Goldfinger credits itself with being in the same league as other founders of the ska-punk genre like Sublime and No Doubt. The only catch is that those other bands were innovative, original groups with interesting lyrics and decent musicianship, while Goldfinger mostly relies on crashing guitars and lots of yelling. The yelling, in fact, is actually pretty unimpressive. But you have to give these guys a lot of credit since according to the lead singer they once performed 385 shows in one year, an insane average of more than one each day. Greatest hits albums like these are confusing when they only contain one or two actual hits. Fortunately, the DVD also included with the album gives a pretty good picture of why they got so popular. With fans screaming, crowd-surfing and in general going nuts to the pounding beat, Goldfinger seems to have that stage presence that a recorded album just can’t portray. My advice: skip this CD and make it to a concert if you like this very in-your-face quartet.
Archived article by Elliot Singer
Sun Staff Writer