''Son of Sam I Am'' is an album by the American band

Too Much Joy Too Much Joy is an American alternative rock music group, that formed in the early 1980s in Scarsdale, New York. Members The original members were Tim Quirk (vocals), Jay Blumenfield (guitar, vocals), Sandy Smallens (bass, vocals) and Tommy Vi ...

, released in 1988. The first single was "Making Fun of Bums". The band supported the album with a North American tour that included shows with

Love Tractor Love Tractor (1980–current) is a band from Athens, Georgia, founded in spring 1980 by guitarists Mark Cline and Mike Richmond, and bassist Armistead Wellford, students at the University of Georgia. Like The B-52's, Pylon (band), Pylon and R.E. ...

Giant Records In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

released a resequenced version of ''Son of Sam I Am'' in 1990. While promoting the rerelease, the band was arrested on obscenity charges for covering

2 Live Crew 2 Live Crew is an American hip hop music, hip hop group from Miami, Florida, which had its greatest commercial success from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The group's most well-known line up was composed of Luther Campbell, Luke Campbell, Fr ...

songs at a show in Broward County. Proceeds from the show were directed to retailers who had been arrested for selling '' As Nasty as They Wanna Be''.

Production

The album was produced by Michael James. Most of the lyrics were written by singer Tim Quirk, who was influenced by

Minor Threat Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitaris ...

and John Prine. "That's a Lie" is a cover of the

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...

song. "Clowns" samples Bozo the Clown; a lawsuit from Bozo led to the removal of the sample from later pressings. "Hugo!" refers to the

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

drummer Hugo Burnham. "Bad Dog" is about S&M. "Kicking (That Gone Fishing Song)" is about a young man with cancer. "My Past Lives" deals with the concept of reincarnation. The rerelease includes a cover of Terry Jacks's version of " Seasons in the Sun".

Critical reception

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' wrote that "Too Much Joy is a pie-in-the-face to those who feel cutting edge rock has to have its source in adversity... There are knowing, snide stabs at the music business, pop culture, and their co-generationalists." The ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'' concluded that "cleverness rarely requires sincerity... It does require something more to carry an album though."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

noted that, "where formerly Tim Quirk spoke his lyrics in tune, now he mocks, expostulates, kid-drawls, projects, so that sometimes they sound smarter (and sassier) than they read." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that "they're at least as funny as Mojo Nixon desperately wants to be, and 20 times as tuneful." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' opined: "Sharpening both instrumental skills and songwriting wit, TMJ hit their stride on ''Son of Sam I Am'', an accomplished rock album." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' determined that "songs like 'Worse' and 'Clowns' ... capture paranoia, kitsch overload, frustration, and the shrug that allows them to live with it all." The ''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'' said that "there's much more than bratty kitsch and a spunky garage band beat going on with this cheeky foursome." ''

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

'' appreciated that "there's plenty of teenage angst, but not one discouraging note amongst these power chords."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that "most of the songs are sweet-and-sour power pop."

Track listing

References

{{authority control Too Much Joy albums 1988 albums Alias Records albums