6. Spoofernatural

 BACKGROUND:

In November 2000, ApologetiX would release their 6th album (counting Isn't Wasn't Ain't as the first and Radical History Tour as the second), which they called Spoofernatural. Spoofernatural contains19 spoofs on it. While the album consists of parodies that originated from 1958 to 1999, the 80's gets the most representation on the album with 9 tracks.

TITLE:

In the 2 years prior to Spoofernatural's release, 2 albums came out with the title Supernatural: DC Talk and Santana. On one end, the former is a very Christian band, and the latter is very much secular music. ApologetiX actually falls halfway between both, using secular music with Christian lyrics. Therefore, it only made sense to spoof the name supernatural by making this album Spoofernatural. On the surface level, the name Spoofernatural by itself already sounds awesome enough, but knowing that background story makes it even more awesome.

CRITIQUE:

On one hand, I feared my own biases would come out for Spoofernatural. Spoofernatural was the second ApologetiX album I owned. I feared that factor alone would push it into the top 5, but it did not up on there. On the other hand, I baffle myself wondering why I did not put Spoofernatural in the top 5, for it has all the parts fans come to love about ApologetiX albums.

Spoofernatural has both diversity and unity when it comes to musical decade. As mentioned above, Spoofernatural's parodies cover a span of 41 years, from "La Bible" (parody of "La Bamba" by Richie Valen and Los Lobos) in 1958 to 5 spoofs from 1999. That the diversity part; let's talk about the unity part. The 80's gets the most representation on the album with a grand total of 9 tracks. Since the 80's dominate representation on this album, it feels like all the other parodies flow through these 80's spoofs. Therefore, all the songs feel like they belong on this album, whether 80's or not. Going back to those 5 spoofs from 1999, they are the only 90's representation on the whole album, and for each one of them, the originally came out a single year before this album released. Let me tell you, ApologetiX made some knowledgeable and wise choices back then, for these 5 choices aged well. All of them I hear regularly on the radio, even if I have to tune into a 90's radio station to hear them. ApolgetiX definitely has quite the insight in knowing music would stick around in popularity. What a blessing that is when you're attempting to give a secular song Christian lyrics that should last a lifetime.

Spoofernatural has a little bit of everything for every fan of every genre? You desire disco music? Look forward to listening to "Play That Funny Music" (parody of "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry). You like country music? How about "El-ijah" (parody of "Elivra" by Oak Ridge Boys)? You want heavy metal? Try "Once Livn' Twice Died" (parody of "Once Bitten Twice Shy" by Great White). Prefer some oldies? Then you'll prefer "La Bible" (parody of "La Bamba" by Richie Valen and Los Lobos). How about boy band pop? "I Want in that Place" (parody of "I Want it That Way" by Backstreet Boys) will cover you there. Up to this point, ApologetiX was mostly known for spoofing classic rock songs, but (arguably) only 3 songs on this album can be classified as classic rock: "I Love Apostle Paul" (parody of "I Love Rock N Roll" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts), "Rock This Tower" (parody of "Rock This Town" by Stray Cats) and "Genny 22" (parody of "Jenny/867-5309" by Tommy Tutone). Kudos to ApologetiX for this genre variety, not only because it stretches themselves, which improves them, but it also casts a larger net on what audiece they will attract.

Since I have criticized the past few albums for doing something, I now need to praise Spoofernatural for not doing it. Spoofernatural has 19 tracks representing 19 different original artists. Yes, you heard me right. No longer do albums have multiple entries from the same original artists. This variety in artists helps with album variety in general. No longer do fans have to worry about an original artist that they don't like appearing multiple times. At worst, they will have 1 song on the album, but that's about it. Again, praise to ApologetiX for recognizing that diversity in original artists spoofed will result a wider net cast over a potential audience. 

The album opens with the same song ApologetiX opened many concerts: "Play That Funny Music" (parody of "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry). Indeed, the song fits well for both opening an album and opening a concert. The song introduces to the audience the mission, the vision and the goal of ApologetiX: to not leave behind secular music but to redeem it in a way that glorifies God. The second track on this album is a good follow-up to the first track. "Fishin' on a Pier" (parody of "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi) introduces the members of the band and reiterates that God has called them to use their musical talents to preach to the lost, to teach the rest, and to glorify God. Although I can't say for sure, but it's not hard to imagine that ApologetiX may have opened up many concerts by playing these 2 songs in a row, and if they didn't, they missed out on a great opportunity. With such a strong start to the album, it's sad the album closed out in a whimper. Genny 22" (parody of "Jenny/867-5309" by Tommy Tutone) is just another retelling of a Bible story. Yes, it's a nice touch that the outro teaches how the story in Genesis 22 foreshadow the atoning work of the Christ, but it's still a Bible story. Then again, looking at all the other songs on this album, I can't pick out a single song that would make a better closing choice.

With all these praises for Spoofernatural, I do have 1 criticism: the album only has 19 tracks. Yes, I know that's about average for the early album, and it definitely looks big in comparison to later albums, averaging 11-13 tracks. From neighboring albums, however, fans know ApologetiX can fit 20 or 22 songs per album. The longest song is "Learn Some Deuteronomy" (parody of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard) at a little under 4 1/2 minutes, but that shouldn't take up too much room. I would have liked to see 20 or 022 tracks on this album.

FAVORITE SONG: "Every Crown Has Its Thorns" (parody of "Every Rose Has Its Thorns" by Poison)

In all honesty, my favorite song on this album has changed so many times. One minute it's "Pray Now (Lost Art)" (parody of "All Star" by Smash Mouth), the next minute it's "I Love Apostle Paul" (parody of "I Love Rock N Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts), and then the next minute it's "Learn Some Deuteronomy" (parody of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard). All these songs were candidate for the first song, and it's even possible if you ask me again a month from now, my answer will change again. For now, I have to settle on "Every Crown Has Its Thorns" (parody of "Every Rose Has Its Thorns" by Poison). At first, I really didn't like this song. I preferred the hard rock songs of Poison, such as "Nothing but a Good Time," "Talk Dirty to Me" and "Unskinny Bop" (fortunately, ApologetiX would eventually spoof these for me). The more I listened to this parody, however, the more it grew on it. While not one of the more extreme examples of redeeming a sort, it does still have some redeeming work. The original songs sings about a romantic relationship falling apart at the seams. The spoof reminds the listener how much suffering Jesus endure for the believer, so the Christian should willingly respond with making the harder decisions to follow Jesus. If I remember hearing correctly, "Every Crown Has Its Thorns" falls in 2nd place as songs that lead people to Christ, losing only to "Narrow Way to Heaven" (parody of "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zepplin) on Jesus Christ Morningstar. While "Every Crown Has Is Thorn" does not fit the mold for an altar call song, its strong emotions can convict the hearer to come to Christ just on the basis of how much suffering he endured for humanity.

FINAL VERDICT: 6th.

Spoofernatural has everything on it that the fans would come to love about ApologetiX albums. It has both unity and variety in music decade. It covers a wide array of music genres. Not a single original artist gets an encore presentation with another song. This album both retells Bible stories and teaches theology. I just wish there was more of it! I also just wish Spoofernatural could have gone out with more of a bang than a whimper. Besides that, an overall good album. I'm glad that Spoofernatural was my second album.