Music You Missed: Alive & Amplified by the Mooney Suzuki

I’ve never been a cocaine user, but I love music that helps me imagine what a coke binge might feel like. Alive & Amplified fits squarely into this category. As the seventh track on the high-energy album states so eloquently, it makes you want to get “loose and juicy.” I never knew it until now, but I DEFINETLY want to get loose and juicy.

I forgot how long ago 2004 was. In my research, I came across a link for the band’s MySpace page, but that wasn’t even the crazy part. The crazy part was that they kept it updated as late as 2015. Almost a full 10 years after MySpace was dead. Truly incredible. But I digress.

“Primitive Condition” begins the fun at break-neck speed, with guitars ripping and drummer Augie Wilson absolutely going to town, but that’s just the appetizer, as it gives way to the album’s titular track. “Alive & Amplified,” featured in Madden NFL 2005 and a totally awesome Suzuki commercial (among other places), is nothing short of glorious. It makes you want to run through a wall, lift a house, dunk a basketball like Blake Griffin, and otherwise loose your damn mind. You get a brief 10 second intro and then those sweet background vocals hit in perfect harmony and it’s on. Sammy James Jr, is wailing into the microphone, the tambourine is janglin’ and the instruments are breaking down. All this leads to a SA-WEET face melting guitar solo during the bridge. It’s without a doubt the best song on the album.

The entire project, but especially songs like “Legal High” and “New York Girls” are characteristic of the 2004 rock scene with bands like The Vines, Jet, and The Von Bondies on everybody’s mp3 players. It’s got that “take no prisoners” feel that any movie starring Will Farrell, Vince Vaughn, or Justin Long during the oughts (2000s) needed to be successful. “Shake That Bush Again” is dripping with drunken debauchery, that is somehow a callback to the psychedelic rock n’ rolling forefathers; what your friend in seventh grade insisted was “real” music.

“Sometimes Somethin’”and “Naked Lady” prove The Mooney Suzuki can play at more that one speed, but nobody is here for that, and they stand only to bookend the trifecta of “Loose ‘n’ Juicy,” “Hot Sugar,” and “Messin’ in the Dressin’ Room.” Alive & Amplified is a great ride and should serve as the soundtrack to every tacky Boys’ Night or bachelor party from now until eternity (and to be clear, that is in the best possible way). Add it to your library and let it rip.