Review: Superdude - Pothead Punk

Label: Ace Records

Released: August 7, 2007

Superdude seems to rely an awful lot on his reputation. Unfortunately for him, that reputation isn't very current. I don't even think it was ever all that substantial. His entire being seems to stem from some time he spent at the Factory with Andy Warhol. I've heard of the Factory, of course, and done a little bit of reading about it, but I'd never heard of Superdude. I googled "factory warhol superdude" to find out what I was missing. As it turns out, that only returns links promoting Superdude and nothing that indicates he was any kind of real insider. Sure, there's a picture of him standing behind Warhol with a lot of Factory regulars, but that is only proof that he was there, not that he mattered. It seems the only person who considers him a real insider is Superdude himself. He also likes to point out that he emceed at CBGBs and Max's Kansas City, introducing the likes of the New York Dolls, but that hardly seems like a reason to suspect he'd make great music either. So, I wondered, "Why does Superdude name-drop rather that talk about his real accomplishments?" The answer is probably pretty obvious even without listening to the tunes.

Like Superdude, I really don't want to spend a lot of time talking about his music. I can really summarize it in one word: awful. If you don't like that one, pick from these: bad, rotten, dumb, poorly produced, poorly played, poorly written, unoriginal, uninteresting, unlistenable (need I continue?). In a way, I kind of feel bad for Superdude. All those years of being on the periphery of fame must have been hard to take. But this album won't make it any easier. It's as if he's jumping up and down, screaming, "Hey! Look at me! I met Andy Warhol! I saw the New York Dolls! I'm really something! I'm an artist!" That'd be like meeting Einstein at a party and then claiming to be a genius. It doesn't work that way.

You know maybe I'm wrong though, because he did win Best Rock and Best Reggae at the 2006 Global Marijuana Music Awards. Next stop: the Grammies!

Rating: 1/10