Nerf Herder's 1996 debut album was one of those rare things I just picked
up at the used record store, bought without previewing, and ended up
liking. The album starts off with catchy pop-punk rhythms, and clever
lyrics keep you singing along. During the second half of the album,
though, the band lost a little steam. So, it was obviously with a little
trepidation that I listened to Nerf Herder's new album, "How To Meet
Girls."


Although it's been four years since Nerf Herder's last album, you'd never
guess from listening to their new album -- it sounds pretty much the same
as their debut, only with a little moog thrown in. Girls opens up with
Vivian, a song finding Nerf Herder pretty close to top form -- catchy
riffs, nasal vocals, and lyrics catchy enough to sing along to on the
first try.          


Girls continues on, mixing pop-culture with, uh, girls, to find a pretty
good lyrical mix to dwell on. Courtney is all about the band's idolatry of
Courtney Love (and contains the soon to be classic line: "Hope I'm not out
of place -- Courtney Love, sit on my face!"). Lamer Than Lame is a pretty
standard pop-punk song about, uh, not getting the girl, but this time the
catch is that the lyrics admit that the girl is better than the writer.


Lamer Than Lame starts the album's power section -- continued through the
catchy Feeling Bad and the hilarious Pantera Fans In Love, a tale of two
youngsters whose love for metal seems to conflict with every aspect of
their life.


After Pantera Fans, Girls loses a little steam, but nowhere near as much
as on Nerf Herder's debut. On the debut, I feel compelled to skip through
pretty much everything after Van Halen or Diana (tracks 5 and 6, if you
didn't know), whereas on this album, the middle tracks are listenable even 
though they're not the most enjoyable things on here.


Jonathan, a sort-of ode to Jonathan Richman, picks things back up, before
finally petering out over the last few tracks on the album. Nerf Herder
make tons of references to pop culture throughout the album, and it's
interesting that on For You (basically a list of things they would do for
"you"), they mention that they'd get slayed by Buffy every week.


How to Meet Girls is much more punk-pop than pop-punk, if that makes any
sense. That is to say that while Nerf Herder's debut brought out the
poppier side of punk rock, Girls seems to revel in the punker side of pop
music. See if you can make any sense out of that. If you like your punk
melodic, with lyrics you can sing along to (and that don't have much of a
message), pick up How to Meet Girls.