A Hangover You Don't Deserve is the sixth album by Bowling for Soup. It was released on September 14, 2004. The first single, "1985", quickly became a Top 40 staple, peaking at NO.5 on Billboard's Adult Top 40 chart. The album is packed with what's become the generically slick norm (stuff like piano breaks, compressed vocals, and steppe farm chorus guitars). Midway through the pogo goof "Shut Up and Smile," it's nearly impossible to tell whether this is Bowling for Soup, or Goldfinger, or Lit, or even Fountains of Wayne. (The latter's "Stacy's Mom" is even a thematic or sonic cousin to Bowling's "1985.") There's no doubting Jaret's talent as a songwriter,his stuff is witty, engagingly selfdeprecating, and catchy as hell. "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)" proves this,its plea to a restless girlfriend to come back home "before you lose your accent" is both plaintive and snarky. And the intro to "My Hometown" is just great, where Jaret thanks all the friends he had before the Grammy nominations. But most of the time it's very hard to hear Bowling for Soup around Hangover's radio and video ready sheen. This is doubly aggravating because such marketing will advertise Bowling's pop culture references and downplay the fact that, underneath the slickness, A Hangover You Don't Deserve is 17 tracks strong. In his review for 2002's Drunk Enough to Dance, a wise man wondered whether Bowling for Soup might one day match the mature noise pop genius of Too Much Joy. The only disappointing thing about this Hangover is that we're still wondering.