Bricks Are Heavy (1992)

Roses are red, violets are blue. Bricks are heavy, and L7 is too. Produced by Butch Vig of Nirvana fame, L7's sound is similar to that band's oeuvre: catchy tunes and mean vocals on top of ugly guitars and a quick-but-thick bottom of cast-iron grunge. Where L7 differs from Nirvana, however, is in the clarity of its angry lyrics. There are no ''Oh well, whatever, neverminds'' on Bricks Are Heavy. This is a band that knows exactly how it feels about topics like war (''Body bags and dropping bombs/The Pentagon knows how to turn us on,'' from ''Wargasm''), sexism (''Calgon can't take me away/ From the things I did today,'' from ''Diet Pill''), and American apathy (''They've got us in the palm of their greedy hands/ When we pretend that we're dead,'' from ''Pretend We're Dead''). At the same time, L7 never loses the joyous noisiness of having a big dumb sound. Although the band's positive-plus stances on liberal issues may not instantly endear it to fuzzy-minded teen America, L7 does manage to be simultaneously fun and furious, an intensely appealing combination. In short, Violets are blue and roses are red. Go get L7 for a shot of street cred. A