The GB Album Club 027 - Hang-Ups by Goldfinger

Duders! Welcome to the 27th edition of the Unofficial Giant Bomb Album Club! As we sidestep an obvious joke about The 27 Club, one thought runs through our minds. Here we are, doing everything we can. Holding onto what we... am. Pretending we are Superman. That's right, this week our album is Hang-Ups by Goldfinger! Right, down, circle. Also, this album was picked by our good friend @redwing42, and you can listen below:

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The Unofficial Giant Bomb Album! We made a pool of albums and we choose one at random to talk about every week! We're back, and we're back with a theme! This time it's Artists You Discovered From Video Game Soundtracks. You might expect there to be a lot of bleep bloopy chiptune stuff, but this actually might be the most diverse crop we have yet. And if you want to submit your own pick, join the Discord and do so there. Cheers!

My main thought about Hang-Ups is that it's wild the greatest ska song of all time was written by Johann Pachelbel.

I was basically expecting an entire album of "Superman."

That's not really the album's fault. Nor is it really the fault of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. It has more to do with my thoughts and experiences around third wave pop punk ska. Of course, there's plenty of fun ska punk and I love Fishbone to death. However, it's not a genre that's noted for its breadth or variety, and some of that stuff can get really repetitive really fast.

With that baggage in mind, I listened to Hang-Ups. I'm not going to pretend it blew my mind, but it definitely has more to offer than I thought it would.

There are three genres that fuel this album: (Third wave) Ska, pop punk, and more traditional rock. The clever move on this album is that it frequently taps the break on one in order to hit the gas on the others. You won't hear any horns for a song or two, then they come roaring back to liven things up. Or there'll be a song or two that slows down the tempo, but then those punk influences kick back in and reclaim your attention. It never loses steam, and to me at least, it never gets boring.

Lyrically, it also stands out a little from other groups like this. Essentially, it's the same existential angst of "Superman," only with varying degrees of intensity. Sometimes, it's about being young and dumb. Sometimes it gets a lot heavier. On top of that, the lyrics are frequently juxtaposed with tonally contrasting music in a way that I found pretty effective. There's an intentionality here that I dig. Everything's been thought about, but it doesn't feel too worked over.

It's not perfect, and I personally don't think it ever transcends "Superman." And I'll never be able to listen to this album without Tony Hawk in the back of my mind. But it's definitely better than I thought it would be, and I had some fun! Sometimes that's enough.

Favorite Songs: "Superman," "This Lonely Place," "Disorder"

@gamer_152:Lol

I slightly cheated with picking this album. I had heard of Goldfinger before. I was definitely a ska fan and "Here in Your Bedroom" was popular enough on MTV and the radio. But THPS was the first game that made me go out and buy an album, so it fits the spirit if not the letter of the topic. That said, I haven't listened to this album in probably a dozen years or more, and I'm a very different person now than I was when I first got this album in college, so I definitely had a bit of a different look at it, even though it was like putting on an old familiar pair of slippers.

Like you might expect with an album named "Hang-Ups," the majority of the album is songs about regrets, heartbreak, and self doubt. The album starts with a very clean, very tight style that kind of disintegrates as the album continues, until track 9 "Too Late," which is easily the most emotionally charged song on the album. A couple of the remaining tracks show some composure and resolution. And then, of course, we get to the best hidden track of all times, Chicken McNuggets.

It was kind of funny to me, now a father of two, how hard "Too Late" hit me after all these years. When I used to listen to the song, it was all about the buildup and the unleashing of anger in the singer for the final verse. This time, there was a lot more to the regret of both characters in the song. None of it was particularly personal to me (it is usually songs about time that is lost and can't be regained that choke me up; e.g. "Time in a Bottle," "The Long Way Home"), but it still got to me.

I still love this album, even if it isn't my preferred style of ska. "Superman" is a legitimate classic, and I'd probably go with "If Only" and "Too Late" to round out my top three, but there are lots of solid songs on this album. Goldfinger did some pretty solid work during the pandemic, if anyone is interested. They remotely did re-recordings of some of their songs, and they still sound great.

So Here I Am

Doing Everything I Can

Holding On To What I Am

Pretending I'm A Superman

(Ska intensifies)

@redwing42: Reminds of a point I forgot to bring up. This was my first time listening to "Superman" in my 30s. It's starting to hit different lol.

This album was a fun throwback. I honestly could have gone for more ska, but I enjoyed the album throughout. I wasn't sure going in if this was the Goldfinger album with 99 Red Balloons, a Rocket Power Movie classic, or the one with Superman. I was pleasantly surprised that Goldfinger had a bit more range than those two songs implied.

Superman stands out like a lighthouse in this album but the rest of it still carries some good energy. I was never a ska kid growing up (unless you count Madness which, let's be honest, is a distinctly different thing) but I enjoyed this start to finish.

I wish I could pick out any other standouts but none of them stick like Superman does.

@shindig: Madness definitely counts, but it is an earlier generation. I'm a big fan of The Specials, whom would also fall into that category.

Goldfinger was the first band I got into that wasn't something the people around me listened to. For the same reason as everyone else: Tony Hawk. And the same way as everyone else: Napster. It still slaps.

@shindig: Yeah, my understanding of how to define Ska:

First wave: The original Jamaican Ska (To be reductive: Caribbean music + Jazz = Original Jamaican Ska)
Second wave: The British 2 Tone stuff (Madness and The Specials)
Third wave: Stuff like this where the Ska/2 Tone got mixed with punk

So yes, it counts.