Infusing the spark and simplicity of pre-
Beatles teen rock & roll with pep-squad spirit and a healthy dose of postmodern irony,
Junior Varsity's Bam Bam Bam! celebrates youth culture in all its acne-scarred glory. These 14 three-chord tributes to the delirious joys of cruising, rebel boyfriends, and underage drinking clock in at just over 20 minutes, so the joke never has a chance to go stale. Between the cheerleaders-gone-bad attitude and kitschy sock-hop image, it's easy to miss just how perfectly JV's charmingly primitive songs capture the vintage frat-rock sound of an era nearly half a century gone -- for all the trio's tongue-in-cheek allure, their crisp melodies and propulsive rhythms nevertheless evoke a long-ago moment when pop music was not a reflection of reality but an escape from it. Fun, fun, fun. ~ Jason Ankeny