Punk: Osaka Popstar And the American Legends of Punk

In 1995, Bulletproof Entertainment released the compilation, Saturday Morning: Cartoon’s Greatest Hits, featuring an excellent line up of rock bands laying into cartoon theme songs and music. The Ramones gave a darkly fast version of “Spider Man,” making Spidey cool long before Tobey Maguire ever donned the tights.


Now Osaka Popstar (a.k.a. Misfits collaborator John Cafiero) has recruited Markey Ramone, Jerry Only (Misfits), Dez Cadena (Black Flag), and Ivan Julian (Voivoids) as the American Legends of Punk to lend that same cartoonish cool to 13 tracks of lively punk. The legends are in fine form, and Cafiero on vocals sounds both like the coach whose encouraged the band to put everything into the song while also sounding like a true fan excited with the prospect of fronting such a stellar group of musicians.

Covering Daniel Johnston’s “Wicked World,” the band embodies the punk prophet idea explored by writer Andrew Careaga. The anime video of “Wicked World” (on the accompanying DVD) shows that while the song repeats its chorus of “We’re marching to hell,” the song is actually conscious of how vacant our wicked pursuits are. This song doesn’t celebrate evil as much as it shows that we’re in great need of good.

Johnston then joins the band on guest vocals for their cover of the traditional bluegrass song “Man of Constant Sorrow” made famous again by O Brother, Where Art Thou?. It’s a rollicking rockabilly punk version, and a perfect choice showing that at the core—bluegrass is punk, punk is bluegrass.

Overall, then, the album is actually quite positive. You see Jerry Only’s scary mug, and you might think that the band is going to be some dangerous death celebration. Yet, there’s songs about eating Cap’n Crunch, being scared of monsters in the closet, and a hero named Astro Boy. It’s truly an extension of Saturday Morning.

The DVD, which also includes an anime video of “Insects,” adds to the comic book quality of the whole project. The CD booklet artwork comes from a variety of artists, giving Osaka Popstar a comic book hero personality. It’s the kind of alternate universe that invites you into the culture and world of a band making the experience like getting lost in a comic book story.

Thanks to Osaka Popstar, Misfits Records, and Rykodisc for the review CD.