My favorite thing about doing this “Lost Treasure” column is that it gives me an excuse to dig up stuff that I haven’t listened to in a long time and give it spin but this is a different case. Ugly Kid Joe is a band that I never stopped listening to. From the first time I ever heard “Everything About You” I was hooked. Ugly Kid Joe not only had a sound that was far different than their peers but they had a look that was very different as well. They got lumped into the hair metal category for some odd reason but looked far from it. They looked more like a bunch of stoned, drunk ass surfers with their long cut off shorts, dirty hair and t-shirts. These guys were fucking awesome!
Ugly Kid Joe’s 1991 EP “As Ugly As They Wanna Be” had a sound that I could only compare to putting Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Suicidal Tendencies in a blender, drinking it and then puking it up. Yeah, it’s that fucking good. The band plays their asses off and guitarists Klaus Eichstadt and Roger Lahr had some serious skill when it came to being guitar players. The rhythm section of Mark Davis (drums) and Cordell Crockett (bass) was tight as all hell and funky to boot. “Madman” showed the band’s ability to be heavy musically and really humorous lyrically while “Too Bad” was a serious story of a friend’s battle with drugs but still managed to be musically heavy and melodic. “Funky Fresh Country Club” and “Whiplash Liquor” show the bands more funky Suicidal Tendencies/Chili Pepers influence but still push the envelope of what a metal band at the time was doing.
These guys had a good but short ride and faded into obscurity before disbanding in 1997. The songs on this EP are just as fun to listen to now as they were 19 years ago. The production is stellar, the band’s performance was top notch and the songs themselves hold up surprising well. “As Ugly As They Wanna Be” is still a great “go to” album for me and it always does the trick. It’s far more than a piece of nostalgia. It’s an album that kicks my ass now as much as it ever did.
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