Rocket - Primitive Radio Gods (1996)

Just in case you were in danger of wanting to follow my thought process: I originally had this on the list of one-album wonders I just finished. Then I saw that they have half a dozen records they’ve released in the ensuing decades, including as recently as 2024. So I bumped them to the following week. Then I replaced their spot with Nine Days, a band who also have multiple 21st century releases and aren’t really any more deserving of the one album thing than PRG is. But I dug this record when it was new and I figured it should be here somewhere.

Like many of the bands I’ve been on about lately, you probably know this so-Cal outfit for one song. And Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand a banger of a song, in addition to having an immaculate title.

But there’s also bunch of punchy, jagged, harder-rocking material filling out this album that makes it a delightful suprise compared to what you might think it sounds like.

I think I got rid of my CD collection without giving this one back to my buddy Mark, who’d loaned it to me some years before.

Tracks I Liked

Motherfucker - a now-quaint-sounding shout out to a time when drug legalization was a pressing public policy argument. Remember when we worried that senators whinging about weed was the thing that was gonna crumble the republic? I miss how boring Bob Dole was.

Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand - obv. It really is a great tune that maybe wasn’t worth the price of admission back when you had to buy a whole CD, but is definitely worth playlist real estate in the modern world.

The Rise And Fall of OOO Mau - possibly an equally good title if I had any idea what it means