After the death of grunge in 1994, American Rock went through its wilderness years. Seemingly now without an identity, numerous bands came along and had mainstream exposure and their stab at the big time.

One of these bands was The Presidents Of The United States Of America. The nation's youth, now after something a bit more light hearted after the intensity of the last few years, went potty for them.

Backed by the catchy as hell singles Lump and Peaches, the self-titled album stormed the charts in 1995 and eventually went multi-platinum. Armed with the popiness of The Monkees and the heaviness of, er, Ash, it was a totally irresistible force.

The album opens with Kitty, a song about telling your cat to spend the night outside. Take that Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box, THAT’S the way to start an album!

But apart from the cat baiting, the Presidents tend to be too polite in places. On their cover of Kick Out The Jams (Never a good idea), they sound like if you didn’t want them to give the Jams a good kickin’, they’d probably shuffle away saying how sorry they were for any convenience the request may have caused.

But all complaints go out the window when you hear Lump or Peaches. Two songs of utter pop perfection that you can’t help get lost in the three minutes and end up in happy land.

Although some of their charm can now be found in bands such as The Moldy Peaches and the Super Furries, they’d have to go some way to beat the Prez’s debut. Altogether now: _‘Millions of peaches, peaches fo’ me, millions of peaches, peaches fo’ free…look out!”