The Jellybricks got a “cool” boost for its upcoming record.

“Age of Stupid,” a single from the group’s upcoming album “Dreaming in Stereo,” was named the “Coolest Song in the World” for 2024 by listeners of “Little Steven’s Underground Garage,” the Sirius XM channel and internationally syndicated radio show hosted by musician / actor / activist Steven Van Zandt.

The band is based in Harrisburg, Pa., but it was started by Boardman native Larry Kennedy, guitar and vocals, and also includes Garrick Chow, bass and vocals; Bryce Connor, guitar and vocals; and Tom Kristich, drums and vocals. All four musicians write songs, but Kennedy has sole writing credit on “Age of Stupid,” a funny, biting song that skewers those self-proclaimed “experts” dropping truth bombs on social media.

“This is one of those songs I feel really lucky about,” Kennedy said. “The phrase popped into my head somewhat out of nowhere. I was having a little bit of an inner dialogue. I had made the observation that you wouldn’t call the times we’re living in the ‘Age of Enlightenment,’ just my brain doing what it does. The next thought I had was, ‘No, you’d call it the age of stupid.’ And as soon as that phrase popped into my head, then the very next thing that popped into my head was the chorus, pretty much as you hear it on the record, it just landed in my head like it was a record that somebody already made.”

The song straddles that line between power pop and punk and would be right at home on Green Day’s “American Idiot.”

“This sounds a little cute when I say it, but it kind of wrote itself in many ways,” Kennedy said. “As soon as the idea was there, everything else just kind of laid itself out for me. The lyrics were really easy to write, and often I was making myself laugh about things that are not that funny, but I was having fun trying to interpret what it sounds like to listen to somebody talking like that.”

Since 2019 The Jellybricks’ music has been released on Wicked Cool Records, founded by Van Zandt, and he heard a different influence in the early version of the song.

“Little Steven heard it in an earlier form, and from some of his suggestions, we actually gave it a little bit more of a Who feel in some of the drumming approach. I think Steven likes that we have a drummer who can go a little berserk (like The Who’s Keith Moon).”

This is the second time The Jellybricks won the annual “Coolest Song in the World” vote (“Little Steven’s Underground Garage” picks a coolest song of the week and at the end of the year listeners vote on which of the weekly winners they like best).

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” was picked in 2012. That year the band members lobbied hard for friends and fans to vote in the listeners’ poll. What made this win surprising is they tried not to bombard social media with “vote for us” posts, Kennedy said.

Back in 2012, the goal was to get noticed among a group of much better known acts. After getting another song in contention in 2014 — they lost to some guy named Bruce Springsteen — Wicked Cool Records approached The Jellybricks about signing with the label.

“We were obviously thrilled at the invitation,” Kennedy said. “You can’t really do much better than to have Stevie Van Zandt point at your record and say, ‘I like that.'”

The band’s 2019 release “Some Kind of Lucky” spawned four “Coolest Songs of the Week.”

“Coolest” doesn’t mean wealthiest. Kennedy did the interview for this story from his day job. But the radio exposure through the syndicated show and the Sirius XM channel has expanded its audience and provided performance opportunities that wouldn’t have existed without it. For years The Jellybricks paid the application fee to be considered for the South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, only to be rejected. As a Wicked Cool artist, they were invited to perform at the festival.

“It helps our reputation a great deal when it comes to getting bookings and things,” Kennedy said. “People just weren’t willing to talk to us. And I guess it all feeds on itself, because it gives us more confidence to keep trying to make newer, better music.

“I would never have predicted when we got together in the ’90s that this is where we would be in 2024, but we’re living in a pretty amazing time as a band … We’re getting a lot of great feedback and new fans.”

New music comes Feb. 7 with “Dreaming in Stereo” The Jellybricks haven’t played a Youngstown show since before the COVID-19 pandemic, but Kennedy said he hopes that changes soon.

“We have it in our heads that when the new album comes out, we’ll get back out to Ohio,” he said. “We’ve been saying that for years, but I’m looking forward to doing it.”