album.

And the Linda Perry creations? Well other than the title track and Gone To California there isn’t an acoustic sound among them. Everything is done on machines. There are no guitars, no drums, nothing. Other than the gorgeously soulful Eventually and the pop fun of Get The Party Started. Perry’s soundscapes sound like the stuff she was doing for 4 Non Blondes. Dear Diary, which is dangerously close to self-indulgence, has that same fake guitar progression as on any one of the 4 Non Blondes songs. Lonely Girl sounds exactly like one of their songs…and it is just terrible. And while the songs are mostly good, they don’t help Pink to find her own sound or voice, it is just her voice and lyrics over the sound of some lame defunct all girl rock group. And Pink is such a fan she doesn’t even care. Gone To California buries Pink’s voice in production and the song itself is a mixture of heavy sound effects and actual music. But somehow it does work, mostly. Of all the Linda Perry contributions Eventually and My Vietnam are the most enjoyable and original. Eventually casts Pink in such a nakedly emotional place, you’ll be singing along before the song ends. My Vietnam is a wonderful experiment with percussion. The backdrops sound like bombs without using the actual bomb sound you here on many songs. Pink’s unadorned voice is front and center and damn good.

But more interesting is that almost the whole album is more bluesy and R&B than it is given credit for. Dallas Austin is responsible for the best moments on the almost the entire album. Don’t Let Me Get Me is a gorgeous self-deprecating diss at her image and her detractors. Even with the fake guitars, the song is about as good as a R&B song masquerading as a rock song can get. Same with the melodramatic Just Like A Pill which is so damn infectious, you’ll accept this new reactionary Pink. 18 Wheeler features such a wonderful lead vocal by Pink that you’ll excuse the hyperbolic metaphor of the hook. Numb which is the most glaring example of the fake guitar programming on the album, is a good song even though Pink’s voice is muted by the vocal production. But everyone doesn’t seem to care either way. It’s the most overproduced song on the album, but you won’t hear anyone tell you that, because their whole argument for why this album is better than Can’t Take Me Home goes out the window.

Of what’s left Family Portrait is the best. It’s heartfelt, even with the wholly unnecessary addition of choirs (and if that ain’t R&B/gospel appropriation, I don’t know it). Respect is infectious but that doesn’t make it any good. The sung parts are pretty good, but the song is ultimately trite and unconvincing. Get The Party Started is a bundle of fun clichés but it too folds under the weight of its pretensions.

M!ssundazstood 7/10
Don’t Let Me Get Me 10/10
Just Like A Pill 10/10/
Get The Party Started 6/10
Respect 5/10
18 Wheeler 10/10
Family Portrait 10/10
Misery 10/10
Dear Diary 6/10
Eventually 10/10
Lonely Girl 4/10
Numb 7/10
Gone To California 8/10
My Vietnam 8/10

So you’re thinking that after all the b*tching I did in this review, why did I like it? Well I liked it because much of it is good. The question surrounding pop music is a question of derivation. People always make it seem like if you do rock influenced stuff then that is authentic, especially if you are white. The sad truth is American music is black music, and it’s sad because no one wants to really admit that. It doesn’t discredit good rock music, good pop music, or good R&B music to say that it is all derivative and, more times that not, watered-down. But to laud one album of pretentious reactionary appropriations over another of more honest, direct appropriation is splitting hairs. What we think Pink should be making is beside the point. She does well on both albums, Can’t Take Me Home is just more easily accessible, and in my opinion, the better album.

My problem with this album is that the perceptions of it are based in such deep ignorance and racism that I nearly discredited it entirely. No album deserves an A just because the artist is doing music that you feel is more authentic to their race. Especially when that isn’t even the case. This album is only scantily clad in rock attire, people. But it is different. Pink is so talented that her genius and ingenuity shines through even the most reactionary and moronic songs. We probably won’t get a thoroughly authentic Pink until she is more comfortable being a commodity and subject to public opinion. But regardless she is more talented than any number of people you can name in pop, R&B, and rock, but that seems to be beside the point.


4 stars.


I want to address something before I get a comment that says I’m a hypocrite or something. If you think about it, Pink was given sh*t for the same thing that makes Justin Timberlake a critical and commercial darling…they walk in forms they fundamentally can’t understand, yet claim to so vehemently. That should make me hate her music too right? Nope. The difference that people are incapable of seeing lies in degrees of derivation and expressiveness. Pink is probably just as derivative as Justin, but she’s aware of it. More importantly, her songwriting and vocal expressiveness is light years ahead of Justin’s. Even cast offs like Respect are better than most of his debut. Both albums suffer from too much of the producer's sound, but in Pink's case, less so. Thus, Pink. The better artist.


Recommended: Yes