I always thought Methods Of Mayhem was a knee-jerk response by Tommy Lee to his divorce from Pam Anderson and leaving Motley Crue back in 1999. The first album was Nu-Metal/rap hybrid that did little for Tommy Lee besides convince him it was time to head back to Motley Crue. Now, eleven years later, and boasting new members, Methods Of Mayhem have returned with a new album titled A Public Disservice Announcement.
I have to admit the premise to the album is interesting. Tommy Lee posted stems of songs online allowing people to download them, expand the songs and then submit them. After combing through 10,000 submissions the favorite examples were kept on and made into full songs. It’s a perfect symbol for music in the digital age. You don’t like what you hear, write our album for us and we’ll record it. I’m sure there was more finessing by the band then they let on but even so it’s a great way to generate interest in a band nobody has heard from in over a decade.
The problem here is that the premise is much more interesting than the actual finished product. What could have been an incredible experiment in expanding musical horizons are little more than eleven songs of by the numbers and largely outdated sounding music. For example, the opening track “Drunk Uncle Pete” sounds so much like Third Eye Blind’s “Semi Charmed Life” that for a moment I thought it was a cover. A Public Disservice Announcement ends up sounding more like a summer picnic mix tape than an actual album.
Take the track “Timebomb”, which plays out like a Daughtry tune or “Louder” a song that sounds like badly mimicked Foo Fighters. There’s no cohesion to this new Methods Of Mayhem album and I don’t mean that in a good way. I would think if you were bringing back a band that’s been off the grid for so long, coupled with this “write our song” idea that Tommy Lee would absolutely throw caution to the wind. What does he care, he’s Tommy Lee, it’s not like the commercial success of this album will effect him either way. Why not take that freedom and use the most ridiculously bizarre submissions from people to write your album. Nope, any and all creative curiosity is drained from A Public Disservice Announcement completely.
“Fight Song” is a particularly sore thumb here because it sounds like what Methods Of Mayhem attempted to do in 1999. This is bad Nu-Metal strife with macho bravado and hysterically “manly” lyrics that give the song a real “WWE Entrance Theme” vibe. Outside of that the actual songs here aren’t bad in a “Now That’s What I Call Music” kind of way. It’s like a supercomputer decided to tap into Top Forty Radio and then regurgitated copies of the songs onto a party mix. In all honesty I can’t say any of the songs here are horrible listen to, they just evaporate from memory as soon as they end.
The most resonating thing about the A Public Disservice Announcement is trying to figure out what the point of doing the record was. There was no great call for a return of Methods Of Mayhem, the genre they were part of has long since fallen out of favor, and the experimental edge to the album wasn’t utilized at all. Was Tommy Lee trying to create a string of radio friendly hits? Is this an art project defining how sterilized and repetitive music has become? Any of these answers is fine, I would just love to know what possessed Tommy Lee to choose this band and these songs.
The only tune that pushes some limits is the final track “Party Instructions” featuring a weird robotic noise beat with a Max Headroom sounding Tommy Lee reciting how to get a party started. The song is weird and totally different than anything else on the album. I would have preferred more songs like this as opposed to tracks like “Back To Before”, which sounds like Katy Perry tunes if they were sung by a man. I’m sure there’s a method (sorry) to the madness for Tommy Lee; I just wanted the madness to be a little more, well, mad.
It’s hard to judge an album like this because while it isn’t bad there isn’t a shred of originality to it. I do give credit to Tommy Lee for releasing material that will surely alienate his fan base. Neither aging headbangers who grew up on Motley Crue nor the new generation who were raised on Tommy Lee as a reality show property will be amped on this record. Perhaps the jokes on all of us and that’s the point, for Tommy Lee to completely deconstruct himself and who he is and what his life has been about through the musical submissions of total strangers. I can’t see Tommy Lee becoming that self-aware but stranger things have happened.
CRAVEONLINE RATING 4 OUT OF 10
RATING SYSTEM
1-2 Fuck You
3-4 Not awful but not good
5-6 Pretty good, but not great
7—8 Great but not brilliant
9-10 Brilliant, maybe even perfect.
