BLOODHOUND GANG
Hefty Fine
Geffen Records 2005
www.bloodhoundgang.com

What’s the 4-1-1?
The Bloodhound Gang returns with their long-awaited new album.

Genre
Rap-rock / rock / alternative

The Good
You might hear a couple of cool rhythms…and it was on sale.

The Bad
First off, there are three throw-away skit tracks that are under a minute each. So now you’re down to just 9 new songs. They don’t even indicate that they are skits on the back of the CD. That’s a rip-off for the buyer. The next thing is…I understand that the Bloodhound Gang are a tongue-and-cheek kind of group, but after three albums of that stuff, it gets a little old. Speaking of getting old, Jimmy Pop and company have to be in their thirties by now. I think it’s time to move on from the high school and college potty mouth humor. Do you really need more than one way to say you got laid (“Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo”-- among others)? I think their audience has matured beyond all of that by now.

For the most part, the beats and rhythms are generic compared to the textures and samples that were used on their last album Hooray for Boobies. “Ralph Wiggum” is more or less a take-off of various episodes of The Simpson’s that he’s appeared in, but most notably the one where Bart and his friends (Millhouse, Nelson, and Ralph) become a boy band called The Party Posse. If you’re going to do something like this, at least you can get the line right; the line is “yvan eht ni-oj” not “yvan eht ni-ach”.

The Verdict
I can’t believe this was the best they could come up with after five years; 50 different d**k, p***y, and s**t jokes placed over beats and guitars a 12 year old could play. Come to think of it, they could have probably come up with the lyrics too. Back in 2000, Hooray for Boobies was one of my favorite albums. Although it contained many of the same lyrics and jokes as Hefty Fine, it seemed to be smarter, fresher, and wittier. It also seemed that a lot of time and effort were out into the arrangements.

Maybe it was because “The Bad Touch” became such a commercial success. Or maybe it was because I was younger, in college, and in that sort mind-set at times. I can only hope that this was a ploy for the Bloodhound Gang to get out of their record contract, because I don’t want to believe that they are truly this ignorant and dim-witted.

Did You Know?
The Bloodhound Gang once had promotional deal with Skol chewing tobacco.

Rating: out of 5

--George Dionne