The Donnas - Gold Medal (2004)

I'd all but forgotten about this blog until someone asked me about it the other day. So, here we go again. 

Versions:

LP

CD

Tracklisting:

1. I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me)

2. Friends Like Mine

3. Don't Break Me Down

4. Fall Behind Me

5. Is That All You've Got For Me

6. It's So Hard

7. The Gold Medal

8. Out Of My Hands

9. It Takes One To Know One

10. Revolver

11. Have You No Pride

Best Tracks:

I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me)

The Gold Medal

Fall Behind Me

Currently listening to:

LP

I first became aware of The Donnas just after they released The Donnas Turn 21. My group of high school friends were quite taken with them, as was I. While my friends' hormonal admiration was centred on the fact that they were a group of young women playing guitars (I don't think it really mattered what music they were playing), I was more enamoured with their tales of partying and chasing boys - which was my secret goal in life in my late teens. It was all good fun, and The Donna went from strength to strength in the early 00's, releasing the wonderful Spend The Night then this, Gold Medal, in 2004. 

Gold Medal tipped me from enthusiastic fan to obsessee for a time. While still rocking, this record was the hangover from the records that proceeded it. The beers and the 40 boys in 40 nights don't have the same appeal in the harsh light of morning, and it took The Donnas (an impressive) 6 albums to wake up miserable with sore heads. Instead of taking it off, The Donnas wanted you to fall behind them. From the anxiously obsessive 'I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me)' to the melancholic country of 'The Gold Medal', The Donnas got as close to catharsis as they ever would. And, Gold Medal is their best record because of it. 

Sadly, it was also their last hurrah. Their last album, the underwhelming Bitchin', followed three years later and lost all the momentum they'd gathered over the last 4 albums. Then they seemed to go out with a whimper. And, I've barely thought about them since.

When this album was reissued on vinyl last year, I wondered if I really needed to buy it. The few times I'd heard any Donnas song in the last 15 years were nostalgic reminders of road trips, friends and, funnily enough, partying and chasing boys (which I did touch on in a previous post). But did that need to be in my collection now?

It arrived today, so I guess the short answer is, yes. 17 years later, it's still pretty good, even if it is painfully nostalgic. I am continually surprised how dated music from the early 00's sounds now (not a criticism, by any means - just an observation), but Gold Medal holds up better than I had anticipated. I enjoyed it so much that I put Spend The Night on once it had finished. Which hasn't aged quite as well and is possibly even more nostalgic). I'm glad to finally add the vinyl copy to my record collection.