Donnas break the norm with new style

Until this past year, most of us didn’t have a clue who The Donnas were.

They didn’t get radio play, and even though they apparently made an appearance on MTV a few years ago, they didn’t get too much air time. I am very pleased to have been clued in to this amazing band since their heavier circulation in popular media. Since 1993, when the band first performed under a different name (the girls were in middle school at the time) they have put out five albums. The latest album, “Spend the Night,” is just plain awesome.

The sound is 100 percent rock. The Donnas found a nice little halfway point between The Ramones and AC/DC. In the middle of every song you can expect to hear some excellent guitar work. The sound is more alive and powerful than most of the rock groups that have had hits recently. The sound doesn’t seem to be well received today; most bands tend to play down their talents a little, even if they’re capable of doing much more. Weird trend, but more and more bands are coming up with knowledge of more than two chords per song.

“Take it Off” is the single that’s currently running on most stations, but the CD has got a lot more than one song to offer. While some of the songs (on all their albums) tend to run together if you don’t pay attention, it’s all done with such skill that it shouldn’t grate too much on the musical nerves, if at all. “Spend the Night” seems to be a little toned down from their past albums, but “toned down” for The Donnas is still leaps and bounds above what most groups are putting out there.

The Donnas, for anyone who didn’t know, are a girl group (all named Donna, sort of). But rather than singing about girl power and happy sappy love, they sing about partying, getting back at people who put them down in school and stealing the boyfriends of other girls. It’s good to hear something other than the norm from female musical groups.

The Donnas are a great group and “Spend the Night” is an excellent CD. Go buy it; you will be much happier for doing so. Really, I promise.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 24 2003. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry