Cave World – Viagra Boys ★★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2022	Cave World	Viagra Boys	★★★★	83	Rock	Punk Rock	Post Punk

On Cave World, Viagra Boys channel the energy of a drunken Iggy Pop singing sarcastically about conspiracy theorists and internet trolls over new wave and alternative dance music. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s energetic, it’s abrasive and it’s creative, with the music bouncing around genres and not-so-subtlely mimicking notable bands and songs. 

Aspects of Talking Heads can be found in the music on “Baby Criminal” and vocals of “Troglodyte.” “Punk Rock Loser” and “Big Boy” are clearly Iggy Pop rip offs (I say endearingly). Alternative dance punk tracks “Ain’t No Thief” and “ADD” have elements of Nine Inch Nails and LCD Soundsystem. It’s impossible not to hear the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” in “Return To Monke,” and  “The Cognitive Trade-Off Hypothesis” even pulls from Nelly Furtado and Timbaland’s 2006 hit “Say It Right.” 

It almost perfectly represents the chaotic unrest and frustrations surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, where people searched for nostalgia, weird ways to express themselves and could easily get lost in their own worlds. Constantly returning to ape and evolution (or unevolved) imagery to tackle anti-vaxxer rhetoric, school shooting and phony warriors that stand up against cancel culture, the lyrics are brilliant and funny, even if they make you confront the uncomfortable realities of modern-day society.