The Great Burrito Extortion Case

by

Bowling for Soup

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If light-hearted pop punk is what you're in the mood for, then this is the album for you! Packed with clever lyrics, shameless name-dropping and laugh out loud moments, this fun album is the perfect thing to brighten up a dull afternoon.

The first single is "High School Never Ends", a catchy track with pop culture inspired lyrics like "Check out the popular kids / You'll never guess what Jessica did / How did Mary Kate lose all that weight / And Katie had a baby so I guess Tom's straight". Other good'uns are "Epiphany", "Val Kilmer", "Why Don't I Miss You", "Friends Like You" and "Don't Let It Be Love".

Caution: Contains some language unsuitable for tender ears or the easily offended.

Amanda Richards, November 17, 2006

Grammy nomination day is always a great one as I scour the five hundred categories to see who got the nod. Every year there are always a few surprises like someone getting a nomination you wouldn't have thought would even be a contender, and rarely there is an act that comes out of nowhere to grab a nomination in a major category or two. That was the case back in 2003 for the Texas based quartet Bowling for Soup that got the nod in a couple of pop categories. The boys walked away empty handed that year, but they took the momentum and scored a hit the following year with the nostalgic 1984 and the even catchier follow up Ohio (Come Back to Texas). Now the band is back with their eighth full length album The Great Burrito Extortion Case.

On the new album, the boys get serious and try to channel their inner-U2. Just kidding, it's just more of the same power-pop sounds with lyrics that borderline on "Weird Al" territory of silliness much like their previous work. Headlining the album is the ever so true High School Never Ends that chronicles this nation's obsession with celebrity likening Reese Witherspoon to the Prom Queen, Brad Pitt to the quarterback, and Bill Gates as the captain of the chess team.

Other sophomoric ditties include Val Kilmer where they sing about who there life isn't how they thought it would turn out using movie themes as metaphors and even throw in a debate about the title's namesake's career. Then there's I'm Gay. No the band hasn't been outed by some lame blogger with nothing better to do, they instead are kicking it old school, so old that they are referring to the time when the word meant happy, ask your grandparents. See what they did, they made you think one thing, but then they turned around and meant something entirely different, you know, like you did in middle school. And there in lies the problem with the band, they create fun pop song but the shelf lives are not that long, and that's no different here on The Great Burrito Extortion Case. The songs are fun the first time around, but the more you hear them the less entertaining they become.