HEFTY FINE
I 'm trying to find a word or phrase that best describes The BLOODHOUND GANG, but the cover of the band's new disc
Hefty Fine
is distracting as hell. You haven't really experienced nausea until
you're looking at a morbidly obese man, naked, curled up in a box,
staring you in the face. Holy hell, that's really bugging me. Hold on,
let me turn this CD cover over. OK, that's better.
Geek rock. Nerd rock. That's not even an insult, so please don't take
it the wrong way... The Bloodhound Gang are good at goofing on other
bands, other musical genres, and pop culture in general. They have a
naked fat man on the cover of their CD, so they MUST have a sense of
humor, right? Let's just say that if you like the kind of referential
humor found in
The Simpsons, you'll dig a record like
Hefty Fine.
BHG are generally regarded as being too offensive for the mainstream,
but they do manage to eek out an occasional hit single. The first
single for this disc is "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo" (or F.U.C.K. for
you kids who don't catch on too quick), and it didn't take long for MTV
and radio stations to start yanking it off the air...so they're good at
generating press for themselves, that's for sure.
Another track that tickles the funny bone is "Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss Uhn
Tiss", which openly mocks the repetetive drum/hi hat beat heard
bleeding through the floors at dance clubs across America. "Ralph
Wiggum" as you might imagine, is littered with quotes from the chubby
little character from
The Simpsons, and "Pennsylvania" is an ode to the band members' home state, and their odd obsession with Wawa convenience stores.
Hefty Fine
is a guilty pleasure if anything. It's nothing that will ever get you
laid, but if you pull up next to a young lady at a red light, and crack
the "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo" track, you might just elicit a
smile...or a grimace...or a chuckle.
