Review: Teen Spirit 2010

Sergio reviews Teen Spirit 2010.

Artist Name: Various
Album Name: Teen Spirit 2010
Year: 2010
Genre: Rock

I still remember the original Teen Spirit compilation from 2001. Back in those days, I was still rollin’ with Limp Bizkit and jumping around to Blink182 (yes, I’m still ashamed about my behaviour, but I know you’ll forgive me at some point), but I’m still grateful to all the bands it exposed me to. Fast-forward to today and Teen Spirit 2010 is the latest addition to this long-standing compilation series.

Featuring 44 songs over two discs, Teen Spirit 2010 does a good job of covering a wide range of local and international bands across the various sub-genres of rock. What really impressed me about this release is that it doesn’t just throw a bunch of popular radio-acts into a NOW-inspired release, but also showcases some lesser known bands to the South African audience – it’s certainly about time that the general public hear The Gaslight Anthem and Saosin, for example. While the radio friendly numbers are still present, there are also many songs that would never have found airplay on South African soil.

However, I was slightly disappointed by some of the dated songs on the release. As much as I enjoy(ed) Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe, I’d much rather hear a newer song of his than listening to ‘Living Dead Girl’ for the millionth time on a compilation. But alas this seems to be the general curse of all compilations…

Despite this, Teen Spirit 2010 is still a decent compilation, which offers good value for money. If you’re looking for an album that strongly represents an iPod Shuffle’s playlist, look no further than this one.

Best Tracks: Flyleaf’s ‘Again’, Haste The Day’s ‘Madman’, Rise Against’s ‘Audience of One’, and The Temper Trap’s ‘Sweet Disposition’

61/100

- Sergio Pereira
sergio@musicreview.co.za
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