Song: “Wonder Beer”
Band: Naked Raygun
Album: Understand?
Analysis: A crisp, refreshing draught of vintage Raygun.
<<REWIND
The first time I heard this song was 1992 or 1993, well after Understand? had come out, but it was still new to me. A friend of mine had found the cassette in the bargain bin of a chain record store and was listening to it in his car when he picked me up to drive around aimlessly as teenagers are apt to do. He’d obviously listened to the album a number of times already and was singing along to every song. He pretty much shunned conversation except to tell me how “grocked” he was to have picked the tape up for a buck. When the sound of a can opening came through the speakers he cranked the volume and was all, “Dude, check this out! This song is fanfuckingtastic!” I was immediately hooked by the catchy riffs and fist-in-the-air, sing-along quality of the chorus. The lyrics were full of the smartass sarcasm that made me love punk in the first place. Underneath the cavalier ‘getting tanked is awesome’ artifice is the message that there is a price to pay for the fun.
My friend was straight-edge at the time and thought it was a grand battle cry against the excesses of alcohol. I said it was a great drinking song, just to piss him off. He called me an asshole and turned up the volume. By the third time he rewound the song I was singing along too and “Wonder Beer” was the best song ever.
FAST FORWARD>>
Maybe not the best song ever, but it still pops into my head more often than I actually listen to the album. Last night at the gym I fired up Understand? for the first time in ages and “Wonder Beer” still stood out as one of my favorites on the album. I put it on repeat and listened to it a bunch of times. It really helped keep my motivation up on the human hamster wheel that is the elliptical machine.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
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