Ugly Kid Joe

Back in 1991, the heavy metal band Ugly Kid Joe had a hit with "(I Hate) Everything about You". The single could easily have been dismissed as a one off novelty song, and yet it had a lot more going for it. Yes it had some very humours lyrics but the music itself was solid. The four minute track was far more complex than most popular singles: A slow intro, bridge, a few versus and then after two minutes there is a slow intermission followed by an excellent guitar solo and at three minutes the song goes into double time in a sort of taunt to the subject of the song, and finishes with a long drawn out "I hate everything about, yooooooooou."

I bought the "As Ugly as They Wanna Be" EP which had six tracks in total (including Everything About You), all of which were very good. Some of them were also very humorous such as "Whiplash Liquor" with lines such as "A serious disease you learn about in school/If your dad's an alcoholic then you'll be one too". Others showed real accomplishment like the seven and a half minute long "Sweet Leaf"/"Funky Fresh Country Club". These boys obviously listened to lots of music and were happy to mix many different styles.

Then I did not listen to it for ages and ages because EPs are not long enough to bother putting in a CD player. But with iTunes, shorter things are much easier to play and I found that I was listening to the EP quite often. I wondered if Ugly Kid Joe had been a one hit wonder or if they had produced any albums. They had produced three in fact.

1992 America's Least Wanted

Obviously propelled by the success of Everything About You and its inclusion in Waynes World II this Album was similar to "As Ugly as they Wanna Be" but showed even more range than the EP. Tracks like "Neighbour" continued the strong humorous style, but other tracks like "Busy Bee" showed a much mellower side. There was also quite a bit of social commentary as in the Panhandling Prince (The streets are cold/but at least there's soul) and Same Side. They also covered "Cats in the Cradle". The only mystery is why this album did not bring them greater success.

1995 Menace to Sobriety

This is a much darker album due to three years of music industry grind and a new drummer after the original left because he did not like the life style. The guitar is stronger, the beat is faster, the vocals more gravely and malevolent. Humour is still present (e.g. "Jesus Rode a Harley") but it is no longer at the forefront. In fact after the high enegry start, there are a number of slower reflective songs such as "Cloudy Skies" (So it's time to leave our home/And see the faces we've out-grown/Through the years we've kept our backs to the wind/So long, farewell, good-bye my friend) and the last two tracks "Cangle Song" and "Slower than Nowhere" bring the album to a calm and reflective end. A track like "Milkman's Son" should have been a massive hit but was not.

1996 Motel California

Now on their own label the band produced their most sophisticated album. Their influences now less clear as the band's own style and confidence is at its height. The first listening of this album does not grab ones attention so easily as the others but its power to grow on you over subsequent listenings is far greater.

The trademark humour persists as evident from the parody album name and tracks such as "Rage Against the Answering Machine". But on the whole the lyrics are far more ambiguous if not downright enigmatic. It is hard to work out what "Little Red Man" is about is. I have wondered if the little red man was the don't walk man on traffic lights, or the devil but ultimately I think this must simply be a song inspired by a dream. "Bicycle Wheels" is an equally strange song which plays with the rhythm and rhyme of the words more than telling a narrative or explaining itself.

Sadly the band disbanded after the complete commercial failure (and at the time lack of critical success).

"In conclusion to the band's overall sound and vision, the members of the band have cited many times, that they were simply a manifestation of their environment and lifestyles -- mounting from their geographic location of Southern California."

The good news is that you can get the entire back cataluge from amazon marketplace for under £10 which truely seems to be the musical bargain of the century.