Album of the Week: Three Cheers for Disappointment

We're in our second-to-last week of our Record Club "new genre" exercise. Before we check out the "new" genre of the week, let's talk about the genres we've already covered here in this weekly music listening thing. I'm going to go through every RC album so far, and write down every genre I can think of off the top of my head, without any repeats, and without linking to any of the albums (ain't no one got time for that):

Indie pop, indie rock, folk rock, alternative rock, surf rock, hip hop, J-pop (J-punk?), festival rock, funk, dream pop, post-punk, punk rock, southern rock, blue-eyed soul, reggae, mainstream, hip-pop, singer-songwriter, acoustic folk, lo-fi, noise rock, synth pop, psychedelic, Americana, wizard rock, rock 'n' roll, soul, alternative country, jazz, pop rock, post-hardcore, R&B, classical, experimental hip hop, dark pop, queer pop, country, pop-punk, emo, alternative-emo, CHRISTMAS, jangle pop, post-rock, dance, electronica, oi punk, hyperpop, disco, power pop, space rock, heavy rock, cha-cha, salsa, Latin jazz, progressive electronic rock, pop country, dub, grunge, Afro-jazz, experimental tropical pop, stoner metal, neo-soul, twee pop, jam band, ambient, avant-garde, K-pop, Bhaṅgṛā, progressive pop, ambient pop, minimalism, J-rock, crunk, blues, comedy, indietronica, "future soul," lizard pop, Motown, nü-metal, prog rock, metalcore, heartland rock, dance pop, UK garage, pop?, swancore, vocal jazz, a cappella, drill and bass, and gospel.

And now, a random selection of genres that we have NOT covered yet (and will not be covered in the next two weeks at least). I feel like if we haven't covered an album under one of these genre umbrellas, then maybe that's for a reason? But if you wanna comb through this list and try to find an album to pick, go for it!! At your own peril:

Jug band, boogie woogie, Vaudeville, East Asian classical, Dutch cabaret, prank calls, bluegrass, yodeling, space disco, EDM, jungle, dubstep, glitch hop, chillwave, drone, sound collage, spoken-word poetry, boom bap, chipmunk soul, Christian rap, UK drill, industrial, big band, dixieland, flamenco, swing, black metal, death metal, doom metal, grindcore, deathgrind, pornogrind, metalcore, thrash metal, trance, viking, dangdut, city pop, Korean ballad, Merseybeat, rumba, schlager, yé-yé, screamo, Celtic punk, easycore, powerviolence, horrorcore, Mongolian throat singing, Inuit throat singing, doo-wop, krautrock, zamrock, and literally thousands more.

Ah, that reminds me—four months ago, Gary sent me this helpful website, if you are interested in the hundreds and thousands of music genres that are out there. Here ya go.

Alright, that about does it. Here's you're new album of the week. Here's the archives and playlist if you wanna check out older albums of the week. Here's the update on 2022 goals. Here's... no, that's it. Enjoy your album this week, and let me know if you're writing about it.

WEEK 159 — February 13-19, 2022

What we're listening to this week (Joe's pick):

ALBUM: Three Cheers for Disappointment

ARTIST: The Arrogant Sons of Bitches

RELEASED: January 10, 2006

WHAT GENRE IS THIS: I'm glad you asked. This is a ska album. Well, at least I think it is. Though I haven't heard the album yet, it probably depends on what you consider "ska." It's definitively third-wave ska, and I know that that might be a divisive genre label. That's the only reason I'm qualifying. We've definitely never done a ska album before in Record Club, regardless of wave.

WHY JOE PICKED IT: This is the highest rated ska album on RateYourMusic. But see, this is what I'm talking about. The album doesn't just say "ska." It says "ska punk," which, yes, of course is still ska, but is a type of ska that is significantly different that the #2 album on that same list, the self-titled by the Specials, which is more 2 Tone, a.k.a. second-wave ska, which is much closer in sound to ska's Jamaican reggae foundations. In fact, reggae actual comes from first-wave ska, not the other way around, but now we're getting too far into the weeds, and plus we already covered a reggae album, so let's not even go there. I just wanted to listen to a ska album, and this seemed well-regarded, in addition to it being completely unknown to me prior to picking it.

TRACKLIST:

1. The Last Bell I Will Ever Hear
2. (I Must Be a Proctologist Because) All I Do Is Deal with Assholes
3. So Let's Go! Nowhere
4. Kill the President
5. People Pops & Fudgesicles for the Hit Factory
6. RocketRocketRocketship
7. 1-800-ALARM-ME
8. I've Got Enemies in High Places
9. Disappointment at the Taco Bell
10. Piss Off
11. Have Fun Rotting by Yourself
12. "Yeah, I Don't Know What It's Like to Be Around a Bunch of Hipsters"
13. Last on My List

LENGTH: 38:54

WHERE TO LISTEN FOR FREE: YouTube

READING SOME SHIT: Alright, so the Arrogant Sons of Bitches was a band fronted by Jeff Rosenstock, who you might recognize as the frontman of Bomb the Music Industry! and from his more recent solo work. In fact, he reworked his most recent solo album NO DREAM as a ska album, called SKA DREAM. When Brooklyn Vegan talked to him about his "ska roots," they were referring to the Arrogant Sons of Bitches (as well as the fact that ska sounds have littered many of his post-ASoB material).

PREVIOUSLY ON RECORD CLUB: I'm just remembering now that 340ml was technically tagged with the "ska" genre label. But again, they are way closer to 2 Tone than the ska punk here (I've actually seen the genre "skacore" floating around, and I wonder if that could apply to the Arrogant Sons of Bitches). I guess Lumos had a ska song too, but that doesn't count. It can't possibly count, right?!

Happy listening, fam! Have a great week!