Every once in a while I’ll be randomly surprised by a poppy release that has such a catchy melody that I can’t help, but mix it in with some of my more harder and angrier music that I listen to. This happens from time to time and that’s exactly what happened when I first heard the song “Bad Decisions.”

This song is just down right fun and full of energy. The whole track clearly has an Elvis Costello vibe to it. The guitars are lightly distorted and have a bit of a jangle-y sound to them. The light distortion is an especially good fit for the high-string based, main guitar riff, guitar solo, and outro. But what truly stands out in this song is the very 80’s pop-rock melody especially in the pre-chorus where Johnny sings, “Let’s call it what it is/A night would we never ever forget…” This part builds up and then blends really well into the chorus where he shouts, “Let’s make some BAD DECISIONS!”

On the B-Side of this single is the song “Crazy.” This track also has an 80’s pop-rock influence. It has a bit of a calmer tone compared to “Bad Decisions,” but the band kept the tinny sounding guitars and used the light distortion to their advantage by using it to get a good palm muting sound from the guitars during the verses. The melody for this song though, is definitely toned down compared to the other song and might leave you a little underwhelmed when you listen to the single all the way through. Perhaps this song is just more of a “grower.”

You can check out the single here and you can watch the music video for “Bad Decisions” right here on Punknews!.

Note to me fellow vinyl nerds:
500 copies of this 7-inch were pressed in three different variants: black, half red and half blue, and half red and half blue with black splatter.