Best known for their 1999 hangover anthem "My Own Worst Enemy,"
Lit were an unlikely candidate for journeyman rock band of the '90s California pop-punk scene. With a sound that found them lumped alongside such similarly minded "bro-pop" contemporaries as
Smash Mouth,
blink-182, and
Sugar Ray,
Lit were overshadowed by their success and seemed destined for the one-hit-wonder dustbin. But that notion doesn't figure in the band's self-effacing sense of humor and obvious knack for coming up with a great hook -- not to mention lead singer
A. Jay Popoff's impassioned yelp of a voice. And while
Lit have kept a lower profile since the '90s, they have continued to release catchy guitar rock albums, and 2012's
The View from the Bottom finds the band returning to its pop-punk roots with a handful of catchy and anthemic party tracks. The album is also the band's first since losing original drummer
Allen Shellenberger to a brain tumor in 2009, and one gets the sense that
Lit are re-engaged here both emotionally and creatively. Kicking off with the soaring hard-rock number "C'Mon," the album is an immediate ear-catcher, bringing together the group's love of bombastic glam rock production and no-apologies party rock fun. To these ends, we get the exuberant hook-up anthem "You Tonight," the bittersweet midtempo ballad "She Don't Know," and the '80s power pop-inflected "You Did It." Elsewhere,
Lit delve into dancey post-punk on the minor-key "Miss You Gone" and the ebullient girlfriend kiss-off number "Nothing's Free." Ultimately, while the album may be about the band's
View from the Bottom (whether that be career woes, the loss of a friend, or the bottom of a shot glass), as the title of the rousing set closer implies,
Lit definitely got it "Right This Time."