What's MxPx's "Secret Weapon"? Nostalgia

It’s interesting to me how little things can spark emotions and memories that go way back. I recall how as a kid I was forced to eat one too many McDonald’s pancakes. The whole event made me so sick that to this day the sight of a pancake makes want to vomit. When my wife was pregnant there were certain smells that made her nauseous, and still today there are occasions where those foods and smells will remind her of that queasy feeling. The mind is an interesting thing and it can pick up on all sorts of objects, sounds, smells, sights and from them generate memories. This happened for me recently with the newest MxPx release, “Secret Weapon.”

“Secret Weapon” sounds much like MxPx has always sounded: the heavy bass guitar of Mike Herrera driving the verses; the melodic harmonies of Mike singing all vocal parts; the rapid rhythm of Tom’s guitar (with a few simple lead guitar licks here and there); and, of course, the chime of the bell from the center of Yuri’s cymbal sounding the chorus. Interestingly enough, the album harkens back more to the days of “Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo” a much better marker for the band than their last two albums.

The opening track kicks things off with a typical pop punk anthem (Secret Weapon). “Here’s to the Life” has the punchy feel of other MxPx songs, and “Top of the Charts” has the pop punk acoustic intro that ignites in a fury of electric guitars and drums toward the end of verse one. It’s all pretty standard and predictable. The album’s theme seems to be the band’s love hate relationship with success (or lack there of) as a pop-punk band, but that is not what interests me. Instead what interests me are the feelings that this rather predictable album conjured up in me as I listened to it.

MxPx was a favorite band of mine as a young punk rocker. I loved the sounds, the drive, the semi-rebellionism of a “Christian” punk band. I remembered driving around my town listening to various albums with my buddies; I remembered skateboarding in front of the church building, and wearing plaid suits to prom. These were fun and silly times in my life and the more I contemplated them the more I thought about how simple life was back then. I didn’t have to worry about bills, family, medical issues, house payments, etc.

One could be inclined to spend time living in this nostalgia, and of course many people do (think of the high school football jock who can’t get past the “big game,” or the college grad who continually wants the gang to get back together). But nostalgia is, in its own right, a secret weapon of destruction.

Of course nostalgia can be a great thing. Many memories deserve to be cherished and held on to, but dwelling on them as if the golden years are all behind us can be destructive. MxPx was great when I was a high school student, but musically I see now how shallow their work is. Beyond that, the days of old were great, but I must continually be living in the here and now. Nostalgia can makes us less effective for Jesus and more focused on what we’ve lost than what we can accomplish for Jesus today. So enjoy a little MxPx here and there, but be sure you don’t lose sight of today and what Jesus demands of you.