Osaka Popstar
“and the American Legend of Punk”
Rykodisc

For years, people have been bitching that the current Misfits line-up (Jerry Only, Marky Ramone, and Dez Cadena) is a train wreck and shouldn’t be disgracing the legacy of one of the greatest punk bands of all time. Hell, this incarnation made the Graves, Doyle, Chudd years look awesome.

So what does Jerry Only do? He hires the director of such cinema classics as Big Money Hustlas to sing and forms a Japanese cartoon pop-punk act–Osaka Popstar. It’s actually The Miscraps with Ivan Julian from the Voidoids along for the ride, but don’t tell them that.

Their debut release, “and the American Legends of Punk” (get your snickering in now), manages to be both over-produced and shitty sounding at the same time. The whole record sounds like it was recorded in Only’s basement, making the “Cough/Cool” sound stereophonic in comparison. However, singer John Cafiero’s vocals sound like they’ve been run through a dozen sound processors.

Most of the songs are covers or inspired by such classic cartoons as Sailor Moon and Astroboy, and come off just as sugary sweet. They also are nice enough to include a fantastic cover of Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation” and Daniel Johnston’s “Wicked World.” All jokes aside, the music is tight, fast and punky. The subject matter can get corny at times, but everything is catchy. It’s just kind of sad to hear and watch 50-year-old men sing about giant insects and “Shaolin Monkeys.” Then again, to each their own. I’ll stick to “The Static Age.”