Band:	Green Jellÿ
Album:	333
Style:	Rock
Release date:	1994

01. Carnage Rules
02. Orange Krunch
03. Piñata Hed
04. Fixation
05. The Bear Song
06. Fight
07. Super Elastic
08. Jump
09. Jerk
10. Anthem
11. Slave Boy

I picked this album up the other day from a cheap-o bin. To tell you the truth, I never heard any of this band's music before. Judging by the quality of the songs on "333", I wasn't missing all that much.

Green Jelly is basically a less extreme and demented (and also considerably less talented) version of GWAR. They utilize the same brand of mock-thrash with elements of whatever style they are making fun of at the moment. Unfortunately, while GWAR had some quality musicians who were able to create fairly able metal, Green Jelly prides itself in its lack of musical knowledge and ability (they claim to have no knowledge of chords so they colour their frets and play by colours). Apparently the two bands even toured together back in 1988 and the boys from GWAR were the ones who taught Green Jelly how to make their papier-mache suits. Well, that's all a very nice story but it seems to me like one GWAR is more than enough. Does Green Jelly have anything that makes them worth my time? Not really...

The music on "333" will really only appeal to the metal listener who was around back in 1995 when this album was released (although they seem to be pretty outdated even by 1995 standards because most of what they mock was released in 1992). There are only two kinds of song here: parodies of the then-current heavy music styles such as grunge, rapcore and industrial metal and songs about Green Jelly. Neither are particularly inspiring although I bet something like "Pinata Hed" would put a smile on the face of any Soundgarden fan and "Fight" would make a Ministry fan laugh even if only for one time (before the joke gets old, which is pretty fast in this case). I don't actually mind these sorts of novelty recordings - hell, I can listen to Weird Al Yankovic anytime and I am an actual fan of the afore-mentioned GWAR. What makes Green Jelly different from superior artists of this sort is that their humour is simply too juvenile and silly to make any lasting appeal. It's also completely unfunny to anyone over 16 years of age.

Its a shame really because metal has a tendency to take itself way too seriously. We need bands that know how to make fun of themselves and others. Still, it would be nice if they showed some minimal level of proficiency and ability as well. Green Jelly doesn't.