Alien Ant Farm – BUSted / 2006 Geffen / http://www.alienantfarm.com / http://www.universalchronicles.com / Reviewed 15 August 2006
Okay. There are a lot of things that one can see on this DVD. Of course, there are the videos that Alien Ant Farm put out. I had no idea that the band had any other videos besides “Smooth Criminal†and “Moviesâ€, but there were apparently about four other videos that were shown to places like Fuse and MTv. Besides that, the band has though it prudent to put an entire live show of theirs on the DVD. So, there are about 12 more songs to choose from, many of which do not have a corresponding music video. There are a few other things on this DVD as well. There is a blend of documentary and interview for their “Road To Wreckageâ€. The disc finishes off with video commentary and a few other versions of “Movies†and “These Daysâ€. For someone that wants to get up to date with Alien Ant Farm before picking up “Up In The Atticâ€, this DVD serves fans perfectly. Of course, I know that I can’t be the only one who does not remember Alien Ant Farm all that well from their hits.
Of course, “Smooth Criminal†was large and “Movies†had a nice second-single bounce, but “These Days†only came back to me in any form after seeing the musical, which has AAF crashing the BET Awards. “Glow†is another track that finally comes back to me after I hear and watch the video for a little bit. The tracks were somewhat big on TRL and the like for a few weeks, but they rapidly dropped off the radar soon after they were released. I want to say that “Glow†had a second life (maybe even bigger) in an acoustic version; I hope that actually existed and was unable to be added instead of me just dreaming it up. I would like to see something more in third parties discussing what effect that Alien Ant Farm had on their careers, seeing someone from Fall Out Boy or My Chemical Romance saying that “hey, Alien Ant Farm made me get into a bandâ€.
The band may just be too new for bands to be influenced by AAF to have any major success at this junction. Perhaps if this DVD is released onto HD-DVD in the next ten years, there will be bands knocking down Universal’s door to tell the fans of the band how “Movies†made them start a band. The band may not have had the most famous or long-lasting career with their previous two albums, but chances are good that they can get again back into the spotlight with “Up In The Atticâ€. Pick up both the CD and the DVD and see how the band has changed and updated their sound in the last few years since their last album was released to the masses. This is fun, even though most of the kids that are just getting into music will have little, if any idea who exactly Alien Ant Farm is or was.
Rating: 6.2/10