Train

A train is a powerful mode of transportation that has captured the imagination of Americans since the late 19th century. The band Train is an ineffectual soft-rock outfit that has inexplicably transported callow ballads into the ears of unwitting victims sitting in dentist offices and their mothers’ cars for the past 10 years. As if the overbearingly sentimental treacle of hits like “Drops Of Jupiter” and “Calling All Angels” weren’t bad enough, Train has enjoyed a career resurgence in 2010 with the obnoxiously ubiquitous “Hey Soul Sister,” a cloying Jack Johnson rip-off that has been made even more inescapable by being prominently featured in a commercials, and “If It’s Love,” a track with a mention of Winger that’s somehow less annoying than lead singer Pat Monahan’s inane prattle.

Updated 08/08/2011