Album Details

• Artist: Secondhand Habit
• Album: Striving For Mediocrity
• Label: N/A
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: carlita on 2012-05-18

Hailing from Victoria, British Columbia, Secondhand Habit is putting the comedic alt-rock sub-genre back on the map, one blowup doll and jester hat at a time. Featuring amusing lyrics a little like Eminem's pre-serious  8-Mile  "Slim Shady" and The Offspring "Pretty Fly for A White Guy" combined, this group reps the Gen X or Yers who latched onto shows like "The Simpsons", "Beavis and Butthead" and "South Park", that live on irreverent humor. The comedic songs on this album seem ideal for the MTV "Jackass" niche, rallying "hornball" teen guys/girls (sure, why not) yet could equally rile up the right-wing conservatives, who'd be up in arms about certain controversial lyrics and potentially offensive references to women on a few songs (especially "TILF"). Watching YouTube videos of previous performances, their stage costumes are hilarious and complement the songs you will find on "Striving for Mediocrity".

Reading their influences were the Red Hot Chili Peppers , Weezer, Rage Against the Machine  and Green Day, you definitely hear that come through on a few mainstream Pandora rock-channel friendly songs like "The Itch" stating "I'm not society's slave",  "Titanium Spine" and "Hourglass", probably not wanting to be pigeonholed as a band known just for one thing.
However they really hit their stride and you find what sets them apart from the rest, on songs like catchy "What The Hell", "Candy Mountain", a Willy Wonka-style song and "Gigolo Jim" who creepily offers risqué services to girls and women alike. Although not for everyone, I appreciated most of the irreverent humor and this album often made me laugh. Secondhand Habit makes counterculture mediocrity rad again.

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