Good Clean Fun

Good Clean Fun: Positively Positive 1997-2002Positively Positive 1997-2002 (2002)
Equal Vision Records

Reviewer Rating: 4

User Rating:

Contributed by: jamespastepunkjamespastepunk
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on December 14th 2004I was first intriguied by Good Clean Fun when Ronald Reagan died and Pastepunk's Jordan Baker wrote a short obituary saying that if that president was a punk rock group, he'd be Good Clean Fun. Interested, i scoured the net, finally finding a link to their homepage, to which I heard "Who Shares, Wi.

I was first intriguied by Good Clean Fun when Ronald Reagan died and Pastepunk's Jordan Baker wrote a short obituary saying that if that president was a punk rock group, he'd be Good Clean Fun. Interested, i scoured the net, finally finding a link to their homepage, to which I heard "Who Shares, Wins."

What was interesting about the song was that it was straight up youth crew hardcore, no European metal influences in sight and huge choruses meant to be shouted out in basement shows or VFW halls, but with a bit of a twist, as demonstrated in "Who Shares, Wins:"

If I want to make cookies and you have the tins then we'll bake together cuz who shares wins / if I want to bowl and you have the pins then we'll bowl together cuz who shares wins / If I have the helmets and you have the Schwins then we'll bike together cuz who shares wins

...THE SONG WAS FUNNY. I don't want to sound like a burned out, jaded scenester, but Good Clean Fun was a breath of fresh air. Hardcore is notorious for taking itself terribly seriously, and Good Clean Fun didn't at all.

Sure, it had its serious moments as "Next Year In Jerusalem," "Song For The Ladies," and "My Best Friends" proves, but the highlights were the ones where Good Clean Fun just had fun, like "Vegan Revolution Draft Dodger Anthem," "The Ice Cream Man Cometh," "In Defense Of All Life And Loserdotcom."

But it would all be for naught if the songs sucked. They didn't. True, it was youth crew hardcore with a straight edge bent, but they did it well. It wasn't derivative, but you knew where it came from. By no means was Good Clean Fun new or innovative, but it was powerful and fast, a lot like their much celebrated contemporaries in Kid Dynamite, but straight edge.

The lyric sheet actually includes the lyrics to every song. It's all done in a tongue in cheek way, on one page, with stuffed animals dressed up like the moshing ninjas at shows. As an added bonus, the songs were all remastered so they sound clear as day.

In short: it's a solid retrospective any way you cut it, a complete discography of an unfairly underrated group.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (January 19, 2006)

As a europeen I already pick up the new album on their tour... they still awesome... nothin more or less!

fox82 (December 7, 2005)

This is not the complete discography by any means, quite a few songs off 7"s are missing. Fucking Awesome though.

Anonymous (August 13, 2005)

"To the guy who said these guys should be seen live, obviously there's a bit of an issue with that, since they're broken up, but I'd love to have seen them live."

'I can't wait 'till 2010'

Anonymous (December 28, 2004)

i'm positively positive that this band kicks a whole lot of ass...

Anonymous (December 20, 2004)

Did anyone ever notice that the NOFX song "Quart in Session" and "Franco-Unamerican" sound EXACTLY THE SAME! even with the stupid lil breakdown at the end.

Chris_xxx (December 18, 2004)

geat band.

great cd.

wish their xmas song was on it

pacer (December 18, 2004)

to the guy who called me fuckhole - incorrect dickface - was only released on cd. Dickface.

Anonymous (December 17, 2004)

good clean fun GO!

Anonymous (December 16, 2004)

AWESOME band. One of my favorite sxe bands.

Anonymous (December 16, 2004)

GCF is a great band. Im positively positive.

Anonymous (December 16, 2004)

it was released on vinyl you fuckhole

Anonymous (December 15, 2004)

There are some fucking funny songs on this. Good band.

It gets old after a while though cause the music is very homogenous. It's best to listen to 5 or 10 songs then take a break.

Cos (December 15, 2004)

oh man, I've been rocking to "Firestorm" SO HARD lately its ridiculous. I'm having a party this weekend and I think its gonna be on the rotation.

--Cos

Anonymous (December 15, 2004)

i love jan but jan loves saves the day!

jamespastepunk (December 15, 2004)

To the guy who said these guys should be seen live, obviously there's a bit of an issue with that, since they're broken up, but I'd love to have seen them live.

pacer (December 15, 2004)

Why oh why was this not released on vinyl?

FortyMinutesWest (December 15, 2004)

Yes!

theundergroundscene (December 15, 2004)

Everyone needs to give it up for this band.

THEY HAD TRADING CARDS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD

lushj (December 14, 2004)

You shouldn't take them so seriously- "I hate straight edge hardcore". These guys were a 90s version of Crucial Youth "Be Like Me and Mr. T" "Positive Dental Outlook" "Be Kind, Rewind." You know, a joke straight edge band. Without the comic book.

boldredletters (December 14, 2004)

oh man.

i just saw a semi-militant straight edge vegan band on accident and immediately came home and listened to "IN DEFENSE OF ALL LIFE." True story.

pastepunk (December 14, 2004)

"I was first intriguied by Good Clean Fun when Ronald Reagan died and Pastepunk's Jordan Baker wrote a short obituary saying that if that president was a punk rock group, he'd be Good Clean Fun. Interested, i scoured the net, finally finding a link to their homepage, to which I heard "Who Shares, Wins."

--

- Just to clarify, it was one of our writers (Nick Corrado) who made the analogy of President Reagan to Good Clean Fun. I'm not so sure that Reagan fits the description too well (his ignorance to the AIDS epidemic was hardly "fun"), but I think the point Nick was trying to make that was the President Reagan always had a joke prepared, along with a good point, for any situation he found himself in.

Anonymous (December 14, 2004)

GCF have a few songs that are really fantastic hardcore fun, but it seems like a lot of their stuff isn't amusing enough to qualify as parody and isn't sufficiently musically inspired to qualify for extended play. Definitely one of those bands that should be seen live and skipped on disc.

Fuzzy (December 14, 2004)

This band is so fucking awesome.

gladimnotemo (December 14, 2004)

So it's positive hardcore without the "I'll fucking stab you in the fucking throat if you mess with my fucking crew" lyrics? So revolutionary!

bizzlebrizzle (December 14, 2004)

Just more of the same old.

Youth crew hXc sucks.

-BSD

I wouldn't expect you to like a positive band, Mr. Negative Nelly!

Anonymous (December 14, 2004)

Just more of the same old.

Youth crew hXc sucks.

-BSD

Anonymous (December 14, 2004)

GCF bring the posi!

Anonymous (December 14, 2004)

garbage.