Extreme Behavior

Released in September 2005, Hinder's Extreme Behavior revives the simpleton riffs and stupid misogyny of 2001 albums from Puddle of Mudd and Nickelback for a whole new batch of undergrads. This isn't even post-grunge — it's straight-up dude rock. The artwork is a triggered response collage of boobs, lingerie, and Jäger, and the music is so obvious that it actually recedes from the ear. Like a stereo left on in the keg room, it's just a chatter of swear words and tuneless electric guitar blab. Austin Winkler sounds like a drunk shouting along with Chad Kroeger, and his lyrics? "Let's go home and get stoned/Cause the sex is so much better when you're mad," "She said she's sorry/With one finger/I said fuck that," "She said she loved the taste of my oh oh oh" — Winkler doesn't even have enough class to fake sounding cool. When Hinder and producer Brian Howes (he co-wrote every song with the band; Nickelback producer Joey Moi also gets a credit) do try a little tenderness, they sound like a bludgeoned Wallflowers ("Nothin' Good About Goodbye"), thudding power ballad torchbearers ("Lips of an Angel"; cue the soaring solo stolen from hair metal), or bumbling Guns N' Roses thieves (the played-out "Sweet Child" rewrite "Homecoming Queen"). Extreme Behavior can't even make it as rote hard rock — it's too insulting to women and your intelligence. That's why it's dude rock instead. Hinder are so egregiously dull they appeal not to fans of music, but fans of high fives.