{"id":36994,"date":"2001-01-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-01-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/songs-from-an-american-movie-vol-two-good-time-fora-bad-attitude\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T07:31:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T07:31:32","slug":"songs-from-an-american-movie-vol-two-good-time-fora-bad-attitude","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/songs-from-an-american-movie-vol-two-good-time-fora-bad-attitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Songs From An American Movie Vol. Two: Good Time For\nA Bad Attitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we last heard from Art Alexakis and crew, Everclear were
\n
\nLearning How To Smile<\/a>
\n<\/i> through the more introspective, softer songs of the series
\nthey called
\nSongs From An American Movie<\/i>. The second volume (which we’ll
\nrefer to by its subtitle,
\nGood Time For A Bad Attitude<\/i>), makes sure that Alexakis and
\nhis bandmates are pissed off, plugged in and cranked up. And while
\nthis disc is a perfect complement to the first volume (there’s
\nreasons that other critics have said Alexakis should have released
\nthis as a double CD), Everclear seems more themselves when they are
\nin full shred mode.<\/p>\n

Oh, it’s not that threre’s nothing that radio would touch on
\nthis disc. Obviously, the fact that “When It All Goes Wrong Again”
\nis getting played disproves that – yet I wouldn’t have chosen that
\nto be the first single. Instead, I’d have gone for “Rock Star,” a
\ntongue-in-cheek look at wanting to become big and gain all the
\n“perks” that come with the gig. It could well be that Alexakis is
\ntrying to poke holes in that dream – and if this song doesn’t do
\nit, the following track “Short Blonde Hair” surely does.<\/p>\n

“Short Blonde Hair” seems to capture where Alexakis and his
\nbandmates were at their near-boiling point, trying to deal with the
\nsudden pressures of success and havin each and every moment of
\ntheir lives scrutinized and publicized. I have to go out on a limb
\nand say this is pretty much autobiographical for Alexakis, baring
\nhis soul in the only way he’s truly comfortable doing so.<\/p>\n

At times, it feels like many parts of
\nGood Time For A Bad Attitude<\/i> talk about the near-breakup of
\nthe band around the time of
\nSo Much For The Afterglow<\/i> (that is if VH-1’s special on
\nEverclear was accurate, and I have no reason to doubt it). Still
\nothers feel like Alexakis looking back at his own life, be it
\nmarriage (“The Good Witch Of The North”) or dealing with all the
\nproblems he’s faced through the years (“All Fucked Up”), but he’s
\nable to use his words to paint a picture that any listener can not
\nonly understand, but relate to. This is why Everclear has become
\nsuch a fan favorite in the last few years.<\/p>\n

The only criticism I’d lay on this disc is the closing song,
\n“Song From An American Movie, Pt. 2”. On “Pt. 1” on
\nLearning How To Smile<\/i>, I liked the folk-ish direction that
\nthe band had the track moving in, especially with the use of
\nmandolin. On the closing chapter, it tells more of the story (and
\nagain feels like a look inside Alexakis’s life and seeing how he
\nwishes certain chapters were different – and how some should never
\nchange), but it’s done in a more electric setting. Sorry, Art – I
\nknow you don’t really give a shit what critics think, but I
\nhonestly wish you had stuck with the folk-like elements to close
\nout the story. It just
\nfelt<\/i> right.<\/p>\n

Still,
\nGood Time For A Bad Attitude<\/i> is a pleasant disc that
\nsometimes outshines its brother in crime, and is yet another
\nfeather in Everclear’s collective cap. How Alexakis and crew will
\ntop this one has yet to be seen… but why worry about that
\nnow?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6484],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36994","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-everclear","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52146,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36994\/revisions\/52146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36994"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36994"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}