The Methadones

A good band name always gives the potential listener some idea what sort of music to expect. (Bad band names are ones that mess with those expectations: a certain artsy-jangly guitar pop band of the early '90s would have been much more successful had they not been called Vomit Launch, which sounds like the name of a scabrous hardcore act.) Chicago-based pop-punk band The Methadones is an excellent case in point: methadone -- not to be confused with methamphetamine, aka crystal meth -- being the drug prescribed to recovering heroin addicts who are attempting to get clean through a rehab-type regimen, the listener immediately expects world-weary, sadder but wiser punk rock, perhaps with a rootsy edge, not unlike the best of Social Distortion or X. The Methadones deliver in full on that promise, but also add a bubblegummy power pop side to their music that makes them equally attractive to fans of the post-Green Day cadres of mall punk bands.

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