FIVE AWESOME UGLY KID JOE SONGS (THAT AREN’T “EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU” OR “CAT’S IN THE CRADLE”)
The other day I made my desire for an Ugly Kid Joe reunion known. Two of you, Kuranes and wormdrive66, seemed in favor of such a reunion, while one of you, David was against the idea – and no one else mentioned it in the midst of speculating about who’s gonna be on Ozzfest 2010.
So, fuck it, I’m gonna talk about this band some more.
I think most people remember this band for their hits – duh – “Everything about You” and a cover of Cat Stevens’ “Cat’s in the Cradle.” But the band has some other cool stuff, too, which I actually still enjoy today, even if the deliberate goofiness of the lyrics hasn’t aged so well. Obviously UKJ’s music wasn’t rocket science, but it was really fun – and if they’d never broken-up, maybe Godsmack would be short a drummer and Evanescence short a producer. And I’m convinced that if the band had been around five years earlier, they would have been much bigger than they ended up being… victims of Cobain, I’m afraid.
Anyways, after the jump, five UKJ songs I still enjoy.
1) “GOD,” FROM MENACE TO SOBRIETY
In case you can’t tell by the sudden manner in which this song starts, Menace actually had an intro track right before it that would have felt right at home on a Lamb of God album (no shit). I can’t find the intro online, which is too bad, but this pretty simple riff still gets me every time:
2) “GODDAMN DEVIL,” FROM AMERICA’S LEAST WANTED
Those high-pitched vocals you hear? Those are courtesy one Mr. Rob Halford. Just throwing that out there. He also sings on the track “Neighbor” from the same album.
3) “MILKMAN’S SON,” FROM MENACE TO SOBRIETY
There’s a music video for this song, but it’s not embeddable because who the fuck knows why. Anyways, I’m not entirely what the hell this song is supposed to be about, but every time I listen to it it gets stuck in my head for at least three to five hours thereafter.
4) “I’LL KEEP TRYING,” FROM AMERICA’S LEAST WANTED
What a ridiculous conceit: Whit Crane spends the whole song trying to convince this girl to be with him, and then it turns out he’s just playing her. It’s like the “Nookie” of its time… except there’s no rapping, the riff is catchy, and I don’t want Whit Crane to get trapped in wreckage for ten hours before finally dying.
5) “CLOUDY SKIES,” FROM MENACE TO SOBRIETY
Wow. I had no clue there was a video for this song until about ten seconds ago. Amazing. Anyways, I think this song has a purdy mouth.
In conclusion, if it doesn’t work out John Bush after all, I still think Anthrax should hire Whit Crane.
-AR
