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Ugly Kid Joe - As Ugly as They Wanna Be Audio CD

A fair review of the Ugly Kid Joe "As Ugly as They Wanna Be" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Ugly Kid Joe reviews here, or go back to the Ugly Kid Joe tabs.

Ugly Kid Joe Band: Ugly Kid Joe
Title: As Ugly as They Wanna Be
Rating:
Release Date: 1991-10-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Madman 2: Whiplash Liquor 3: Too Bad 4: Everything About You 5: Sweet Leaf/Funky Fresh Country Club

BEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These guys are not serious AT ALL so mellow out and rock out, dude! Invite everyone and my skate rat brother!. HAha just kidding! I was there when this came out, and it was great! In the video on Mtv they flew a blow-up sex doll filled with helium on the beach like a kite.


Where are they now?
If this had been released in 1990 instead of 1991, the band would have had full poodle perms, spandex and would have worshipped at the altar of Crüe. What a difference a year can make. Instead, in a post-Nirvana world, the glitter was replaced by Grunge, a deliberate dirtying down of their image. Plaid and greasy hair were the order of the day. It didn't affect the music one little bit though. This is dumb suburban Rock, through and through. It's got all the overused clichés of the time, with funky bits, slapped bass, and a white boy trying to rap and ending up sounding like a wannabe.

This is essentially an expanded single, built around the slacker anthem "Everything About You", and unfortunately, the three songs before it are so mediocre they are annoying. It is difficult not to want the songs to be finished so you can get to the prize. "Madman" deliberately courted controversy by referring to a gunman loose in Disneyland. Disney's reputation for running down anyone misappropriating their name and/or reputation was well known at the time (just ask D. A. D. or Bomb Everything), and playing on the theory that any publicity is good publicity. . . it didn't work, because Disney didn't notice! "Whiplash Liquor" is about the dangers of drinking. And actually, an alcoholic haze might make the song sound better.

"Everything About You" is a dumb song aimed at dumb teens (and older listeners who don't know any better), in a self-centred world where hating things and people is cool. The tune is quite memorable though, and Whitfield Crane's dumb lyrics are fun and easy to sing along with. It made a welcome change to the Grunge misery which was starting to gain momentum at the time, even if it sounded like a song Warrant had rejected for being too cheesy.

The cover of Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf" is surprisingly respectful, not utterly slaughtered as you might expect. Whitfield Crane seems to sing within himself, except for when he's copying Ozzy. Then, he lets rip, showing off a powerful and tuneful voice. And then, just to mess everything up, another piece of funky diarrhoea called "Funky Fresh Country Club" got tacked on the end, as if Ugly Kid Joe were hoping to hitch a ride off Black Sabbath's coat tails. The hidden track is rubbish too.

Unfortunately, Ugly Kid Joe went on to record some albums after this, and stretched whatever tiny piece of luck they'd had with "Everything About You". This band might have been fondly remembered if they'd called it a day after this. They didn't, and they aren't.


Hardly ugly, but hinting at the fun to come
So what do we get? Well the hit, obviously, plus Madman which was remixed for the debut full length release and then fou other tracks of varying quality. An EP that would of been totally forgotten had Everything About You not been a worldwide hard rock hit.

Whiplash is a track where Whitfield Crane uses most of his vocal tricks and the song rides a funk rock groove which is totally appropriate for this type of rock. Too Bad is a fairly lacklustre toon and the EP's rounded off w/Sweet Leaf and an upbeat semi jam sort of track, like the band only just had enough material to fill this EP. Oh and the mystery track at the end - mmm 15 seconds of joke tune.

All this is topped off with a low rent band pic and a few suitably juvenile drawings involving the bands cartoon mascot. Not an essential release in anybodys universe. But it has a couple of fun tracks and fans of the band do need this in their collection.


As Hard As They Wanna Be
This cd is short but it makes you want to hit the replay button on your cd player over and over. This cd really surprised me! I was totally blown away at how hard these guys can rock! As hard as they rock, they can also play some funky rhythms which makes for a real good listen.


The 20 Minute Experience
Although there are only a few tracks, and the cd is rather short, I feel that this CD still rocks hard. I think that this is one of UKJ's best Cds. If you are into good hard rock, then this cd is for you. Songs like 'madman' and 'whiplash liquor' show the listener that rock is one of the greatest types of music we have.


You can see a complete list of all Ugly Kid Joe discography, or go back to the Ugly Kid Joe tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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