CD: Are You Serious? Artist: Mean Jeans Label: Dirtnap Records Rating: 3.5/5 Best Song: Born On A Saturday Night Reviewer: Bobby Gorman

In a recent interview with Minneapolis’ City Pages about their new signing to Epitaph Records, Ryan Young of Off With Their Heads was asked whether or not he thought the term “pop-punk” meant anything in 2010. After a lengthy response, and somewhat negative critique of the genre, he ended with a simple statement:  Pop punk is imitation.

In a way, he’s right. There’s not a whole lot you can add to the genre, so anybody starting up a new pop-punk band will always some sort imitation in their music. Then again, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery is it not? If so, then who cares if a band imitates another or wears their influences on their sleeves? After all, if they sound anything like The Mean Jeans’ Are You Serious? then we have nothing to worry about.

Are You Serious? is imitation down to its core. In every distorted strum, slightly nasally vocal delivery and count of 1-2-3-4!, The Mean Jeans are recalling the spirit and energy of the legendary Ramones. However, unlike so many of the other acts who are also channelling the New York foursome, The Mean Jeans add a bit of their own personality into the mix which creates a ‘77 punk album that would have fit nicely alongside Rocket to Russia and actually surpasses some of today’s top pop-punk acts. Yes, I’m talking about Teenage Bottlerocket, The Ergs and the like, Are You Serious? is able to stand above them in terms of catchiness, originality and just pure fun.

What makes the album stand above some of its contemporaries is that it actually has a retro feel to it. There is a grungy quality in the recording and just the right amount of distortion that they’re able to take The Ramones sound, copy it, recreate it and regurgitate it without a moment’s hesitation and sounds so damn good doing it.

They come in blasting with Born On A Saturday Night which features easily the best opening lyric in a punk rock song ever: I was born on a Saturday Night / My mama told me it would be alright / she was wrong and then she died. It’s abrupt, shocking, catchy and the rest of the song – which talks about being born in a leather jacket with a beer in hand getting ready for a fight – just keeps the energy flowing. The momentum never breaks with only two songs passing the 2:30 mark with the rest coming to an end before you even realize it. Drugs, drinking, partying and having fun are the main topics of Are You Serious? turning it into a punk’s party album in no time flat.

Think Teenage Bottlerocket. Think The Queers and Screeching Weasel but most importantly think The Ramones and you will hear The Mean Jeans. They’re not re-inventing the wheel. It’s pop-punk and, as Ryan Young says, pop-punk is imitation but I don’t think imitation has ever been this much fun before.