Tommy Lee

Released to coincide with the publication of the autobiography Tommyland and the debut of the "reality” show Tommy Lee Goes to College — in reality, of course, Tommy Lee does no such thing; Tommyland: The Ride is simultaneously 12 tracks of insubstantial synergistic pap with grand commercial ambitions, and exactly what we’re being taken for. The inoffensive mid-tempo opener "Good Times” is the theme song to the aforementioned reality series in which the University of Nebraska-Lincoln whores itself to NBC, and indulges Tommy in what is by all accounts a charming bit of make-believe and public image recuperation as he attends (but does not enrol in) classes and drums in the school’s marching band. The Ride’s lowlights come in the self-pitying lead single "Tryin’ to Be Me,” which laments the prison-without-walls life of the celebrity in the age of the cell phone camera ("Whoever said it was painless should try and be famous”), and "Tired,” in which Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden sings a refrain that tastefully begins, "Tommy got tired of Pamela.” What Tommy did next is not mentioned, but the relevant court documents are on the public record.