Dishwalla Pet Your Friends

Give yourself a break for only knowing Counting Blue Cars off of 1995's Pet Your Friends (A&M Records). But Charlie Brown's Parents and Pretty Babies are well structured 90s rock songs that give Dishwalla's debut album some street cred.

Updated Oct 28 2022

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Dishwalla Pet Your Friends album cover — Pet Your Friends

Counting Blue Cars is a 90s staple, propelling Dishwalla to fame. Pretty Babies, Give, and Charlie Brown's Parents round out Pet Your Friends.

80s & 90s Swag

Tell me all your thoughts on god, while I tell you all my thoughts on Dishwalla

Pet Your Friends is good when it's good. It's alright when it's not. Setting Counting Blue Cars aside, I always liked Pretty Babies, Haze, Miss Emma Peel, and Charlie Brown's Parents.

Would the 90s have missed Dishwalla if they had never existed? Probably not.

But, whether intentional or not, they took the chance and challenged mainstream society by definitively referring to God as her.

Pet Your Friends notes

Pretty Babies

As for the music, it's a 90s rock no-doubter.

Medium pace? Check.
Non-intricate multi note arpeggio intro? Check.
Prominent clean bass? Check.

Lyrically, it's a far cry from the Sunset Strip. It's quite the social commentary on the transitions of adolescence.

"There is tension, for a popular child, and it doesn't get much worse than that"

I applaud Dishwalla for writing Pretty Babies. I love Winger's Seventeen, but I love that a band can make a coherent argument that opposes the very foundation that Seventeen sits on.

Haze

Alexander and Browning brew a 70s groove on Haze, with the wah and tremolo over the night club bass.

Of the entire catalog of alternative rock 90s bands, Richards' vocals might be the smoothest. If his voice were sandpaper, it would be 600 grit.

Counting Blue Cars

Tell me all your thoughts on god, cause I'd really like to meet her. Well done. The gender identity of "God" isn't challenged much in commercial media. Counting Blue Cars and Kevin Smith's Dogma, where god is played by Alanis Morissette, are the first two examples that come to mind.

The keys are the polished touch that gives this song that extra oomph.

Amazingly enough, original Dishwalla singer, J.R. Richards recorded a version of Counting Blue Cars for How I Met Your Mother's season 8 episode: Stamp Tramp.

I think only the original version of the song gets played in the episode.

Counting Blue Cars is really great. Despite it being overplayed, despite it challenging ancient, modern, and future catholicism's views, despite everything, it's a great tune.

Skip the cracks.

Explode

Explode sounds like its ready to do just that.

Could be a U2 song. Shimmery guitars. Clean, punchy bass. Echoing vocals. Repeated lyrics in the pre-chorus. And in the chorus for that matter.

Tremolo set on rapid bounce, or whatever the setting is to make guitars shimmer like a Shazam spell.

Wasted time! Wasted! Wasted!

Sonic feedback wall. Thanks for that.

Charlie Brown's Parents

90s grunge.

One of the best choruses on Pet Your Friends.

Richards gets some comparison to Vedder, and I will agree, they share some tonality and expression, but they are different singers. Even the Collective Soul guy isn't a total Vedder copy. In fact, I think they are all really different versions of Michael Hutchence of INXS.

Give

Give probably could have been on Reloaded

In the Give video, Dishwalla goes from early 90s rock band to being dressed like members of Central Perk's finest. Tell me J.R. Richards couldn't have passed for one of Rachel Green's boyfriends.

Third time on the album they have mentioned being a child, or being worried about childhood. Interesting.

Rotary speaker guitar solo. Classy.

The video is Black Hole Sun's far less bad ass cousin.

Dishwalla really wants to know ... what would you give?

Love the groovy outro breakdown. Where did that come from?!e

Miss Emma Peel

Pretty sure Dishwalla borrowed a few chords from Everclear's Sparkle and Fade

Another catchy chorus ... "[MISS EMMA PEEL!"

Coming out a few years before Uma Thurman took her turn as Emma Peel, this song must have been written about Diana Rigg's character in the 60's show, The Avengers.

Moisture

An underrated song.

I'd imagine when people hear the name Dishwalla, they hear a sound that is slightly more powerful than the Wallflowers or Counting Crows, but Dishwalla rocks more than you know - as is evident on Moisture.

Tremolo pedals came back in the 90s. Not really a feature of 80s hair metal.

The Feeder

The Feeder sounds a bit like Atmosphere's The Best Day.

Good city walking music. The type you'd play after getting off the public trans and on the way to your 9 to 5 because your band never made it. The type that gives you an idea for a song, a song that washes away like notes written in the sand the minute you step into the office and your boss starts yelling at you.

Oh well, you can always write a music blog 15 years later.

Glad we got some solid power chord chugging. Rin-jin.

Love the light > medium > heavy transition of tone across The Feeder.

All She Can See

Solid groove there. Well done, Scott Alexander.

Dishwalla singer J.R. Richards could contort his voice to incorporate the vocal timbre of certain contemporaries while remaining individually recognizable.

Lots of 90s wah.

Way to go hard for a few beats before the hard stop.

Only for So Long

Dishwalla breaks out the Hammond on Only for So Long.

The song has a little life in the chorus.

Strong pre-choral drum fill from Pendergast.

Interview With St. Etienne

Interview with St. Etienne is a solid jam.

Track 12 is a hidden track : Interview with St. Etienne

Counting Blue Cars lyrics

Must of been mid afternoon I could tell by how far the child's shadow stretched out and He walked with a purpose In his sneakers, down the street He had, many questions Like children often do He said, "Tell me all your thoughts on God?" "Tell me am I very far?"

Must of been late afternoon On our way the sun broke free of the clouds We count only blue cars Skip the cracks, in the street And ask many questions Like children often do We said,

"Tell me all your thoughts on God?" cause I'd really like to meet her and ask her why we're who we are "Tell me all your thoughts on God?" cause Im on my way to see her so tell me am I very far am I very far now

Its getting cold picked up the pace How our shoes make hard noises in this place Our clothes are stained We pass many, cross eyed people And ask many questions Like children often do