Peppermint Creeps - AnimatroniX

Is everyone in LA on crack? If such a terrible band can get away with it merely by looking fantastic, then there must be something in the water supply over there, making everyone so dumbstruck by day-glo overload that their aural receptors just shut down. Sounding like the soundtrack to some frenetic early morning cartoon sequence in which the 'cool' dude is skateboarding, the lyrics all adhere to the same hopelessly naïve, saccharine blueprint. But really, all this music malarkey is mere distraction from their image: hyper-colourful, uber-glam martians who are just ripe for their own TV series - they could, like, solve intergalactic mysteries and have special powers, a black-caped nemesis and some geeky spod who stays at base to operate endless walls of buttons and diodes. I have seen the future, these guys will totally succeed where the Glam Metal Detectives failed. One for the music, five for the cartoon potential. [Ali Maloney]