For Never & Ever

Album Review

More than a few lovers of '70s and '80s rock have claimed that much of the fun went out of rock music in the early '90s, observing that a great deal of today's post-Nevermind alternative rock is extremely serious-minded and introspective. Of course, there are countless exceptions to that generalization; no one can accuse No Doubt, Garbage, Powder (a great band from Los Angeles), or Veruca Salt of not being fun. Furthermore, there's no law stating that rock music always has to push the party button — if Charlie Parker and bebop was when jazz lost much of its sexy frivolity, perhaps rock took an inevitably comparable turn with the grunge/Nirvana/Pearl Jam upheaval of the early '90s. Nonetheless, there's still some room for glamorous, hedonistic, escapist pleasure in the rock world — and Kill Hannah certainly brings a healthy dose of glam to alternative pop/rock on For Never & Ever, which is their first album for Atlantic after recording independently in the past. This 2003 release is simultaneously cute and dark, and one track that brilliantly epitomizes Kill Hannah's blend of frivolity and subversion is "Kennedy." The tune doesn't describe Ted Kennedy's family to make a political statement; rather, Kill Hannah describes the Kennedys as glamorous, if tragic, jet setters and uses them to echo (in an ironic, tongue-in-cheek fashion) rock's live fast/die young clichés. "Kennedy" is among the CD's many examples of delightfully trashy, decadent fun, which is what Kill Hannah does so well — and they do it with an attractive sound that could be described as a blend of Garbage, the Smashing Pumpkins, Republica, and My Bloody Valentine. Anyone who complains that rock isn't as much fun as it once was needs to pay close attention to For Never & Ever, which paints a consistently exciting picture of the Chicago-based alterna-rockers.