With the release of their new album, I have been relistening to all my Mindless Self Indulgence albums. Their new album, IF, is quite different from their previous works. If you’re familiar with their previous work, you’ll agree that it was replete with… objectionable material. IF has been cleaned up tremendously, save for the track Issues. The songs are slower in tempo, and also considerably longer in duration (averaging 3 minutes a piece is long for them). They have departed from their typical “industrial jungle pussy punk” style, to a more “pussy pop”. While their new album isn’t particularly awful, the fact that most of the tracks are suitable for radio play makes me a little sad. MSI is catering to the mainstream audience, and while that means more money for them, it sucks for their true fans.
MSI’s first album (self-titled) was also at an extreme. Being their debut album, it’s expected as they struggle to find their sound. Instead it seems they were borrowing from Trent Reznor. Even so, MSI’s first album is still one of my favorites. It is just unfortunate it only really has 4 tracks.
Afterwards, the band really came into its own. Most will agree, Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy is the band’s masterpiece album. The album contains 30 tracks, yet still falls short of an hour. However, because of this, there is a lot of variety. The short length of the tracks forestalls repetitiveness and leaves the listener desiring more. Since the majority of the tracks are fantastic, the replay value of FGWSSS is tru da roof. Chock full of filthy, grungy sex-related material, the album is guaranteed to leave you feeling gritty. But you’re excited to feel that way.
With the release of You’ll Rebel to Anything in 2005, I was in for a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting anything noteworthy after FGWSSS, but I enjoyed the album very much. Overall, it is slower than the usual MSI, but quality was still there. The duration of the tracks was a bit longer, and thus resulted in some undesirable repetition, but I still found it fairly kick-ass.
The following is a playlist of the evolution of Mindless Self Indulgence. The tracks are in order of release. The first being from their first album, released in 1995. The second is from FGWSSS, released in 2000. The third, from You’ll Rebel to Anything, released in 2005. The final is from IF, released in 2008.
