In listening to Care Bears On Fire's sophomore long player, it's hard not to feel a sense of (certainly misplaced) paternal pride. Particularly now, in the landslide of ghost-written, saccharine-encrusted pop unloaded on kids by Family Channel-endorsed, neatly-pressed and media savvy kid rock (see Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and Demi Levado among others), it's easy to forget that young people have a voice of their own but that it's still often ignored. It can be downright terrifying to think that kids watch and aspire to the hyper-sexualized images (Disney's vaunted morality clauses or not) of these not-much-older characters that have a history of melting down and falling from grace on television, but such seems to be the norm. Happily though, Care Bears On Fire and their new album Get Over It! stand as the antidote to that aforementioned cavalcade of nonsense.
From the opening blast of “Pleaser,” Care Bears On Fire comes rushing on with guitars blazing and a demeanor that's part Bangles (when they were still sweet – and before nose candy entered the equation) and Veruca Salt but the difference that marks CBOF as a band apart from any easy comparison is the fact that they unapologenically act their age. While songs like “Pleaser”, “Superteen,” “Everybody Else,” “Barbie Eat A Sandwich,” “My Problems” and “Gym Class Haze” all rock with a fiery set of punk chops that musicians twice their age would kill for, the subjects addressed remain locked into what the average ninth grade girl knows (discovering boys, self-image problems, shopping, difficulties fitting in) rather than trying to fake their way into concerns (sex, drugs, alcohol) that they've never experienced – or certainly wouldn't put on record if they had because their parents might find out. Given the nature of the way it's written and approached too, kids (aka the band's peer group) will immediately recognize and relate to the touchier subjects as well as the empowering responses to them in the songs (“I'll decide what's wrong with me” is the brazen response that goes up in the face of bullies and self-image issues on “My Problems”) and parents will be relieved at those resolutions – after all, when was the last time a pop song told Barbie to put on a couple of pounds, told kids to feel good about how they look and suggested the virtues of individuality over pack, herd or “fitting in” mentalities? In that same vein, the love affairs on Get Over It! are kept real and simple as the band finds refuge in the music (check “Everybody Else”) and, even when boys do enter the mix for Care Bears On Fire (the first boy enters in the appropriately-entitled “Boy Song #1” and the album closes with the heartbreak of said boy leaving in “Song About You”), the questions that come up remain age-appropriate; an occurrence virtually unheard of in pop or punk.
Therein lies the beauty of Get Over It!: in spite of having only the slightest bit of help writing some of the songs on this album, no one (including the band itself) has made Care Bears On Fire try to be anything they're not here. Instead, what listeners get is THE smartest record ever written by three ninth-grade girls that simply presents the virtue and innocence of being a ninth-grade girl. That said, on a personal note, I'd like to thank Care Bears On Fire for making and releasing Get Over It!. I hope my step-daughters turn out like you when they get older.
Artist:
Care Bears On Fire official site and myspace page
Official Youtube Channel
Download:
“Superteen” from Get Over It!
Album:
Get Over It! is out now and available here on Amazon .
