Yesterday Rules
Label: Lookout!
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Yesterday Rules
MTX have ridden the pop-punk wave through several trend phases over the band’s 18-year existence, and though the group claims many diehard fans, MTX’s quirky approach has kept them from achieving the success they deserve. So it’s sad that “Yesterday Rules” — the group’s most accessible and inventive album — comes along as it does as appetites for this type of music are fading (once again). Nearly two decades of songwriting have sharpened MTX’s approach beyond standard pop-punk cliché, and whether it’s the college-rock tones of “Everybody Knows You’re Crying” or the mellow acoustic groove of “London,” all the songs here are solid and, if not all pogo-worthy, they never fail to be interesting.
This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2004.