The kind of music that makes you want to have a beer, have a cigarette and have sex, if not necessarily in that order. The kind of music that the Rolling Stones used to make. The kind of music that bands like AC/DC, Guns 'n' Roses, and Aerosmith made in the '70s and '80s. The kind of music that seemingly no one is bothering to make these days. No one, that is, except the Los Angeles band Buckcherry, whose second album, "Time Bomb," is perhaps the best pure rock record since Guns 'n' Roses' "Appetite for Destruction." You heard me.
Best known for "Lit Up," the ode to cocaine off their first album, Buckcherry returns with a record full of songs about sex, drugs and, oh yeah, love. For every hard rocker, like the title track (on which frontman/tattooed freak Josh Todd screams "Life ain't nothing but bitches and money!" like Vince Neil channeling Snoop Dogg), there are soaring power ballads like "(Segue) Helpless" and the beautiful, piano-driven "Open Your Eyes." Like the best rockers of the '80s, Buckcherry are bad boys with hearts of gold. Todd may sing "Can't stop drinking/Gonna die" in "Whiskey in the Morning" and claim he has a "hard cock, nasty mind" in "Porno Star," but he's really a sensitive guy. "When love has hit your eyes/I'll never say goodbye," he sings in "You," a song reminiscent of Guns 'n' Roses' "Don't Cry," complete with piano flourishes, vocal harmonies and a faux string section.
It's not all attitude, either. These guys can actually play their instruments, too. Between albums the band added a second guitarist, and it shows. There are more lead parts on this record and some very impressive solos. At the same time there is virtually no fat on any of the songs. With the longest clocking in at just under five minutes, these tunes get in, make their point and get out without boring the listener. Unlike some bands who are hooked on their own musical brilliance, Todd and co. know that they are here to entertain us, not indulge in eight-minute mini-epics. They're serious about the punk ethos that drove bands like Guns 'n' Roses and Motley Crue in their earlier days, before egos and huge record sales got in the way. They can also write songs just as melodic and catchy as any that those two bands managed in their heydays, all with a refreshing lack of pretension. They take all the best elements of hard rock while leaving the rest behind.
With Axl Rose collaborating with avant-garde weirdos, Aerosmith serving up pop schmaltz and AC/DC churning out the same album every few years, Buckcherry emerge as a reminder of all the promise that down and dirty rock 'n roll once had. They walk the walk and talk the talk, and on "Time Bomb" they prove that they may be the only real rock band left.