L7: Slap Happy : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

On L7's sixth album, frontwomen Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner, and drummer Dee Plakas keep on doing punk metal right: Slap-Happy is all hopped-up, pared-down riffage with no apologies or gratuitous change-ups. The band turns the tables on female subjugation on "Lackey," as Sparks sings, "I wanna lackey / Looks like you / Won't fuss and whine . . ./ Could be you" in her best Joan Jett sneer. "Stick to the Plan" is a cautionary tale about a "chronic masturbator / With love in his eyes" who slithers along like an early Soundgarden slow-burner. There are also yucks aplenty on Slap-Happy, as on "Livin' Large," which serves as a kind of rallying cry for the indie-rock underclass. "We're livin' large in our own little way," sings Gardner. "We're livin' large and we don't get paid." Somebody get this band a patron. (RS 821)

MARC WEINGARTEN