Bobby and the Crew – “The Drug of the Year” (Single Review)

Norwegian pop-rock band Bobby and the Crew return with a new single, “The Drug of the Year”. I have reviewed the other two singles featured on Music Review World, with the band being ever so gracious in their response. So why not give it another go? Let’s see what the band has to offer this time.

Something I will compliment the band on, as I have done in my previous reviews, is their attempt at being eclectic with their style. I have to admit, even when a band doesn’t do such a good job of adapting to a style completely foreign to them, I should owe nothing to them but respect. Making music, and good music at that, is no small task. Making music that your audience is not used to hearing is another challenge and one that only a few are brave enough to pursue.

That being said, I will still have to be honest.

Bobby and the Crew have decided to adopt a style that I’m not particularly fond of, largely being an early 2000’s Euro-Beat style infused with some rock elements. I just need to expose my biases, as I whole-heartedly believe that this style should be left as it was twenty-years ago. But, as I said, hats off to the band for trying something new.

Now that I got that out of the way, let’s begin.

There are some positives I can say about this single, with the most obvious being that it is a catchy tune. If you were to put this at a club (locations may vary), you might get some people to jam out to it. Of course, there’s also a bit of a nostalgia factor, as it does reflect that certain style from a time that’s not too far away.

I will also say that the catchiness factor is further emphasized by the guitar riffs, and a chorus that will surely be an ear-worm to some people.

And…that’s about it for the positives, I’m afraid.

The song is called “The Drug of the Year”, yet nowhere is it revealed what this “drug” actually is. The music video accompanying this single does little to help, being poorly made and consisting of unrelated stock footage and Microsoft ClipArt images. For a few seconds, there is an image of powdered cocaine, so maybe this is what Bobby is referring to? Regardless, your audience should not have to watch a music video, especially of the quality you made, to figure out what your song is actually about. It reeks of laziness and a lack of creativity.

I can sum up the rest of the criticisms in this paragraph, as they are straight to the point. Like the other singles I have reviewed, the name of the vocalist is not shown, though I can guess it’s the same one as from “A Day Off”. Regardless, I would suggest that the vocalist reconsider his role in the band, as the performance is simply not a good one, and there isn’t a way to really improve from that. In all honesty, it sounds like if Till Lindemann from Rammstein decided to produce a Euro-Beat song that ended up flopping. I would suggest that Bobby and the Crew to utilize their good female vocalists, as they did for the single “SCREAMING COMMANDER“.

SCORE/Poor: There’s nothing more I can say about this single. Out of the three singles I have heard from Bobby and the Crew, and their other songs that I have not reviewed, “The Drug of the Year” is by far the bottom of the barrel. Sure, this song was catchy, but that does not make it good, much less having anyone wanting to go back to it. My advice for the band is essentially the same as what I had said in the other reviews, so refer to that if you wish.

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