I have to admit I discovered the music through Spotify and wasn\’t aware that they were a band from a sitcom. Based on that knowledge the music here isn\’t bad.
The first song I heard really made me think of X-Ray Spex. Slits are also evoked with some of their other tracks. The sense of humour doesn\’t overshadow the music to the point where it doesn\’t work. If you ever thought Dolly Parton had a bit of a punk sensibility the 9 to 5 cover confirms it.
I haven\’t seen the series about them. Not sure about it to be honest. Punk isn\’t without a sense of humour, it\’s true, but do I need a comedy like this about punk? Maybe.
I initially wasn\’t in on the joke and judged the music as I would any music. Some would argue that doing what you want constitutes being punk, and that frees it up from a limited definition, so maybe new attempts at punk shouldn\’t be measured with any kind of litmus test against earlier iterations of punk. Perhaps the poe-faced notions that start to jostle in my mind say more about me than they do about this group and anything else I listen to that ends up being identified with this genre. I will say though, that I would be willing to stick with them and see where it went based on a first listen if this was just a band.