Andrew W. K.

Do not be fooled by Andrew W. K.’s detractors or his advocates. Irony, honesty, musicianship and songwriting are as worthless as they are over-used qualifiers for why people should love him or hate him. The reviewers of his sophomore effort, The Wolf, paint themselves into corners either by running away from the over-hyped, bonehead sports anthems or by inhaling the lusty fumes of his proselytizing, “Life is great—let’s party!” battle cries. The Wolf continues full-bore down the same flat track of his debut I Get Wet, setting the stage on the opening “Victory Strikes Again” that “This is why we’re alive.” And the songs that follow, “Long Live the Party,” “Make Sex” and “I Love Music,” ride a more sweeping, “Bohemian Rhapsody” type of orchestration than its predecessor but vary little from its plainly spoken themes. This unwavering devotion to playing loud, simple music (with the catchiest Cheap Trick-worthy melodies) needs no more justification than Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” and it certainly provides as valid a catharsis as any Ramones anthem.