The Network - Money Money 2020 Part II: We Told Ya So (2LP)

Seventeen years is a long time to keep a joke going, but The Network never treated this as a gag so much as a proper parallel universe. The long-rumoured Green Day alter egos returned with Money Money 2020 Part II: We Told Ya So, landing on 4 December 2020 through Warner Records, and it plays like a time capsule cracked open right when the world needed a sardonic laugh. It follows a short Trans Am burst in November that signalled the reboot, then the full album arrived in a rush of synths, deadpan vocals and spitball satire that makes the 2003 debut feel less like an oddity and more like chapter one.

The sound is still new wave at heart, charged by stiff drum machines, sugar-rush synth leads and vocals that swap between sneer and vocoder glaze. Think Devo and Gary Numan wired to a cheap neon sign. Trans Am is the obvious gateway, all chrome sheen and muscle-car swagger, the video leaning into VHS textures and cold-war futurism. Flat Earth takes square aim at conspiracy culture with a pogo beat and chant-along chorus, while Ivankkka Is a Nazi, spelled with three k’s, goes for the jugular with gallows humour. These songs are blunt, sure, but the hooks stick, and the band’s habit of turning slogans into earworms feels uncomfortably on point for 2020.

The personas return in full costume. Fink, Van Gough, The Snoo, Balducci, Z and Captain Underpants sound energised by the masks, which has always been the fun of this project. They have denied any connection to Green Day, though the wink has never been subtle. What matters is how liberated they seem here. Guitars jab rather than strum, keytars squeal over robotic handclaps, and the choruses come thick and fast, rarely overstaying their welcome. There are moments of straight-ahead power pop under the synth varnish too, little mod chords peeking through that betray a lifetime of garage-band instincts.

Context helps. The record arrived amid election fever, lockdown fatigue and a deluge of online nonsense, and it hears all of that, then laughs and throws glitter on it. Rolling Stone, NME and Kerrang covered the comeback and the singles, noting how the satire feels both silly and stinging. That balance is the trick. The Network do not preach, they press the buzzer and sprint to the next hook. When it clicks, you get that fizzy feeling you used to get finding a weird import 7-inch in a shop and wondering who on earth made it.

For those of us who like our synth punk with a bit of theatre, this scratches an itch that the first Money Money 2020 only hinted at. The sheer sprawl suits vinyl, where side breaks give the brain a breather and the sequencing lets the sharper jabs sit next to the bouncier cuts. If you’ve been trawling a Melbourne record store lately, you may have clocked a copy of Money Money 2020 Part II: We Told Ya So vinyl tucked near the oddities and side projects. The Network vinyl tends to come and go quickly, so if you prefer to buy The Network records online, set an alert and pounce. There is a quiet pleasure in filing The Network albums on vinyl next to your new wave staples, a reminder that parody can outlast its punchline when the tunes are good enough. And if you’re hunting around local sites, plenty of shops dealing in vinyl records Australia will sort you out.

Does it overreach now and then? Yeah, though that is part of the charm. The Network fire off ideas like arcade tickets, some bent and some gold, and the energy never sags. The satire cuts clearest where the rhythm section snaps tight and the synths pop off with toy-laser precision. Trans Am is the keeper, Flat Earth is the chant, Ivankkka Is a Nazi is the provocation that will either win you over or send you running. Either way, the band sound thrilled to be back inside these rubber masks, which makes the whole thing feel oddly vital.

If the first record was a prank with great songs, Part II feels like a proper second chapter. It is brash, shiny and just cynical enough to sting, but it never forgets to be fun. Drop the needle, turn up the cheap neon, and let the robots dance.