The Ninja Sex Party Albums Ranked
Ninja Sex Party is a comedy-rock duo made up of Danny Sexbang (Dan Avidan) and Ninja Brian (Brian Wecht). As you might imagine, things get pretty silly on their albums. But lately, that hasn’t been the case. When I first discovered NSP, it was when Avidan had joined the Game Grumps YouTube channel alongside Arin Hanson (AKA Egoraptor); Hanson, Avidan, and Wecht also make up the nerdcore-comedy trio Starbomb. Anyways, I went back and listened to the duo’s two albums up to that point, pulled together from music videos the band had been releasing since their formation in 2009, plus new material. And I became a big fan of their simple, ‘80s-influenced sound and just incredibly goofy sexual lyrics. Danny Sexbang is not meant to be taken seriously; his deluded, childish, and misogynistic ramblings are meant to be ridiculed. And they happen to be laid over Ninja Brian’s tasty (and murderous) jams. As mentioned, that dynamic has changed. At the time of this writing, NSP has released seven “original” albums and three cover albums made up of ’70s and ’80s hits, a total of ten records in the nearly 13 years since 2011. Those cover albums complicate the ranking of the band’s discography; by now, the duo is backed by Tupper Ware Remix Party (TWRP) and a more expansive production crew. That allows them to play the covers pretty straight, but also step up the sound of their own original work. What I’m saying is it’s hard to put incredibly silly, sex-based humor up against, I don’t know, a decent rendition of “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” But I’ve tried, and the results (and some explanation) are below.
EDIT 10/26/2020: Added THE PROPHECY.
EDIT 10/27/2021: Added LEVEL UP.
EDIT 3/13/2024: Added THESE NUTS.
#10 — UNDER THE COVERS, VOL. III (2019)
Favorite track: “Photograph”
Speaking of “Don’t Fear the Reaper:” NSP’s latest record makes their UNDER THE COVERS project a trilogy. That project, as alluded to earlier, is interpreted pretty strictly. The band’s versions of the songs they cover are not radical departures from the sound of the originals. In fact, the biggest distinguishing factor is Avidan’s voice; although it’s great, its difference stands out on certain tracks, especially when the backing instrumental is so close to what you could hear on the old records. But when it comes down to the UNDER THE COVERS albums, my enjoyment of them kind of just comes down to the song selection. And VOL. III is the weakest link in that chain; I don’t even particularly like Def Leppard’s “Photograph,” but it’s one of the few covers I feel that NSP has actually improved and made more listenable. I rank things for these lists in the order I’d most like to experience them in any given moment, and if I was point blank asked to pick an NSP album to listen to, UNDER THE COVERS, VOL. III would be the last one to come to my mind.
#9 — LEVEL UP (2021)
Favorite track: “Party of Three”
As many artists have done during the COVID era, NSP turned to rethinking their back catalog for LEVEL UP. LEVEL UP is purportedly a collection of past songs “upgraded” to a fuller sound with the help of TWRP. But the sad reality of the album, as with others in this same vein, is that the originals are almost entirely better. And in fact, some of the tracks on LEVEL UP aren’t drastically different than their originals, perhaps because a decent chunk of its song selection comes from later NSP records. Indeed, I think the curation of LEVEL UP doesn’t represent the songs that could benefit most from a full band, while some of the older representation totally changes the context and beautiful build up of songs like “I Just Want to (Dance)” and “Dinosaur Laser Fight,” for example. But on the other hand, “Party of Three,” one of NSP’s songs, is still pretty good. But again, that’s kind of because it mostly sounds like the original. So LEVEL UP ends up a pretty disappointing collection of NSP songs that I mostly don’t love, rendered in a style that either reduces my enjoyment entirely or doesn’t depart significantly enough from the original.
#8 — THESE NUTS (2024)
Favorite track: “Death Metal”
The humor of THESE NUTS, the ender of NSP’s longest album hiatus at just shy of two and a half years, feels oddly muted. Perhaps it’s because the duo take their lyrics into other goofy zones besides the sexual more frequently, which they admittedly have done quite often before. And it’s not like there aren’t dating your mom jokes on THESE NUTS (oh yeah, and ball jokes of course). This slightly new tack is reflected in the diversity of musical styles, as NSP parodies modern pop country-ish rock (“Dig Ol’ Bick”), ’50s rock and roll (“Nut Heat”), and my personal favorite, Beach Boys/Jimmy Buffett-style beach pop on the ironically named “Death Metal.” It makes for an impressive attempt that nevertheless doesn’t quite congeal the way almost all of the other duo’s albums have. THESE NUTS certainly improved with repeat listens, but it still seems to be lacking…some kind of salt. Or spice. I don’t know how to make this joke work with “nuts.”
#7 — ATTITUDE CITY (2015)
Favorite track: “Why I Cry”
ATTITUDE CITY was a huge let-down after the fun of their first two releases. It was the first one I experienced as it came out, and I just remember that none of the songs felt even remotely as catchy as what could be found on NSFW and STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM. The jokes just weren’t as solid, even with some great premises like “Samurai Abstinence Patrol” and the 8-minute long “6969.” Avidan does produce some chuckle-worthy screams across a few of the tracks, but ATTITUDE CITY is just about NSP’s weakest album…if it wasn’t for “Why I Cry” and “Party of Three,” two of the band’s best songs to date (the former shares its name with a humorous song I tried to write, like, a couple years before ATTITUDE CITY came out, so, that’s funny I guess).
#6 — UNDER THE COVERS, VOL. II (2017)
Favorite track: “Pour Some Sugar on Me”
UNDER THE COVERS, VOL. II’s track listing is pretty strong. I mentioned that I’m not really a big Def Leppard fan, but once again, a Def Leppard song is my favorite on an UNDER THE COVERS installment. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” is joined by “Limelight,” “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” and “Rocket Man” as the strongest tracks on the record. Once again, NSP did admirable versions of these songs. Maybe it’s appropriate to mention here that I think the ’80s is the worst decade for popular music (like, since the ’60s or in recent memory, I guess). But hey, these records, and really the songs, aren’t that bad. In fact, the covers remove themselves just enough from the trigger sensitivity I have from hearing the originals over and over.
#5 — COOL PATROL (2018)
Favorite track: “Cool Patrol”
COOL PATROL benefits from being NSP’s first (and to date, only) original album to have TWRP backing them. The record is much more musically complex and dense, layering their simple synths with a broader rock sound. The humor on the record, as well, veers a bit more away from purely sex-based. That’s somewhat been the case since NSFW, and there are songs like “Orgy for One” and “Heart Boner (Part II of the Boner Trilogy)” on COOL PATROL, but the title track is not only the album’s funniest song, but also its catchiest. The record also features “Danny Don’t You Know,” probably NSP’s single most successful song. Its music video featured Finn Wolfhard from STRANGER THINGS (2016-present) as a young Danny Sexbang (their resemblance was recognized when Game Grumps fan Wolfhard appeared on the show) and went relatively viral, prompting the band’s appearance on Conan. It was a pretty cool moment for a long-time fan of Ninja Sex Party, and while the album it spawned isn’t their strongest, it feels like a step back in the right direction for the band’s original music.
#4 — UNDER THE COVERS (2016)
Favorite track: “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
I remember when Weezer announced/released TEAL ALBUM (2019), the Ninja Sex Party Twitter account semi-jokingly accused them of stealing from the track listing of the latter’s two cover albums released up to that point. I don’t know if there was much chance of Rivers Cuomo or whoever listening to NSP, and they’re both pulling from a broad ’80s nostalgia, but when you compare the track lists, there sure is a lot of overlap. I think that indicates a larger dive into the sameness of pop singles from the decade, but nevertheless, what I guess I’m trying to say is “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is a great-ass song. And as an initial novelty, UNDER THE COVERS was an interesting surprise, which may now have been taken too far with three installments. Still, the first release features the greatest number of great songs on it, and it’s fun to listen to them through the NSP filter.
#3 — STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM (2013)
Favorite track: “FYI I Wanna F Your A”
STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM was a great follow up to the strength of NSFW. Although its sheer musical appeal was slightly weaker than NSP’s debut, the clever (insofar as sex jokes are clever) joke premises were still present. “Rhinoceratops vs. Superpuma,” especially, is a great example of NSP’s great storytelling skills, as is “The Sacred Chalice, Pt. 1” (a second part has yet to be released) and “Let’s Get This Terrible Party Started.” But “FYI I Wanna F Your A,” with its ridiculous acronyms and bloopy backing, takes the cake as the funniest and catchiest track on STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM.
#2 — THE PROPHECY (2020)
Favorite track: “I Don’t Know What We’re Talking About (And I Haven’t for a While)”
I was really, really impressed by THE PROPHECY. Ninja Sex Party’s eighth album, which comes on the heels of ever-increasing production value by way of backing band Tupper Ware Remix Party, is nearly the band’s best ever. Their three volumes of cover albums, now in hindsight, feel like warm ups for the songwriting hooks and instrumentation on this album. NSP’s clear influences are still emulated on THE PROPHECY, but with subtler nuance and, as always, clever lyricism and bit premises. “The Mystic Crystal,” a seven-part, 11-minute epic song is nearly the most impressive track on the record. But “I Don’t Know What We’re Talking About (And I Haven’t for a While)” is one of the band’s best songs ever; it’s so catchy and a real treat. But besides slight filler in the typical skit tracks and intros and outros, THE PROPHECY just really, nearly serves up the greatest cross-section of great and funny songs from Ninja Sex Party’s full discography.
#1 — NSFW (2011)
Favorite track: “Objects of Desire”
You know, ten years on from when Ninja Sex Party formed, you have to wonder if their kind of humor still really works. That’s most evident on “If We Were Gay,” an otherwise harmless song that could read as a little trite. But as a whole, I think the over-the-top and ridiculous Danny Sexbang and Ninja Brian characters hold up precisely because they are not really meant to be emulated. This “artistic statement,” if you will (and I will because both Avidan and Wecht have explained their characters to this effect at some point or another), is strongest on NSFW. Every song (apart from the band’s customary intro and outro tracks) is funny and catchy, something the duo have not been able to really capture totally on subsequent releases. But when Avidan sings about fucking inanimate objects on “Objects of Desire,” I somehow want to laugh and sing along at the same time. That’s what makes Ninja Sex Party so special.
