Pure Rubbish
Pure Rubbish

THE REVIEW

A genuine old-fashioned EP introduced, a few years ago, the supposed new hope of American street rock, a four-piece band with an average age of nineteen, launched towards potential large-scale success by the alchemies of executive production orchestrated by the "witch" (no offense...) Sharon Osbourne.

An ideal introduction to the mediocre full-length "Glamorous Youth", expected in the early months of 2002 and released only in the States in the second half of the same year, this maxi single demonstrates all the group's limitations due largely to their young age and not exactly exceptional instrumental technique. The sleazy rock n' roll offered here is nothing more than an update of the formula that made bands like Guns N' Roses famous (evidenced by the presence of Mike Clink, producer of the masterpiece "Appetite For Destruction", at the console), Vain, L.A. Guns, and Faster Pussycat, presented in a more accessible and less raw way.

The four youngsters, although aware of their limits (quite evidently, in fact), dare without fear by tackling a cover of a challenging song like the essential "Let there be rock" by the masters AC/DC (also undoubtedly one of the influences for Pure Rubbish): the result is not exhilarating, but the piece represents one of the best efforts on the disc. On the other hand, the insubstantial and predictable "Electric heart" and "Parts unknown" pass by without leaving a trace, heavily looting the repertoires of all the so-called minor bands of the eighties, from Jetboys to Junkyard, passing by Princess Pang, Tuff, and Dangerous Toys. Pure Rubbish slightly raise the bar only with the decent song "Kiss of death", an “evocative” track but with a significantly greater impact than anything else presented by the baby ensemble here.

Time does not seem to have been too kind to this combo, which quickly faded into obscurity: their disappearance should be read as a personal failure of Ozzy Osbourne's wife/manager but also as the result of poor stylistic choices by the management of Divine Record, which led Pure Rubbish to play sleazy rock while presenting themselves to the public as a pocket version of operetta pop rockers like American Hi-Fi and The Calling. This EP, moreover, is hard to find and is the blatant demonstration of how image choices made at the table do not match the needs of the audience devoted to street rock, which, sniffing the commercial underpinnings of the horrendous Osbournian pantomime, mercilessly decreed the media death of this quartet.

In conclusion, "Pure Rubbish" stands on levels immensely inferior to illustrious episodes released in that same season by super bands such as Beautiful Creatures and Buckcherry, representing one of the worst hard rock releases of the entire 2001.
(Enrico Rosticci)