Going Back To Norway, Where Nothing Can Go Wrong--Yum Yums' Sweetest Candy

The Yum Yums from Moss, Norway are without question the greatest pop punk band ever. It was like impossible for me to find the Singles N Stuff singles and stuff Cd, a collection of their impossible-to-get early singles and more. Most of their music was released in small quantities on labels in Japan, Germany, and in their native land. It was incomprehensible to me that getting this great music would require a holy grail quest, or a treasure map. Eventually I was able to nab a copy, but it cost me a bit of heavy money. I am happy to let fans of pop punk that a great collection of their material (that has a lot of the Singles n Stuff material) is available for $10 through Kid Tested Records under the title Sweetest Candy. I don't have that record, so my references are to Singles N Stuff released on Germany's Screaming Apple records.

The Yum-Yums are an infectiously unholy blending of New York's finest, The Ramones, and the Power Pop of bands like The Knack, The Plimsouls, Paul Collins Beat. Bubblepunk? I have never heard a more harmonious supersonic racket. Some people think the songs are samey, but that's only because they are all perfect. Their music is a big hit in Norway. And when you hear songs like Girls Like That, Crazy Over You, Valerie, Be My Baby and Need Your Love Tonight you can see why. What I can't see is why they are so unknown on our side of the Atlantic.

The Yum-Yums on these recordings are Morton Henriksen, vocals and guitar; John Martinsen, guitar; Stig Amundsen, bass and vocal; Tomas Dahl, drums. In addition to their originals, there are uptempo cover versions of pop songs here. They perform Walking Out On Love and three other songs by The Paul Collins Beat, who are a musical idols to the band. In fact, The Yum-Yums have even been a backing band for Paul Collins on occasion. Additionally there are supercharged versions of 60's bubble gum tunes, like Chewy Chewy and Wig Wam Bam. I find that Scandinavian punk bands have a much greater appreciation of the Ramone's Phil Spector period than their American cousins, and that is evident in songs like Be With Me and Be My Baby. There is even do one song in Norwegian, a cover song entitled Kule Damer.

The Current Lineup

The Kid Tested record has some different songs on it, and it may very well be a stronger collection, as the current label had a much larger discography to choose from. And 10 bucks for 25 songs is a great deal, it certainly beats the prices I've seen for out of print imports. And if you love poppy punk rock, this is the real stuff. You will be amazed by the greatness here. Their most recent album, the very nice Whatever Rhymes With Baby is also readily available from Pop Detective Records.

I noticed on their web site that they are available for bookings for your private parties for all occasions. So here's my advice to you. If you are one of the international jet setting have-mores and are celebrating a wedding, bar mitzvah, sweet 16 party, your inheritance check from Aunt Tilly, don't hire The Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, or Vanilla Ice to perform. All the fat cats did that and its getting  really passe. So take that ill-gotten loot and hire these guys!