Back in the mid-1990s, I was introduced to the Presidents of the United States of America (PUSA) with their self-titled album. It included two songs, "Lump" and "Peaches," which had quite warped lyrics. It was very easy to like this band with their lyrics like: "Lump sat alone in a boggy marsh / Totally motionless except for her heart / Mud flowed up into Lump's pajamas / She totally confused all the passing piranhas."
And I hate to admit it, but over the last decade I seem to have forgotten about them. (Sorry guys.)
Let's start with a little history: Back in 1993, three guys - Chris Ballew, Dave Dederer, and Jason Finn - met and formed a band that came to be known as PUSA. They recorded an album in 1994 and were signed to one label (PopLlama Records), then signed to a bigger label (Columbia Records), and in 1995 the world heard PUSA play "Lump," "Peaches," and "Kitty" on the radio. A legend was born. In an era where radio airplay was often overrun by serious music, PUSA was a breath of fresh air.
By 1996, the Presidents had become so famous that "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a parody of "Lump" called "Gump" on his album Bad Hair Day. I think this was one of their early peaks. They toured for a few years and eventually went their separate ways, but eventually reformed in 2004 with a slightly different group of guys. But they're still touring and making music and that's the main thing.
Back in January 2009, about the time Barack Obama was voted in as President, I found a song on the internet called "(Obama is) Moving In" and started poking around to see what else PUSA had been doing.
Turns out they've been quite busy touring and putting out EP albums now and then. I found three EPs, including Ladybug, Bad Times, and the just released Rot in the Sun. Though the songs are few, they are still the same wacky band I remember.
The song "Rot in the Sun" has its own music video online which is hilarious. I'll sum up the song by using one of my Mom's quotes about what she likes to do on vacation - "Be a beach ball!" In their song, PUSA expresses a desire to basically become a fruit left out to rot in the sun, which is a perfect analogy for being on vacation, don't you think?
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