Was Ugly Kid Joe a Glam Band?
Monday, April 25, 2011 at 12:01AM Ugly Kid Joe often get lumped into the Glam genre, but their most famous single "Everything About You" was anything but. Then, the band released the album Menace To Sobriety and that isn't exactly Glam either...it's pretty heavy, true to the band's roots as a Black Sabbath cover act (or something like that, I believe I have the history correct. I was young then, yo).
You're probably wondering where all this came from, right? Really, it's just that I received a tweet asking me about Trixter. This person mentioned wanting to see Trixter as a "bucket list" band and I of course also have such a list. Then my mind wanders to Ugly Kid Joe, that fact I've never seen them live, and BAM! here we are, trying to determine their Glamness.
I think maybe Ugly Kid Joe started out with the intention of being a band with awesome Glam swagger and lost their way. They didn't want to do the spandex or the make-up of course; they did, however, want the awesome guitar licks and fun lyrics. After grunge, fighting with their record label and all the rest...well, I think the band was just trying to survive. There are rumors that Ugly Kid Joe will release Return of Ugly this fall.
So, what do you think? Ugly Kid Joe: Glam or not?
Here's a couple Ugly Kid Joe tunes you might not remember:
Reader Comments (27)
I'm a bit disappointed that I never managed to see them live.
Anyway...
Ugh! I saw these guys back in the day, off their first album, which I regrettably own, at The Cat Club in NYC. Like so many bands I caught at that joint, it was purely by accident, as you could go down there almost any given night, even school nights, and wind up randomly catching some band comin' thru town on The MTV Gravy Train.
Had I known Fugly Kid No were gonna be playin' that fateful night, I woulda gone to see the Joffrey Ballet instead, as that definitely would have been WAY MORE exciting.
Bumblefootboy calls it. We've been here before.
But I wouldn't say it's been for a lack of ideas on Al's part. She ceaselessly puts up fresh, inventive, thought provoking, even controversial, posts, chock full of original perspective.
Though it's familiar territory this time, I'll take the bait, but, PULEEZ (!), can we BURY this band, once and for all? (preferably alive with their instruments plugged into little Pig Nose amps so they can be playing them as their coffins are lowered into the ground! Obviously, these would need to be custom built coffins as the band members will need to have the ability to play inside them, especially the drummer)...
We could probably just go back to last year's archives, dig up my last RANT on these bafoons and Xerox it, because I'm about to go over the same Hard Rock Terrain about how much these goofballs blow and why, but let's see what we can just scrape off the top of my cranium NOW...
But before we do...
Guyz, you're crackin' me up! Isn't this a Glam Metal site at it's core? Why are most of you continuously commenting on here taking the position almost proudly in defense of bands like these jerks for not being Glam... read on, to see what I'm talkin' about...
I'm starting to think a lot of you are not TRUE GLAMSTERS and are just Metaloids campin' out here to praise Metal (i.e. the bands you are so quick to love on: Maiden, Metallica, Anthax, etc. and even foolish footnotes like UKJ, who are so bad that, if you'll notice, I listed them after "ETC." in this set of parenthesis) as you are actually, either consciously or subconsciously, belittling Glam Metal, THE best, Best, BEST SUBGENRE OF METAL!
Huh-uh-lo-oh!!! WHAT IS OUR MAIN MISSION? We WANT to BRING BACK GLAM!, remember?
Not heap praise on "GENEROCK" clownz like UKJ!
Okay, YOU Great Unwashed PIRANAS (plus the Washed and Brainwashed ones, too!), I'm gonna NUKE Ugly Kid Joe, once and for all, into the virtual Cut Out Bins of your minds...
Seriously, Al, if you post on theez BOZOS, Ugly Kid John Doe, one more time, I'm takin' that day off (the boyz will probably be emailing you now to file a special added post (as you'll sometimes do) on UKJ tomorrow so they can be spared of my ridiculous (and, admittedly, sometimes vicious) ramblings on here, hahaha!!!)...
KOWABUNGA! HERE WE GO!!!:
UGLY KID HO are THE FARTHEST THING FROM GLAM possible and, I might add, FAR FROM GOOD, too, IMHO!
They are SO NOT GLAM, as a matter of fact, having chosen to name themselves in retaliation AGAINST GLAM, in a false moment of self-declared "Authenticity", which duzn't bear out as they are a prime example of ROCK FAIL!
Also, though they are not Glam, the one thing they ARE is a BORE!
AND... BONUS!:
They absolutely, unequivocally SUKK!
It's hilarious to me that they named themselves as a calculated reaction to Pretty Boy Floyd in a lame, albeit, uselessly clever, moment of shameless sort of reverse self-promotion, sucking off Pretty Boy Floyd's good name. The move to do so was an overtly self-conscious, pompous, defensive reaction to one of THE Greatest Rock'n'Roll bands of all time!
I would actually contend that by naming themselves Fugly Kid Ho was actually unintendedly attention getting and thus our Glam Metal Heroes, Pretty Boy Floyd, helped get these fools signed!
It's like UKJ were intimidated by Pretty Boy Floyd and they should have been, because PBF ROXX A*S and UKJ are the Hard Rock equivalent of Sominex! I even refuse to designate them as "Metal" and there are so many actual Metal bands that sukk ALMOST as bad as these guys do.
But for me, there's none worse (except maybe, Anthax, hahaha!!!)
Ugly Kid Joe are nothing more than a boring, middle-of-the- road, run-of-the-mill, by-the-numbers, utterly unremarkable, AMERICAN HARD ROCK Band who were lucky enough to get a major record deal from Mercury which they probably snagged thru an equally boring Valley ex-hippie A&R Dude -- during the L.A. band signing frenzy at the time -- who had a fundamental aversion to Glam Metal and, therefor, gravitated to UKJ's name. He probably had good instincts insofar as he could tell this kinda crap filled a niche for people suffering from latent homophobia who freak out when they see dudes in make-up crankin' it up to 11!
Ugly Kid Joe are GENERIC HARD ROCK uncranked to 7.
I can't believe I just strained my fingers once again, just a few moments ago, AND hopefully FOR THE LAST TIME, on this topic (!), to go on Wikipedia to bear out my hunch to classify UGLY KID JOHN DOE as HARD ROCK, not even METAL and CERTAINLY not GLAM METAL. Go to the "Stats Box" underneath the obligatory photo of the band performing and see for yourself, the description of their "music".
"MUSIC" FOR THE BRAINDEAD!
UNROCK!
p.s. As I said at the top, Bumblefoot is right. We've been down this road before and I'm fallin' asleep in the backseat driver's seat. Pleez forget UKJ since they are so completely forgettable! And, Chris K, I'm with ya on Trixter who I think are a runner-up to UKJ to headline "Rock Borefest 2011", but I actually caught 'em at M3 and as much as I hate to say it, though I pretty much HATE 'EM, gotta admit they are total PRO's. Ha! UKJ sukk so bad, they make Trixter sound like Zeppelin! Yet, all kidding aside, the same goes for UKJ, though that duzn't necessarily make a band good -- but, they are total pro's like countless other bands (i.e. Mr. Big, etc.), who can play ambidextrously with their eyes closed, but that ability must not be mistaken for TALENT, as it is merely a commendable SKILL that can never supplant the necessity for any GREAT band to possess the fundamental talent to write memorable songs, the kind of talent theez clowns sorely lack!
p.s.s.t OTSDNK! What the h*ll, kid? Quiet Riot is as GLAM as they come. Their first two hits were covers of bonafide GLAM ROCK originators, SLADE and Quiet Riot is Metal. Look at it with the deductive reasoning you would deploy for one of those classic math problems you are probably trying to avoid these days... Let's do the math, shall we? THE FACTS: QUIET RIOT is a METAL Band. SLADE is a GLAM ROCK Band. Quiet Riot has two TOP TEN HITS with METALIZED versions of SLADE's classic GLAM ROCK hits, "C'mon Feel The Noize" and "Mama, We're All Crazee Now". So, QUIET RIOT = METAL + SLADE's GLAM HITS = GLAM, therefor, QUIET RIOT = GLAM METAL! And Ugly Kid Joe = LCD (Lowest Common Denominator). It always come down to MATH every time, son!
p.s.s.s.t. Christian! I have an iTunes Playlist I've mentioned previously, titled "Heavy Roxx" which damn near has everyone and their idiot, as my Dad used to say, on it -- but, alas, UKJ IS, too, but not with one of their "original" compositions. They're on it with a quite proficient Sabbath cover. All the usual suspects are on this playlist, plus bands most of you have never heard of, many of whom are vastly superior than most of what we regularly discuss on here, and MASS, Ken Tamplin AND our beloved Stryper ARE on it, too! :)
p.s.s.s.s.t. Kenny O! If Ugly Kid Joe are "PARTY ROCK" leave me off the VIP list, unlike M3, hahaha!!! Get Ready To Rock, MF! Christian, you comin' this year? It would be awesome to argue about our mutual likes and unmutual dislikes, hahaha!!! (in between sets, of course!)
p.s.s.s.s.s.t. Dustin and Shad -- I got news for ya -- Skid Row's Glam Metal, too! And kick-a*s Glam Metal, at that! Bon Jovi roots and pretty boy singer who hits the high notes like a girl (and I mean that as a compliment, ladies) equals GLAM. Hell, even that clown wore weird chain jewelry from his nose to his ear, guys. C'mon! "I'll Be There For You"! Huh-uh-lo-oh!
p.s.s.s.s.s.s.t. To Whitt, Glam Metal WAS pretty much dead (the first time around) by the late 80's, I agree, certainly looks-wise, at any rate. Case in point: Look how POISON lost the L.A. Glam Band prerequisite EXTREMELY Blown out, Aquanetted, Eagle's Nest Hairdo's for the dropped-down hippy/biker hairdos by then.
p.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.t. Sorry, boyz! I'm lumpin' Ugly Kid Joe, Jackyl (sorry, Kenny O!) and Trixter (not sorry, Kenny O!) all into the same GENEROCK category I just created to park all the BORING BANDS WITH DUMB SONGS in. Huh-uh-lo-oh! I present to you these unnotable and equally uninspired ditties as evidence: "Everything About You" (Ugly Kid Joe -- the LCD lyrics are proof they hate on anything cool or different such as Glam Metal), "I Stand Alone" (Jackyl. Zzzzzz!!! Talk about sawing wood, as in SNORES, not chainsaws, Kenny O!) and "Give It To Me Good" (Nixter, as in please eliminate them from my iTunes except for "Nativity In Black", where, like UKJ, they get one reprieve for their excellent Sabbath cover -- actually, they get two -- they did a "NICE", solid, slightly tepid Generock version of AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds"). Well, it's gettin' late. Let me put these songs on my new iTunes Playlist, "Generock" and crank it to 11 to help me fall asleep faster.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.cellhub.com/t-mobile-cell-phones/t-mobile-g-slate-with-google.html
T-Mobile G-Slate
I think you should have your own web site.
UKJ far from sucks.