Fred Durst rant mode on: There's no bigger jackass in the music industry right now than Fred Durst. Sure, Mariah Carey got bought out by EMI, A.J. MacLean is supposedly clean and sober (yeah, that's believeable), and Scott Stapp is currently doing the Jesus Christ pose in arenas all over the country. But Durst has made a career out of being a jackass. Anyone who writes a song called Nookie is a jackass. So what the hell is Fred Durst doing discovering some of the better rock acts to come out in the last five years or so? Fred Durst rant mode off

"Grunge" rant mode on: This band, Puddle of Mudd has already been subjected to the normal "grunge" posturing on this site. "They sound like classic grunge," blah blah blah, their name obviously doesn't help. For the love of God people, are you EVER going to learn that Grunge isn't a musical style, it's merely a BS media term that still gets IGNORANTLY thrown around today by every two bit music critic who thinks that Kurt Cobain was some kind of God? *deep breaths Matt, deep breaths.* I told all you f*ckers that I would see to it that that word will be stricken from the Epinions site this year...maybe I should email Epinions and make it one of those dirty words you can't use. Anyways, Puddle of Mudd isn't a "grunge" band, they are merely a rock and roll band, a pretty good one at that. "Grunge" rant mode off.

Puddle of Mudd were signed by Durst after lead singer Wesley Scantlin snuck backstage at a Limp Bizkit show and handed one of Durst's security guards the band's demo tape. Durst called Scantlin a few weeks later, but by then, the members of Puddle of Mudd had drifted apart. Eventually, Durst flew Scantlin out to LA to re-form Puddle of Mudd with new members. The band now looks like this:

Scantlin: vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul James Phillips: guitar, backing vocals
Greg David Upchurch: drums, backing vocals
Douglas John Ardito: bass, backing vocals

This, the band's debut album entitled Come Clean, is a hard rocking affair that has some swagger to it. But unlike most bands who are throwing around large egos these days, Puddle of Mudd does it in a way that isn't so irritating or annoying.

When I first heard the band, it was from the first single, Control, getting heavy airplay. I hated it. The music was ok at best, but the lyrics were terrible. "I like the way you smack my a*s." What the hell? Please keep your homoerotic thoughts off my radio, thank you very much. I quickly wrote off the band. Then I heard Blurry, the second single.

Blurry is much more restrained than Control, one of those songs that sneaks up on you. In my recent Staind review, I said that there was a ton of emotion behind lead singer Aaron Lewis' vocals/lyrics, and that's what put the band above the rest of the rock crowd. That's what Blurry does for Puddle of Mudd. It's a masterpiece that's completely full of emotion.

Most of the other songs will grab your attention pretty quickly as well. Drift and Die has the best lyrics next to Blurry on the album. It's a perfect mid-tempo song that gives Scantlin some room to show off how good of a rock singer he can be when given the chance. He's kind of a cross between Layne Staley and latter day Chris Cornell.

Out of My Head is a nice straight ahead, no fooling around driving rock song. It's been a long time since I've heard something this good that rocks this hard. The lyrics could use some touching up ("You filled my cup, I'm good to go, so shake me up I'm ready to roll"), but you'll probably be too busy banging your head to notice.

The band recalls simple 50s pop ditties on the parody-like She Hates Me. This is kind of a modern day Used to Love Her by Guns N'Roses. It's got one of those simple yet irritatingly catchy melodies only to hear Scantlin sing "yeah, she f*cking hates me."

Speaking of Guns N'Roses, that's who Bring Me Down reminds me most of. The swagger I mentioned earlier? It's here in full force. I can literally see Axl Rose singing this song in 1987, doing his stupid little dances (remember the Patience sway? How was that 15 years ago? God I'm old, but I digress), and Slash looking all cool playing this song with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth...but it's not GNR, it just sounds like someone took their energy and made a kick a*s rock and roll song.

Unfortunately, the other songs aren't anything special. Basement is once again reminiscent of GNR, but BAD GNR. Remember some of the terrible rockers from the Use Your Illusion discs? Yeah, that's what that song would be. Said sounds too much like Staind to me.

Three really bad songs out of eleven isn't so bad though, not when you consider that it's a band's debut album, it's a Fred Durst protege, and the dirth of decent rock music by new acts recently. So, therefore, I heartily give Puddle of Mudd four stars and a "must check out" recommendation.



Recommended: Yes