So here’s the deal with The Presidents of the United States of America (or PUSA if you’re into that whole brevity thing). These guys came outta Seattle in ’93, right when everyone was still nursing their grunge hangover, and basically said “fuck it, let’s have some fun”. Chris Ballew on his two-string “basitar,” Dave Dederer on his three-string “guitbass,” and Jason Finn beating the hell out of his drums, stripped down to the bare bones and loving every second of it.
Their self-titled debut from ’95 is basically what happens when you take all that Seattle angst and flip it on its head. Instead of wallowing in misery, these dudes wrote songs about cats, peaches, and lumps, and somehow made it work better than most bands writing about “serious” stuff. The album went triple platinum, which is pretty damn impressive for a band that sounds like they recorded it in someone’s garage (in the best possible way).
“Lump” and “Peaches” are the obvious standouts here, hell, they’re probably the only reason half of us know this band exists. “Lump” is Ballew’s take on writing a Buzzcocks song about his benign tumor and some swamp woman, which sounds ridiculous but somehow comes out as this perfectly crafted two-and-a-half minute blast of pure energy. “Peaches” flips between folk and Nirvana-style explosions before ending in this Crazy Horse chug that’s basically impossible not to sing along with. These aren’t just nostalgia trips, they’re genuinely great rock songs that still hold up.
Look, this album isn’t gonna change your life or make you question the meaning of existence, but sometimes that’s exactly what you need. It’s 15 tracks of pure, unfiltered fun from a band that knew exactly what they were doing, even if what they were doing was completely insane. If you want something that’ll put a stupid grin on your face and remind you why rock music can be awesome without taking itself too seriously, this is your ticket.