Twelve million people can’t be wrong, now can they? Well, that’s precisely how
many copies Mississippi-based rock band 3 Doors Down sold of their first two
albums. And the band’s latest, Seventeen Days, debuted at #1 on the
Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, selling 200,000 units almost immediately. This
is an American band that is embraced by America, even if it’s not embraced by
most of America’s music writers.
Seventeen Days picks up right where the band left off from 2002’s
Away from the Sun.
“Right Where I Belong” is a scorching riff-driven rocker. “It’s Not Me” is
textbook 3 Doors Down, complete with a huge chorus and harmonies borrowed from
the grunge era. This song has #1 written all over it too, and it’s not even the
first single. That distinction goes to “Let Me Go,” which is already blowing up
the radio charts.
“Landing in London” has a guest appearance by Bob Seger, and I’m not sure why
because it’s the one song on the record that I could do without. “The Real Life”
is another formulaic song reminiscent of their 2000 hit, “Loser,” and “Behind
Those Eyes” has more of a classic rock flavor. Other standouts are the punchy
“Live for Today” and the melancholy “Here by Me.”
So why do the Rolling Stones of the world continue to take bands that write
good, hooky, melodic hit songs, and beat them like a piñata? I may have harped
on this before, and probably will until most critics come down off their “Hives”
and “Vines” bender. For the record, 3 Doors Down has six number-one singles. Can
any of you hum a single song by any of those “The” bands? Not that certain radio
conglomerates aren’t guilty for shoving less new music down our throats, but 3
Doors Down undeniably writes some of the catchiest rock music ever.
~Mike Farley
mfarley@bullz-eye.com
Visit
3DoorsDown.com for more
info on the band!
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