Shonen Knife Are A Super Group

Some things are always certain, death, taxes, and Shonen Knife! For as long as I can remember, Shonen Knife has been putting out shouty girly pop punk and so far as I can tell over their illustrious career have released approximately one million albums. Since forming in Osaka, Japan in 1981 the band has perfected their garage rock, pop punk, girl group influenced sound and as a result have become one of the most recognized punk/indie groups on the planet. Now, twenty eight years after thier formation the band has recently released their 1,000,001st album, Super Group.

Super Group is Shonen Knife doing what they do best; short punchy poppy garage rock songs that have just enough kick to them to make you take notice. Always melodic and always catchy the band has clearly developed the ability to write a three minute pop song that will put a smile on your face. If there's one thing you can say about Shonen Knife is that they're always happy and overjoyed to be playing good ol rock and roll. The fact that they've been doing that longer than some of their fans have been alive is truly remarkable and it may explain why they've been around for as long as they have.

Shonen Knife write simple uncomplicated three chord tunes that never leave your memory. While the songs might seem a bit repetitive and similar to one another, there's a sense of honesty and purity in each of them that makes it easy to overlook. Heck if the Ramones can do it, then so can Shonen Knife especially after 28 years together. There's something to be said for these groups if they can literally do the same thing over and over and make a career out of it and people still flock to it!

Super Group is really no different than much of their catalog but the albums happy go lucky nature, cuddly choruses, and ease of accessiblity carry it through to pop babylon. From the awesome cover of McCartney's, "Jet," to the spiky pop punk of, "Super Group," Super Group never strays from what you've come to expect from Shonen Knife. Super Group is a perfect little record from the three chord legends that are Shonen Knife. 28 years in and they're still making great tunes and that's saying something most groups will never get the chance to say. Long live Shonen Knife!