No Use for a Name

No Use for a Name might become a household name after all. Formed in 1987, the San Jose, California, quartet struggled through numerous lineup shifts and record-company changes before landing on Fat Wreck Chords a few years back. The group’s numerous near-misses might explain why it has opted to issue its most unabashedly commercial effort to date. Rock Bottom is like a Third Eye Blind record with really, really fast drums. (That’s what distinguishes it as “punk,” you see.) Dance Hall Crashers vocalist Karina Denike joins the revelry on Sinead O’Connor’s “This Is a Rebel Song,” offering the only time-out from this for-the-kids affair. Otherwise, NUFAN teenybops its way through a crop of acne-scarred mallrat traumas that sound like unused dialogue from Dawson’s Creek. “Insecurity Alert” actually contains the lyric You can’t spell believe without lie. Well, you can’t spell bandwagon without band, either, but so what? Moreover, these lunchroom breakups and locker-room confessions sound a bit strained coming from a group of aging punks. Aren’t these guys a little old for all this teen angst? Smells like TRL spirit. But somewhere in the world, there’s a Jason Biggs movie in development that’s positively screaming to be paired with NUFAN’s newest hyper-go-lucky confection.