'Cave World' and How The Viagra Boys Execute Stupidity

by Colin Doherty

Punk rock is sort of like politics. It’s noisy, it’s abrasive, it’s pointed, and people who hate it really hate it. So what’s the appeal? Well, in a way, it gives insight on civilization like nothing else. The voices of politicians and punk rockers exaggerate and scream all of the world’s problems, narrating and creating the momentary zeitgeist. Politicians and punk bands are presented as complete opposites or even enemies, yet they’re often saying the same thing: I’m right, you’re wrong and the world will burn unless you listen to me.

On the third Viagra Boys record, “Cave World,” you are pushed into a world you already knew you wanted no part in. But like the fear mongering blackholes of the internet that motivate the album, you can’t look away. Suddenly you are stuck inside a cracked snow globe with shallow punk-rockers and 4-chan-crazed conspiracists.

On the first track, “Baby Criminal,” the Viagra Boys are vigorous, they are demanding, and most importantly, they are singing about an evil baby. Out of the gate, complete nonsense is at the frontlines of this record and you quickly learn that nonsense is what this band does best.

The record manages to say stupid things in brilliant ways. Brilliant stupidity can be one hell of a device when done right. It’s what makes a good comedy movie good and a best friend the best. Brilliant stupidity doesn’t try to say smart things, because it knows trying to say smart things is the easiest way to sound stupid. And anyways life is often stupid, so why ignore that?

Along with politics and the weight of misinformation, the pandemic is an ongoing theme throughout the album, a theme that few artists have been able to pull off. Songs about COVID tend to be too on-the-nose, preaching to the choir in an unproductive and uninteresting way, but the Viagra Boys do something different. Instead, they use satire to submit themselves to the idiocracy that has consumed our feeds and brainwashed our worst Thanksgiving guests.

Mimicking far-right doomsayers and their misinformed soapboxes, “Creepy Crawlers” does it best. (“Man, there's little kids growing up with animal hair/Some of them are growing up with tails, maybe even two tails, man/…/They're putting in little microchips in the vaccines.”) Are you interested in a song that sounds like if Suicide’s “Frankie Teardrop” was from the perspective of a QAnon member? Don’t fret, the Viagra Boys have you covered.

In the second half of the record, the joke start to get old and the songs hit a lull. The few tracks that don’t stick closely with the stone age or timely concepts, like “Punk Rock Loser” and the aforementioned “Baby Criminal” may actually be the best tracks on the whole album. For this record, that’s a fairly high bar. 

Cave World is manic. It’s as stupid as it is brilliant and it’s as enraging as it enraged. Not holding back any punches, the band makes the most of the social and political nonsense that has come with the last few years. 

These times are extreme, they’re hysterical, and they’re not slowing down anytime soon. There’s hell to pay and there are certain people who want to be the one giving that hell out. The Viagra Boys beat those people to the punch and light the fire themselves. In the end, it’s a frightening joyride. 

Cave World is out now.