My Dinosaur Life Review
The album cover is the first thing that makes me want to listen to an album. However, in this age with Google, it’s very rare that I find an album that I get purely for the album cover without looking up any information about the band or what the album is about, and it’s even rarer that I later find myself unable to skip any of the tracks. It’s a very special kind of album that becomes a personal favourite.
That is what My Dinosaur Life by Motion City Soundtrack, released in 2010, is to me.
For me, pop-punk is the soundtrack to my childhood. Sure, I listened to pop, classical, and a lot of other genres, but as a kid living in the suburbs that had TV access from 2009 to 2012, when I think of the media I grew up with, I think of the pop punk/power pop sound as well as the aesthetics associated with it. In fact, this album was released in that time period, and I think I would have loved it as a kid.
At first the album doesn’t do anything new for the pop-punk genre, but with the help of producer Mark Hoppus, there is a lot that the album delivers with “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” and it’s whistling hook, “Delirium” and its use of feedback, “Stand Too Close” with it’s acoustic guitar, and “Pulp Fiction” with its synths and grungey guitars. None of these experimental features distract from the flow of each song, which still allows it to be accessible to most people.
Moreso than the production, what makes this album truly special is the songwriting, which from the moment I heard the first four lines of “Worker Bee”, I knew this was going to be stellar, with the mentioning of a gold star feeling like a recall of our pasts, when gold stars felt like the best thing ever to us. One part that really put a smile on my face were the songs that make video game references, such as “@!#?@!” mention Ocarina of Time, as well as “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” mentioning the Xbox. But that’s not all of it.
Lyrics such as “I think I can figure it out, but I’m gonna need a little help to get me”, “I stall before I start”, “I swim in pharmaceuticals”, “What are you asking me for? It’s not my goddamn history.”, “Will we be all right left alone tonight?”, and “I could disappear any time I want to” all present the themes of growing older, which includes feelings of alienation, confusion, and a longing for control in their lives. But other than the themes that are present, the moments the songwriting and the production really work well together are in “A Life Less Ordinary (Need A Little Help)”, “Her Words Destroyed My Planet”, “Stand Too Close”, “Pulp Fiction”, and “Hysteria”.
At the end, there are “Skin and Bones” and “The Weakends” have great drumming and cap the album off on a concern for our futures and an ode to substance abuse and the constant desire to quit tomorrow.
These songs transition together and it works well to equate our feelings of angst with what we consume, and this bridge is what causes our lives to feel somewhat stuck. It acts as a wake up call for us to start making a better world for all of us, and to educate and improve our lives, our connections, and most of all ourselves if we are so confused and out of touch. A “dinosaur life” seems to refer to a feeling of primitivity, one where you feel that you were made for a different era because of how people around you behave so differently.
My Dinosaur Life is a personal favourite of mine with its mature and relatable songwriting and the production being experimental yet digestible. However, I don’t think it would be for everybody, but if you’re feeling anxious about adulthood, I would highly recommend this album. Anyone else may think it’s whiny and pretentious for some reason. Music listeners may find this to be a good entrance to late 2000s alternative music.
Growing up will always be a challenge, especially when times change so rapidly. Now more than ever, it always seems to change for the worse, but if you think you can figure it out, this album may be a little help to get you through this.
