Bowling For Soup - The Great Burrito Extortion Case

Do I detect the stomach-turning stench of quirkiness? I think I do.

Let's consider the evidence. First, there's the band's name: Bowling For Soup. Then there's the album's name: The Great Burrito Extortion Case. If any of the song titles could be described as 'zany' or 'off the wall' then it's an open and shut case.

Track three: Val Kilmer. Track four: I'm Gay. Track eight: Love Sick Stomach Ache (Sugar Coated Accident).

There's been worse. But this evidence, allied to the fact that Bowling For Soup are American, means that we have to conclude that this album is rubbish. Quirkiness from Americans is not on.

British people can be quirky. Americans are quirky in a self-conscious way that proves they don't get the concept of quirkiness. A quirky British person, or band, are quirky because that's the way they are. With equally quirky American counterparts, you wonder why. Why are they being quirky? What are they trying to achieve?

Almost inevitably, the answer is that they're trying to make loads of money by appealing to a niche - a quirky niche. This negates the quirkiness, because unchecked yearning for wealth isn't particularly quirky, particularly from Americans.

Anyway, I'm off to do backflips in a top hat and monocle in the hope that some people give me some folding money.