Sticker Happy (Eraserheads, 1997)

Sticker Happy is one hell of a record. Not the band’s best, but definitely their craziest, and the one with best damn cover art. It’s a cacophony of many things. This is the Eraserheads, both old and new, at their wackiest – a strange brew of guitar pyrotechnics, pop songs, techno, sex and rock &roll – one mess of a record spinning around violently, destroying everything in its way. The release of Eraserheads’ supposed proper follow-up to Cutterpillow, marked the time when their albums stopped selling like hot cakes. Well, it was probably the time when most fans started to have second thoughts on every new Eraserheads album. By the time Sticker Happy came out late in 1997, most people have already established the gold standard for local alternative rock – it’s either Circus or Cutterpillow. Most fans were expecting another Cutterpillow, but Sticker Happy wasn’t it. After listening to it, a friend of mine said that they’ve changed – along with some puny remarks – as if the best band in the land released their first bad album. But the band couldn’t just keep writing the same old songs for cheescakesakes. They had to inject new things to their craft.  ****