Still ‘Lit Up’ after all these years

Buckcherry has rocked since the ’90s with a steady hard charge

Speaking of “Lit Up,” these days the kids are calling things that are cool and exciting “lit.” So in a way, Buckcherry could be considered responsible for creating a slang term.

“I know — it’s so funny; I tell my daughter that all of the time,” Todd said. “She thinks I’m just so lame. I told her, ‘You know, I wrote a song called “Lit Up.”’ She just thinks that it’s nonsense and that I don’t even know what I’m talking about.”

One thing that Todd does know is whether rock, as it is widely reported, is truly dead. The Grammy Award-nominated singer opined that while rock isn’t necessarily dead, there is something missing.

He noted that rock radio and active radio formats refuse to take chances on new artists who are pushing the genre into different and creative areas.

“When I listen to the radio there are no dynamics between bands, there are no rock stars,” Todd said. “Naturally, people just go elsewhere where they can find rock stars and where it’s reckless and dangerous.

“I listen to a lot of hiphop because I think it’s just interesting and crazy,” he added. “There are no rules. Those artists are doing a lot of crazy (expletive). That used to be rock. There’s nothing dangerous about rock ‘n’ roll anymore. That’s why we continue to put out what I feel is very unique rock ‘n’ roll to the market. We also continue to build our fanbase by doing what we do best — playing live.”

Buckcherry, which returns to Northeast Ohio for a show Dec. 28 at the MGM Northfield Park Center Stage, is touring its latest album, “War Paint.” One song the group decided to cover for the new effort was Nine Inch Nails’ “Head Like a Hole.”

At any other time, the song, which had a video, would have garnered some media attention. However, that changed when Miley Cyrus released her cover, which was featured in an episode of “Black Mirror.” One has to think in some way the unfortunate timing left Buckcherry’s version to fall into obscurity.

“I didn’t know about it until our song was out and they started talking about Miley’s version,” Todd said. “It was like, how can Miley Cyrus sing ‘Head Like a

Hole?’ When I finally heard the song I thought she did a great job.

“Really, it’s two different genres and two different worlds. For the people who are listening to Miley Cyrus, Buckcherry isn’t even on their radar. So it doesn’t bother me at all.” Perhaps Buckcherry could capitalize on the coincidence by recording an ironic cover of Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.”? Um, Todd wasn’t a fan of the idea.

“I don’t know if I could do that,” Todd said. “The problem is I have to own it, and I don’t know if I could own that.”

Well, odds are if Buckcherry did record “Party in the U.S.A.” the kids would say it was lit.

“Right,” Todd laughed. “It would be lit.”

SUBMITTED Buckcherry is on the road in support of the album “War Paint,” released in the first quarter of 2019.