Buckcherry

Editors’ Notes The Los Angeles band Buckcherry arrived at the precisely the right moment in the late ’90s to save hard rock from the scrapheap. The album opener, “Lit Up,” is a fist-jacking nod to toxic treats that punched through radio speakers like a brass-knuckled fist. It was one of those rare moments when you think you’re getting fooled but you’re not, and it makes you believe in rock ’n’ roll again as a cultural force. The whole album sustains that feeling. Amid the churning, four-on-the-floor riffage there are tilts to Southern rock (“Check Your Head”), white-boy R&B (“Borderline,” complete with Hammond organ), and proof that the band members were weaned on ’70s FM-radio rock (the Robin Trower-ish “Baby”). The closest thing to a ballad (“For the Movies”) is all English-styled hard rock with a surprisingly sensitive lyric of encouragement to a hurting friend. Sex Pistol Steve Jones helped out in the production department, which accounts for how Pistols-esque the guitars sound. And Joshua Todd proves he’s a great rock ’n’ roll singer and frontman.