3 Doors Down- Seventeen Days (WWW) (Republic/Universal)
When 3 Doors Down came out in
2000, they were relative unknowns from a small town in Mississippi. They
managed to score a hit single, "Kyptonite", appearing everywhere at
once but at the same time managing to somehow retain their anonymity. Their
strange "anonymous success story" would continue on with 2002's
"Away From The Sun", which featured the rather unassuming but somehow
great singles "When I'm Gone" and "Here Without You". Their
strange success baffled many people, sometimes in awe- for example, Toby
Lightman once commented that she wanted 3 Doors Down's success, since they were
able to remain successful but somehow stay out of the spotlight. Their music
would be very well known, but no one would know who the band members are.
Of course, there's a reason for
that, in that their music is constantly bland but somehow remains appealing. On
"Away From the Sun", there were very few tracks that stuck out, but
there was very few of them you could actually hate. The same is true of
"Seventeen Days"- only three songs (single No. 1, the reflective
"Let Me Go", the uptempo rocker "Right Where I Belong", and
"Landing In London", featuring Bob Seger) really stick out from the
rest of the album, but, despite the other songs' lack of distinctiveness, they
still remain enjoyable, if only on the casual level. It's very akin to the kind
of music they'd been making before, and it's also akin (presumably) to the kind
of people they are. They've never really sought fame, so why should they be
really lambasted for producing pedestrian music? Still, though, it would be
nice if 3 Doors Down really took the bull by its horns and made something that
really was distinctive- they have the abilities, so why don't they use them? At
some point all this tedium will become just that- tedious.
For now 3 Doors Down will
constantly remain the band that you just can't hate, no matter how hard they
try. They may be visually unappealing. They may be unshockingly unoriginal.
They may refuse to be boastful at all. They may also produce the kind of bland
music that younger bands would get derided for incessantly. Yet, through it all
3 Doors Down retain their unassuming charm, perfecting their droning simplicity
version of rock as if it were a science. This is why they'll always be
successful: by constantly insisting on their ambiguity they'll always retain
their normalness and their ability to "relate to the common person",
and by perfecting their ability to be formulaicly bland they'll always make
sure that they'll get those precious airwave spins that bands so desperately
need to sell records. However, until they really try to make a record, they
will never, ever be legends.
-DG