That's right, "Indian Giver". Not "Cowboys and Indians" as recent history would have predicted. No, 1910 Fruitgum Company's tradition of performing odes to schoolyard frolics ends here. Could the ultimate bubblegum pop group have actually grown up? Perhaps they had, though you'd be advised not to seek out the artwork for their recent album of the same name.
Oh, so they've swapped childish things for casual racism then? Hey, nobody's perfect. Again, the cover art does them no favours but it's not as if they went all out on their latest hit with ululating war cries or anything. Okay, the percussion is rather tribal but that's as far as it goes, I swear!
The bubblegum acts seemed to operate in a world in which no one grows up, no one has a plan for the future and no one has a creative rebirth. This stands in contrast to modern day manufactured pop acts who eventually ditch the fun times and glorious hooks in order to have a depressing R&B phase that normally closes out a boy band or girl group's peak period. Growing up is necessary but only when it results in something worthwhile; otherwise, disposable pop acts are probably better off sticking to what they know. In other words, if you can't be like The Monkees or George Michael then don't bother trying.
Typically the nadir of a genre without much in the way of quality control, it was perhaps a good move on the part of the Fruitgums to move in a more mature direction. (I mean, mature for them) They actually sound like a serious pop-rock group on "Indian Giver". But do they sound like a passable pop-rock group?
In a way, they kind of do. Singer Mark Gutkowski has all the confidence of a jock bully in an eighties sex comedy — and, sadly, about as much charm — while the band plays with all the swagger of a Rolling Stones tribute act. (You'd be correct in describing these as backhanded compliments but for the fact that there's not even much in the way of my being complimentary) The character that "1,2,3, Red Light" had — such as it was — had vanished from their work. No longer irritating, 1910 Fruitgum Company had now developed to the point of becoming painfully boring instead.
The bubblegum groups were beginning to fade by the early part of 1969 so it may have seemed like the best possible option at the time but there was no way the progress of a hopeless band was going to end well. But, again, they might as well have stuck to their MO for as long as possible. Some older artists were even beginning to embrace bubblegum so there was still signs of life in the well-chewed, graying piece of Hubba Bubba yet.
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