Bowling for Soup

About Bowling for Soup

Bowling for Soup started in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1994, which is about as far from the pop-punk epicenters of Southern California as you can get while still being in a state that gets hot enough to make you want to skateboard in a pool. Frontman Jaret Reddick formed the band with bassist Erik Chandler, and they quickly became the kind of group that could make three-chord progressions sound like the most important thing happening in a suburban parking lot.

They spent the late nineties doing what most bands did back then: touring relentlessly, putting out albums on independent labels, and slowly building the kind of following that comes from playing every dive bar between Texas and anywhere else. Their early records like "Rock on Honorable Ones" and "Tell Me When to Whoa" didn't exactly light up the charts, but they established something crucial. This was a band that understood pop-punk didn't have to take itself seriously to be good at what it does.

The breakthrough came in 2002 with "Drunk Enough to Dance" on Jive Records. "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" became their calling card, a perfectly constructed piece of self-aware pop-punk that knew exactly what it was. The song hit number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, which is the kind of mainstream success that most bands in their lane never touch. It got nominated for a Grammy. They didn't win, but that's kind of the point with Bowling for Soup. They've always existed in this space where critical respect matters less than whether the song works at a party.

Then came "1985" in 2004, a cover of an SR-71 song that somehow became more famous than the original. It's one of those tracks that captures a very specific kind of nostalgia while simultaneously being nostalgic itself. The album "A Hangover You Don't Deserve" went gold, and suddenly they were the band your younger cousin knew from MTV2.

They kept releasing albums pretty consistently through the 2000s and 2010s. "The Great Burrito Extortion Case" in 2006, "Sorry for Partyin'" in 2009. The quality stayed consistent even as the mainstream moved on to other things. They also wrote the theme song for "Phineas and Ferb," which is the kind of career move that makes total sense when you think about it for more than three seconds.

These days, Bowling for Soup still tours regularly, mostly in the UK where they've maintained a particularly loyal following. They put out "Pop Drunk Snot Bread" in 2022, proving they can still write the same kind of songs they always have without it feeling like a heritage act going through motions. Reddick is in his fifties now, still singing about high school problems with the same energy, which is either commitment to the bit or just knowing what works.

Bowling for Soup shows are basically sing-alongs with a band that clearly enjoys the ridiculousness. Crowds come loaded with nostalgia, everyone knows the words, and the band leans into the fun without being condescending about it. Expect audience participation, banter between songs, and a general sense that everyone's in on the joke together.

Known for 1985 (Jimmy Eat World), Girl All the Bad Guys Want, Almost, The Bitch Song, Ohio (Come Back to Texas)

See Bowling for Soup Live