The 2004 Reviews Section: 2¢ Worth, United States of Hysteria

2¢ WORTH

UNITED STATES OF HYSTERIA
AFTERNOON ONLINE, 2003

I recently read a review by John Chedsey about 2¢ Worth's live album from 2000. The review could not be more condescending, and it's a review that has helped make me lose respect for John Chedsey as a whole. Granted, the live album may have been bad, but then I haven't heard it so I don't know. He's entitled to his opinion but I've sort of grown tired of Satan Stole My Teddybear since about 2002. It was the whole "seriousness" of SSMT that did it for me. That, and I visited the archives of the long-dormant Teufel's Tomb at archive.org and realised that anyone who hires Rob DelMedico has to be at least a little pretentious or prone to same. Like my opinion means anything anyway.

Enough character assassination. 2¢ Worth is a band from Las Vegas playing Bad Religion-influenced punk. To be honest, United States of Hysteria was a surprise as I was expecting really shitty punk with screamed vocals and "Bush is a babykiller"-type lyrics. Make no mistake, 2¢ Worth isn't a right-wing Republican-leaning band (no punks aside from Emerson Shiff lean right anyway) but 2¢ Worth is pretty damn intelligent and heartfelt for a punk band. The music may have been done many times before (it's punk, for chrissake) but the vocals on United States of Hysteria, sung here by longtime Las Vegas punk stalwart Adam "Bomb" Segal, are sung with a heartfelt bellow that is surprisingly effective for this recording. The lyrics on United States of Hysteria are intelligent, and hearing the vocalist sing on this really sold me on 2¢ Worth. It's melodic punk, yes, but it's pretty damn decent melodic punk and Las Vegas is pretty damn lucky to have a band like this in its city. I'm not lying here; I really mean this.

As a special bonus, there are "greatest misses" from the band's history (2¢ Worth formed in 1996.) The thirteen bonus songs show a marked progression from the shittier vocals (and music, to be honest) of 2¢ Worth's earlier work to the band as it stands now. It's well worth your US$6. Still, the band probably thinks I suck so maybe I shouldn't talk. I can't play a guitar, after all, so my word means shit.

UPDATE: Turns out Adam "Bomb" Segal only sang on the earliest 2¢ Worth tracks. Mark Luca is 2¢ Worth's current singer. Sorry for the unprofessionalism there. I'm sure it'll happen again with another band (it always does), but thanks to "Bomb" and A New Low Records for correcting my mistake. (03/03/04)

AFTERNOON ONLINE (formerly AVD RECORDS)
7300 Afternoon Street
Las Vegas, NV 89131
USA
http://www.afternoononline.com/
[email protected]

2¢ WORTH
I'm assuming the 2¢ Worth address is the same as Afternoon Online. See above.