Just the one track upon which to decide the worthiness or otherwise of The Vacation. The trio is based in Hollywood; it’s a location that sign-posts much of what happens over the song’s three and a half minutes.
‘Destitute Prostitutes’ has a brash rock ‘n’ roll swagger but I can’t shake off the nagging feeling that it’s all based on a record company marketing plan. Just take the song’s title, an attempt at a bit of sleaze under the bright lights, big city that has too strong a whiff of bratty attention seeking about it. The lyrics titillate like a naïve teenager sniggering over his older brother’s porn mag: ‘We fill our mouths / with broken words / We strut and shout / Like dirty birds’. Nothing in the words give any indication why these prostitutes are destitute so I have to assume that it’s just an eye-catching rhyme that qualifies as another tick off the corporation’s check-list for achieving high volume unit shifting.
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The band prances like a polished US version of early Manic Street Preachers or an all-male Hole. There’s a hint of the glam-punk waste of The New York Dolls but this is countered by too large a dollop of the Goth comic-strip of Marilyn Mansun, particularly in the song’s drum patterns. Ben Tegel’s mannered vocals have the petulance of Courtney Love and some of Jagger’s arrogance but ultimately lack any discernible individuality.
It’s not all bad, but it’s not 4 REAL.
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