Decibel Geek Podcast

Few things are more synonymous with Rock and Roll than drinking. Like peanut butter needs jelly or carrots need peas, Rock and Roll tends to go down easier with alcohol. Of course, no one probably ever woke up hungover in a stranger's bed after eating vegetables. But, we digress.

This week, Aaron and Chris pick their Top 5 Drinking Songs. With the huge plethora of choices out there, this was a pretty tough list to put together and there are tons of other choices that could have been made but who's to say this subject won't be revisited in the future?

Things start off on a humorous note with a track from Buckcherry's Black Butterfly album that describes the frustration that many of us of the male persuasion have endured due to excessive imbibing of substances crossed with an opportunity for companionship. 

Next up is a track from Guns N Roses' legendary debut album that speaks from a directive point of view and also predicts a hazy night ahead. That track segues into a tune from Thin Lizzy's 1979 Black Rose album that was clearly coming from the songwriter's realization that you can lean a little too heavily on the good times and wind up drowning your sorrows with the same solution. A cautionary tale for sure.

Before we head to the break, we hear from a drinking all-star with a track from Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society that is matter of fact in kicking your ass.

We return from the break with one of the all-time classic drinking songs and certainly a no-brainer for the Decibel Geek Podcast. This is the song that fully inducted Chris into the KISS Army and sounds just as fresh today as it did on 1975's Alive! album. 

One band that knows a lot about having a good time is Ugly Kid Joe as their song history bears out. This week we decided to include a track that will remind many listeners of high school parties while the parents were away. 

Alice Cooper was at the height of his drinking dependence in 1977, releasing the Lace and Whiskey album and assuming the fictional role of a hard-drinking PI; not exactly a stretch for him at the time. The album was a success but his drinking had become too much to bear and was his last material released before entering a sanitarium for treatment. He wouldn't, however, be done with his battle with the bottle for several more years. Our inclusion of the title track from this album is a must for its quirky, yet dark, tone at the time.

We return from the break with the second contribution from alcohol-consumption expert Ace Frehley with a track from his 1978 KISS solo album that will leave you as blind as a skunk before spinning a ZZ Top track that is so intoxicating it's been covered by a slew of other great artists. We had to go with the original 1973 track though for authenticity.

Closing things out is a track by WASP that celebrates getting hammered in the state where everything is bigger. We think you'll like it. And if you do......

Buy Music!

Buckcherry

Connect to Us

Rate, Review, & Subscribe in iTunes

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After having a great time discussing the first half of the Year 2000,  we're back this week to finish it off as we cover July through December of Y2K.

We lead things off with some stories from 2000 including the AOL (remember them?) merger with Time Warner, the first season of Survivor, and the Elian Gonzalez custody drama that had America on the edge of its seat.

Jumping into July, we discuss Rage Against the Machine's free concert outside the Democratic National Convention in protest to the two-party system. If you've paid attention since then, not much has changed but they get an "A" for effort. 

We spin a variety of artists in our coverage of July and August of 2000 including clips from newer groups such as Jack Off Jill and Mudvayne as well as tried and true rockers such as UFO and Motley Crue. We also include a track that slipped our mind during part one but was too good not to include.

September saw Rage Against the Machine back in the headlines as bassist Tim Commerford is arrested for climbing on the set of the MTV Video Music Awards after losing the award for Best Rock Video to Limp Bizkit. Who could blame him?

We spin polar opposite tracks from David Coverdale and Suicidal Tendencies during this segment (how's that for diversity?)

In October, the aforementioned Limp Bizkit released the nausea-inducingly titled Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, selling over a million copies in its first week. My how things have changed since 2000.

Covering October, we spin tunes from Fozzy, Hammerfall, Megadeth, Slash's Snakepit, and Over Kill. No Linkin Park being spun on this show.

We return from the break to close out the year with a controversial tune released by ever-controversial Marilyn Manson in November.

December saw the Backstreet Boys racking up 1.6 million sales in its debut week with Black & Blue. To properly react to that stat, we share a clip from Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 that sums up our thoughts nicely.

Closing out this episode is a great song (one of many other great songs) from the Iommi album that was released in October of 2000.

We dug deep once again to give you a nice variety of rock and metal that you may have missed in 2000. If you dig something that you heard on today's show, remember to......

Buy Music!

Jack Off Jill

UFO

Motley Crue

Halford

(hed) PE

Mudvayne

Hair of the Dog

Suicidal Tendencies

David Coverdale

Fozzy

Hammerfall

Megadeth

Slash's Snakepit

Over Kill

Marilyn Manson

Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13

Tony Iommi

Connect to Us!

Rate, Review, and Subscribe in iTunes

Join the Fan Page

Follow on Twitter

E-mail Us

Comment Below

Direct Download

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Business/Announcements:

Aaron and Chris were guests on the most recent episode of The PWA Show. You can check it out here.

Aaron was interviewed by Cassius Morris this week for his That Reporter Kid Speaks podcast. You'll hear about how the Decibel Geek podcast became what it is today. Check it out here.

This Week's Show:

When we first mulled over the idea of doing a Year in Review show about the Year 2000, we thought what most people our age thought; "Was there enough good music released that year for a full episode. Well, today we can proudly tell you that YES, there was a lot of good music released that year. Of course, most of the stuff that us Decibel Geeks dig the most was sorely lacking in exposure due to the rise of boy bands, pop divas, and nu-metal ruling the popular music charts. 

We dug deep into our archives, as well as many other nooks and crannies, to bring you some true diamonds in the rough. We are pretty confident that you'll definitely get turned on to some great new tunes/bands this week with Part 1 of our 2000 Year in Review.

January was, of course, a pivotal month in history as everyone was calming their nerves after realizing that the world didn't actually come to an end on January 1st as had been predicted by more than a few wackos who had overhyped the Y2K paranoia that swept the nation at the end of 1999. Aaron spins a track from the deliciously-titled Regurgitation album by Tuff to start things off followed by a stalwart choice form AC/DC's February-released Stiff Upper Lip album.

Chris spins an uptempo rocker from the Rollins Band that includes his then-new backing back and it's a barn burner for sure. Heading into March, we spin choices from Pantera, Enuff Z'nuff, Armored Saint, and Dio; all amazing bands that were overshadowed in the public view by NSYNC as they were busy selling 2.4 million copies of their new album in one week. Something ain't right when that happens....

April of 2000 brought us KISS announcing their Farwell Tour. What's that? They're still around 12 years later? Hmm, well we discuss what circumstances could have caused that while also discussing Ted Nugent ruffling some feathers from the stage during that same tour as he was the opening act. Ted, in the words of Aerosmith, please let the music do the talking. But, we digress.

Also in April, Lars Ulrich became rock music's public enemy number one as he and his mates in Metallica filed suit against peer-to-peer service Napster and fired the opening salvo of a copyright-based civil war that is still raging today. 

We spin a track by the relatively unknown Samantha 7, who has a well known singer who had too many irons in the fire in 2000 and forced the S7 side project back on the shelf. You'll get a taste of what might have been this week.

In May of 2000 Britney Spears was raking in dough and album sales through her style-over-substance based second LP, Oops!...I Did It Again as it sold 1.3 million copies in its debut week and 20 million over its lifetime. We lament the general public's poor taste by spinning tracks by Dynamite Hack, Orange Goblin, Bad Religion, and King's X; giving you a healthy dose of true musical substance to chew on. 

After the break we segue from May to June with a track that truly marked the return of a legend as Iron Maiden roared back with the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith with Brave New World. While there was definite excitement among hardcore Iron Maiden fans, the album failed to reach the numbers of previous Dickinson-sung releases.

June included a controversial release from Queens of the Stone Age and we spin a track that could double for a junkie's shopping list and includes backing vocals from a certain Metal God. Speaking of Metal Gods, Alice Cooper released Brutal Planet; an album that quite clearly was a stab at capitalizing on the nu-metal movement of the era with hit and miss results.

Closing out Part 1 of this 2000 Year in Review is a track by NY hardcore band Madball and one of the heaviest Poison tracks you'll ever hear from their Power to the People release.

Lots of music crammed into this one. Hope you dig it! If you do......

Buy Music!

Tuff

AC/DC

Rollins Band

Pantera

Enuff Z'nuff

Armored Saint

Dio

KISS

Samantha 7

Black Label Society

Metallica

Dynamite Hack

Orange Goblin

Bad Religion

King's X

Iron Maiden

Queens of the Stone Age

Alice Cooper

Madball

Poison

Connect to Us

Rate, Review, & Subscribe in iTunes

Join the Fan Page

Follow on Twitter

E-mail Us

Comment Below

We're back this week with a second helping of our live recording at the recent Nashville Comic & Horror Festival and this time we have some company.

Our good friends from the PWA Show dropped by to help us create an all-covers show that is certainly like no other that we've done. We're sure that some of the choices today will either make you want to jump for joy or want to reach through the ipod and strangle us. Either way, we don't think you'll be bored. 

The PWA Show is hosted by Dave and Korey and posts new episodes, like us, every week. What do they cover on the PWA Show? Well, just about anything. Their off-the-cuff, stream of consciousness conversations are pretty interesting and give you a fly-on-the-wall feeling when listening. Check them out and give them a listen. We consider them our brothers-in-podcasting. 

We kick things off with Chris' pick of a industrialized version of a Zeppelin classic before going to Dave's pick of a KISS classic covered by a group of Alternative pioneers from Minnesota.

Korey makes his first selection of a White Stripes cover with a Tennessee connection before Aaron shifts things back heavier with his choice of a controversial frontman covering a Maiden classic.

We return from the break with the first country artist to ever be spun on the Decibel Geek Podcast and it's a great cover of a Catman-sung KISS classic from the 1970's. Coming off of that, Dave selects a Marilyn Manson cover that helped the shock rocker break through to the mainstream.

Korey's second choice of the song that is arguably the birth tune of rap-rock runs completely counter to Aaron's choice of Tesla covering a killer track by Alice Cooper.

Next up is Chris' choice of Pearl Jam jamming out a live version of one of the best arena rock anthems of all-time before Dave chooses a cover performed by another Seattle-formed band performing a David Bowie classic from MTV Unplugged.

We finish things off with The Man in Black delivering a painful rendition of a wrenching Nine Inch Nails song from 2002 and end things on a heavy note with Aaron's pick of W.A.S.P. covering a rollicking Who track.

Send all hatemail regarding Korey & Dave's picks to [email protected] and.........

Buy Music!

Trent Reznor

The Replacements

KISS

White Stripes

Sebastian Bach

Garth Brooks

Marilyn Manson

Run DMC

Tesla

Pearl Jam 

Nirvana

Johnny Cash

W.A.S.P.

Connect to Us!

Rate, Review, and Subscribe in iTunes

Join the Fan Page

Follow on Twitter

E-mail Us

Comment Below

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Saturday October 6th, the Decibel Geek podcast ventured out of the bat cave to meet a large contingent of fellow Geeks at the Nashville Comic & Horror Festival.

With a ton of amazing folks wearing wild costumes and special guests including Ernie Hudson in full Ghostbusters gear, it was a bit distracting recording on-location but we still want to share the experience with you in this week's episode; Radio Sucks Radio Show volume 8!

Our mobile producer Marc Bullard joins us on the mic this week as the three of us select a truly eclectic mix of tunes are you are not likely to hear on your payola-funded corporate radio station.

We kick things off with Marc's pick of a track from Skid Row's Slave to the Grind album that will make you go ape followed by a gut-wrenching track from Alice in Chains' Dirt album.

Aaron spins a celebratory tune from The Donnas before coming out of our first break with Marc's pick of a newer track from Extreme followed by a more recent tender-loving song from Motley Crue's Saints of Los Angeles album. 

Before heading into the break, Chris spins a track from Iron Maiden that ponders the idea of toying with crazy people.

We return from break #2 with the strangest grouping of songs you'll never hear anywhere else. We segue from Aaron's choice of a powerful track from Paul Stanley's 1978 KISS solo album into a track that Marc picks in honor of Aaron performed by The Dead Milkmen. 

If that wasn't strange enough, Chris serves up a long jammified track from King's X that will surely make you want to never attempt to play guitar again.

Closing out today's show is a track from End of the Century by The Ramones that Chris loves in all it's different incarnations. We hope you dig the tunes you hear today. If you do.......

Buy Music!

Skid Row

Alice in Chains

The Donnas

Extreme

Motley Crue

Iron Maiden

KISS

The Dead Milkmen

King's X

Ramones

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While our Year in Review shows tend to have a great response each time out for the wealth of information that we try to squeeze in each time and numerous song clips that we attempt to shoehorn in; we've also plenty of folks tell us that they like when we spin more than 1:00-1:30 length clips of songs and prefer to hear more music. This week's show is our attempt to satisfy that contingent....with a twist!

Instead of just a typical show spinning songs from the chosen previous Year in Review, we decided to explore a new option of entertainment with a Decibel Geek episode from 1991! We dug through the archives and dusted off this episode of a very young Chris and Aaron and you'll get to hear where their minds were at (when not "using" the Sears catalog) and their opinions of the bands of the day as well as the changes in the ever-shifting music industry.

We hope you will enjoy this rare look back to a simpler time in our lives and some great music that we were digging on in those days. Thanks for joining us on this time warp back into history with Radio Revisited 1991!

*Editor's Note* - All content contained in the "flashback" portion of this episode is not, in fact, from 1991 and is meant purely for comedic purposes. Anyone taking offense or feeling misled by this scripted error should contact the offices of Decibel Geek attorney Uneedto Getalife (he's foreign). 

Buy Music!

Skid Row

The Cult

Over Kill

Fishbone

Ugly Kid Joe 

Pearl Jam

Guns N' Roses

Ozzy Osbourne

Anthrax 

Metallica

Connect to Us!

Rate, Review, & Subscribe in iTunes

Join the Fan Page

Follow on Twitter

E-mail Us

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been quite a memorable week here at Decibel Geek headquarters. 

We had record numbers of downloads with the recent Bruce Kulick episode and have received a lot of great feedback on the show. Bruce is currently doing a Crazy Nights retrospective on his official site and it would behoove you to give it a look. Good insight into a very divisive album among the KISS Army.

In other KISS-related news, our very own Wally Norton had his recent review of The Tour's stop in Toronto get a mention on KISS Online. There's also another great Toronto review posted by The Meister that you should check out as well. We'll put our horns down and get on with the business of this week's episode.

As we announced last week, Aaron and Chris will be appearing in-person at the upcoming Nashville Comic & Horror Festival at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds on Saturday, October 6th. They will be recording all day long at their table and YOU can even be on the show. All details including guest list and prices are available at www.comiccitytn.com.

This week's Geek of the Week is Jani Vare who had some great feedback on the Bruce Kulick episode. To be eligible to be a future Geek of the Week simply join our facebook fan page and add to the conversation.

The only thing more enjoyable to a true Decibel Geek than listening to music is reading the stories behind the music. There have been some amazing books written about the genre of Rock as well as plenty of great bio/autobiographies that give a deep insight into the people that churn out that ear-splitting music that we love to hear. With that in mind, we present this week's topic; Library of Loud: Favorite Rock Books.

Joining us for this discussion is someone that certainly knows a thing or two about Rock books; author Michael Toney. Mike recently released his own book; Tales from the Stage. This book is loaded with great interviews of numerous bands/artists that are right in the Decibel Geek wheelhouse including Ron Keel, Tracii Guns, Eddie Trunk, and the aforementioned Bruce Kulick. This is not standard fare as far as rock interviews go as Mike delves deeper with his questioning to probe out specific details about the lives of his interview subjects that are eye-opening, funny, and as is the case with WASP's Chris Holmes, utterly shocking. You'll look at your favorite rock stars with a whole different perspective after reading this book.

We decided to do a round-robin style conversation about our favorite Rock books with each of us discussing three choices each as well as the most popular suggested pick by our listeners at the facebook fan page.

In round one, Mike picks a relatively recent autobiography by a certain Spaceman from a different planet. Aaron picks an exhaustive document on England's biggest rock export of the 70's and Chris chooses an autobiography that is a serious look at the inner-workings of one of the biggest bands in history told from a members' persepctive.

Round two sees Mike picking a memoir of a metal legend that's recent statements in the press have been equally as impactful as the thrash music that he's churned out for 30 years. Aaron's second choice is an in-depth look at the Hottest Band in the Land from the business side of things that includes so much detail it could easily be required reading in a college classroom. Chris rounds out round two with an inspiring book that chronicles that life of a concert promotion giant that ended in tragedy.

Before we get into round three, Mike shares a contradictory take on the Mark St. John transition to Bruce Kulick in KISS during the 1984 Animalize tour. Aaron and Chris were truly surprised by this revelation. Is it the real story? What do you think?

Our final round of picks includes Mike's pick of an autobiography that is as entertaining as it is informative and is, quite frankly, a miracle in its existence due to the tumultuous lifestyle of the book's namesake. Chris' final pick is, in his opinion, the ultimate document on KISS (can you tell we like them?) with its engrossing detail and depth. Aaron finishes things off with his final pick that happens to coincide with our listener's overwhelming favorite and it's a choice that is anything but clean.

With a topic like this there are so many other choices that could have easily been our lists but are also worthy of your time and attention. These include books that have been promoted on our show before like Lydia Criss' Sealed with a KISS and Dick Wagner's Not Only Women Bleed.

Before we let Mike go, we had to grill him for his thoughts on the enormous (in size AND price) KISS Monster book that was recently released and he certainly didn't shy away from his opinion on it. 

As you'll hear at the end of the show Mike is graciously offering a great deal on Tales from the Stage for the Decibel Geek listeners. If you go to www.TalesfromtheStage.com before October 31st and type in the offer code RADIO, you'll get 10% off the price of the book! This book will make a great addition to any rock fans book shelf. Get it before it's too late. 

We'd like to thank Michael Toney for being this week's guest and appreciate him coming on to Geek out with us about books. Read on!

This week, the Decibel Geek podcast hits a milestone with Episode 50 and we are thrilled to celebrate it by sharing a recent in-person conversation we had with former KISS and current Grand Funk Railroad guitarist Bruce Kulick. 

When Chris was a 12 year old kid, he ventured to a record & comic shop in Nashville to purchase his first KISS albums. Leaving the store that day with cassette copies of Ace Frehley (1978), Dynasty (1979), and Crazy Nights (1987), he began a journey into the world of the Hottest Band in the Land. With Crazy Nights being the then-current release, he was immediately drawn to the fleet-fingered antics of lead guitarist Bruce Kulick. If you had told him back then that he would wind up interviewing Kulick years later, he would have never believed you. 

Bruce was in Nashville recently to play a festival show with his current band, the legendary Grand Funk Railroad, and was nice enough to let Aaron and Chris set up shop at his hotel for an in-depth discussion of his entire career. Providing the room to record was Bruce's friend and owner of Rebel Guitars; a custom, hand-crafted guitar company. Bruce was trying out his newest purchase at the interview, a sweet looking red-white-and-blue TeeVee that would be featured onstage later that night for the Grand Funk classic, 'We're an American Band.' 

We go all the way back to the mid-70's to discuss Bruce's time as the lead guitarist for the Andre True Connection. If you're not a connoisseur of vintage porn or disco music, then you probably aren't familiar with her but if you connect the dots, you'll see that she's an important part of 70's pop culture. Plus, this video of Bruce performing with Andrea is truly must-see TV.

Bruce also shares some memories of touring the "chitlin circuit" with George McCrae as well as his time as the lead guitarist in the stage production for Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album of which is brother, Bob, was also a member.

In a recent appearance on Decibel Geek friend and fellow podcaster Matt Porter's KISS Room show, Kulick made mention to interviewer Frank Hagan of KISS Mask that he had heard about Ace Frehley making inquiries about a possible return to KISS and that his interest was rebuffed by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. This, in turn, set KISS message boards alight with speculation and accusations. We ask Bruce to clarify his remarks.

Also included in this discussion are Bruce's thoughts on the circumstances that lead to the reunion, rumors about a reunion years prior that included Ace Frehley and Eric Carr, and his impressions of a recent KISS show that he attended in Irvine, CA.

Midway through the show, we have a brief 4 minute segment to promote the upcoming Decibel Geek podcast live appearance at the Nashville Comic & Horror Festival on October 6th. Included in this segment are comments from festival organizer Marc Ballard with a listing of some of the special guests (including Ernie Hudson from Ghostbusters II, Airheads, and The Crow fame.) This will be the Decibel Geek Podcast's first remote recording appearance and we'd love to meet everyone that comes out. Don't miss it! (shilling....done).

Back to the discussion, we get Bruce's recollections of KISS playing a Nashville show in 1994 to help celebrate Gibson Guitars 100th Anniversary and how the show different from many others. 

Other topics in the second half of the discussion include Kulick's take on why KISS is charging so much money for the upcoming Monster book and why it appears to completely ignore his era of the band as well as his memories of the awkward transition from Mark St. John to Bruce as permanent lead guitarist in the band.

We play Name Association with Bruce and he shares initial impressions on Tommy Thayer, Eric Carr, Michael Bolton, Don Johnson, and many more and we also find out if he planned to visit Vinnie Vincent while he was in town.

We close things out with some questions about the possibility of a Bruce Kulick autobiography, new Grand Funk Railroad recordings, and his memories of Union.

Of the utmost importance though, we grill Bruce in this interview with the question many KISS die-hards have always wondered, 'Just what was going on with that strange looking KISS stage logo from the early 90's?' His answer may surprise you. It did us. 

Thanks again to Bruce Kulick for his time and for the many years of wonderful music. Be sure to visit his official site for upcoming news, articles, and tour dates.

After a great week of getting Ugly with Whitfield Crane, we return to fill your head with loud, auditory goodness. Radio Sucks Radio Show vol 7 is here!

This weeks Geek of the Week is Dan Miles! Dan is the host of the Friends of Dan Music Podcast and we're thrilled to call him a friend as his podcast features some great in-depth conversations with some real insiders of the music industry. He recently talked to Simpsons music composer Alf Clausen about his 40+ years in the industry and we highly recommend his Jim Morrison episode that features the Lizard King expressing himself between takes while in the recording studio. Dan is a great supporter of the Decibel Geek podcast and we thank him this week by bestowing this great honor on him ;-)

We've got a ton of diversity for you this week for the 7th edition of the Radio Sucks Radio Show.

We start things off with a great track from the Sabbath w/Dio era album Mob Rules before launching into a track from Warrant that could easily be described as everything that Cherry Pie is not; and we're thankful for that.

Chris has been trying to dive headlong into the Cheap Trick catalog after much cajoling from fellow KISS fans about the many treasures inside and he unearths a power pop masterpiece from 1977's self-titled debut album that will please anyone with a rock and roll sweet tooth.

We come back from the first break with an ode to the demise of a serial killer from a Wisconsin-born band that you'd never expect to hear on our show.

Our Fresh Blood pick for this episode is The Treatment from the UK. Currently opening for KISS and Motley Crue on The Tour, this group of fresh-faced Brits sports a serious classic rock influence and solid, raw sound that we think you will most certainly dig. If you are attending The Tour, this act definitely seems to be worthy of showing up early.

Aaron gets super-obscure with his pick of a Faith No More song from the Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey soundtrack that is woefully under-appreciated before launching into a choice cut from Baltimore's own Clutch.

Queensryche has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons as the band has recently split from singer Geoff Tate and lawyers are busy running up hourly fees while firing lawsuits back and forth. We discuss the current wranglings before Chris' pick of a track from Operation: Mindcrime that is aptly titled in regards to the current situation.

Shotgun Messiah was a band that largely got swallowed up in the early 90's scene-changeover that affected so many bands but bassist Tim Skold would go on to success in a number of other projects; notably his work with Marilyn Manson. Aaron picks a powerful track off their 1992 sophomore album Second Coming.

We return from the break with the king of shock rock with Chris' pick of a great anthem from the 1975 Welcome to My Nightmare album that never gets old and feels as fresh today as it did back then (except maybe for the Donny Osmond reference).

Closing out volume 7 of our Radio Sucks Radio show is a wickedly evil pick of a Monster Magnet tune from their Powertrip album. We've got tons of big stuff planned for the near future and hope that you enjoy these tunes as we ramp things up for a very busy Fall season. Rock on!

Buy Music!

Black Sabbath

Warrant

Cheap Trick

Violent Femmes

The Treatment

Faith No More

Clutch

Queensryche

Shotgun Messiah

Alice Cooper

Monster Magnet

Connect to Us!

Join the Fan Page

Follow on Twitter

E-mail Us

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's no secret to fans of the Decibel Geek Podcast that we, especially Aaron Camaro, have a great affinity for Ugly Kid Joe.

Born out of suburbia (ie. Isla Vista, CA) in 1990, Ugly Kid Joe showed up in the middle of a power shift in the rock world with a sound that didn't fit into the glam rock style that was on its way out nor with the dirge-like sound emanating from the grunge underbelly of Seattle that would soon take over the world. 

Named on the spot as a spoof of California hair-farmers Pretty Boy Floyd, Whitfield Crane and best friend Klaus Eichstadt formed the initial lineup of the band and released the breakthrough EP, 'As Ugly As They Wanna Be.' The album broke through to mass audiences with the success of the track 'Everything About You' and would go on to become the first EP to be certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. In this long-form discussion, Whit Crane shares the stories of how the band was formed, what the musical climate was like at the time, and his opinion of Pretty Boy Floyd.

Ugly Kid Joe would climb the rock ladder in 1992 with the follow-up album 'America's Least Wanted' which featured the considered-by-WalMart-offensive cover depicting Lady Liberty giving the finger. Featuring a guest vocal from Judas Priest's Rob Halford on the track 'God Damn Devil,' the album solidified Ugly Kid Joe in the public consciousness with the release of their cover of Harry Chapin's 'Cat's in the Cradle' and, to a lesser degree, the opening track 'Neighbor.'

A long period of touring the globe would ensue throughout the following years including opening slots for Ozzy Osbourne and Def Leppard as well as headliner status of their own. Along with lots of touring, Ugly Kid Joe was on a non-stop treadmill of appearances, interviews, award shows, and other assorted promotional activities (also LOTS of partying with such legends as Eddie Van Halen and Lemmy). Crane reflects on how crazy the lifestyle was and what memories remain with him to this day.

1995 saw the release of 'Menace to Sobriety' which featured the lineup of Crane, Eichstadt, guitarist Dave Fortner, bassist Cordell Crockett, and drummer Shannon Larkin. Featuring a tighter, heavier sound, the album received rave reviews.

After disappointing sales for the 1996 release 'Motel California,' Ugly Kid Joe disbanded the following year. The members went on to other projects and bands with Larkin becoming the drummer in Godsmack and Crane doing a stint with Life of Agony as well as work with Medication and reuniting with Larkin for Another Animal. In this conversation, Crane reveals the emotions and motivations behind these projects and reflects on what he takes away from those experiences.

After 15 years apart, the 1995 lineup of Ugly Kid Joe have released their new EP, 'Stairway to Hell.' Featuring a bold production from guitarist/production genius Dave Fortner, the album has all that one would expect from Ugly Kid Joe and more. We get Whit's thoughts on our impressions of the album and if he agrees or not. Aaron also gives a heartfelt testimonial to Whit on behalf of all Ugly Kid Joe fans before we wrap things up with a special preview of the upcoming single from 'Stairway to Hell.' We thank Whitfield Crane for giving us his time, attention, and reflections on a career that has rocked and shows no sign of stopping. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices