For Squirrels - "Example"

Let’s be honest. If you know of For Squirrels, it’s because half the band tragically died in a bus accident right before the release of Example. Upon hearing the story on the radio, my stepdad, thinking the band’s name was Four Squirrels, asked, “Are they going to change their name to Two Squirrels now?” My stepdad’s comedy career never took off.

I remember feeling at the time that the album showcased the band’s potential rather the band’s ability. Perhaps because of the circumstances surrounding the album, I listened to it for what it could be, not what it was. I’ll try to remedy it this time around. I will judge solely on the music. And be forewarned, this may be my least funny blog entry so far. Not because I feel any sort of morality to keep things respectful. If anything, mathematically speaking, this should be comedy gold. Tragedy + Time = Comedy. Both addends are high in this equation, so the sum should be proportionally higher.

But that joke has left a bad taste in my mouth. Fuck you, stepdad. If you hadn’t stolen a cable box one time so that I could watch Wrestlemania V as a kid, you’d be in running for worst stepparent ever. And I’m including all stepparents that have appeared in Disney.

The opening track is titled “8:02pm,” so I’m wondering if that’s some sort of code and I’m supposed to start playing the album at exactly 8:02pm while smoking acorns in order to see a giant squirrel appear before me. But my luck, I’d only get a chipmunk. It’s an irresistibly catchy tune nonetheless. Ditto “Orangeworker,” which reminds me of Green-era R.E.M. Maybe, the Orangeworker has an Orange Crush… I told you this wasn’t going to be a very funny blog entry.

“Superstar” reminds me of Monster-era R.E.M. And I mean that as a compliment. I think I’m the only person in the world who actually likes that album. Then we reach the “hit” single “The Mighty K.C.” I don’t know if it fully counts as a hit, but it got a fair amount of airtime at the time. It was probably due more to a combination of the band’s tragic backstory and the fact that it was about Kurt Cobain.

Sure, this was a year and a half after Cobain’s suicide, but we as a nation still hadn’t come to terms with our grief. Hell, Bush was still churning out hits with their paint-by-Nirvana formulaic tunes. But “The Mighty K.C.” is a hell of a song. I don’t get why this is no longer in regular radio rotation but Marcy Playground’s “Sex And Candy” is.

“Long Live The King” has a goofy kind of weird energy that could pass off as a Pixies outtake. You know what? This album is really good. Not amazingly good, but “I’ll pick it up the next time I find it used” good. It’s no masterpiece by far, but there’s no bad songs either, which is just as important.

Ultimately, it’s impossible not to listen to this without some bit of a “what could have been” filter. A couple more albums and they may have given us a true masterpiece. Or they may have just fizzled and this would’ve been their sole shining moment anyhow. But boy, does it ever shine. Queue this album up on Spotify sometime, it deserves 40 minutes of your time. I’d advise against smoking acorns, though.