I'm A Pop Sensation!

Bloodhound Gang - Hefty Fine
Geffen Records, 2005



Five goddamn years. That's how long ago Pennsylvania's finest released their masterpiece Hooray For Boobies, leaving the world with hits such as the infamous "The Bad Touch", "Mope", "The Inevitable Return of The Great White Dope" and a whole lot more where it came from. It's been five years since I bought that album and since then I've gone through some very big changes in life, and mainly in taste. But Hooray For Boobies remained with me all this time. An album making an impact like that is hard to find, and the hunger for more has grown in me for five freaking years now. Tomorrow is the release date for the new delivery named Hefty Fine. I "got" my copy early and it is time for me to see if five cock-rocking Ville Valo-hangarounds can deliver the liver once more.

The first thing that surprises me is how short the album is. Only 9 real songs and three skits timing in at little more than 39 minutes. Well, good things come in small packages I guess. I click Play on my expensive iPod and we're on.
The second thing I realize is that this album sounds a lot more "worked on" than I'm used to when listening to BHG. It's also very much an electronic album, which is a new lane for them to travel as well. It's no surprise that the boys have a fondness for synthesizers - they did start out as a Depeche Mode-coverband after all - but never have they actually used electronic devices so much in their music. The old sound is still there but now it's been paintbrushed with synthesizers. A very nice touch that's far from original but it's a cool intiative.

Overall it seems like this album is a little bit more serious (I won't use the word "mature" because that generally means that's it's boring, and this album is NOT boring) than their previous efforts. I mean that in all ways positive; it's not the attitude or the lyrics that has changed - quite the opposite - but it just seems to me that BHG more so than before wants to seem like musicians rather than comedians, but naturally with the comedic parts as the main pillar for the whole album's structure. Jimmy Pop's lyrics are still wet-yourself-kind of funny and clever as well, but now he's also backed up by geniunly good backtracks as well. Everyone will probably reckognize the classic BHG riff-that-ain't-quite-riffs in songs such as "Ralph Wiggum" (a brilliant tribute to a very underrated character), "Pennsylvania" and "Balls Out".

You can find shards of genius in pretty much every song and although they aren't always as genuinly hard hitting as their older cousins on Hooray For Boobies this is still an album that kicks every ass nearby. A little less Jackass-with-guitars and a little more feeling, but still an extremely funny 39 minutes - now with synths!

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