One Fierce Beer Coaster

One Fierce Beer Coaster
Studio album by Bloodhound Gang
Released December 3, 1996
Recorded March – June 1996
Genre Alternative hip hop, punk rock, rap rock, comedy rock
Length 63:57 (Republic Records release)
46:15 (Geffen release)
Label Republic Records
Geffen Records
Producer Jimmy Pop
Bloodhound Gang chronology
Use Your Fingers
(1995)		 One Fierce Beer Coaster
(1996)		 Hooray for Boobies
(1999)
Singles from One Firece Beer Coaster
  1. "Fire Water Burn"
    Released: April 3, 1997
  2. "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks"
    Released: 1997
  3. "Why's Everybody Always Pickin' On Me?"
    Released: December 7, 1997

One Fierce Beer Coaster is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Bloodhound Gang, released on December 3, 1996. Produced by Jimmy Pop, it was the band's first release on Geffen Records, and the first to feature Michael "Spanky G" Guthier on drums, "Evil" Jared Hasselhoff on bass, and DJ Q-Ball on the turntables. The musical style of One Fierce Beer Coaster is grounded in the alternative rock genre, with prominent rap metal guitar riffs and lyrics rife with toilet humor.

Originally released on the independent label Republic Records, One Fierce Beer Coaster was later picked up by Geffen Records two months after its release due to word-of-mouth popularity. The album has received mixed to moderately favorable reviews. Three singles were released from the album including "Fire Water Burn", "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks" and "Why's Everybody Always Pickin' On Me?". The first single, "Fire Water Burn", was a modern rock hit, charting on seven different international charts.

Background and development

The Bloodhound Gang performing live (2010, Alex Const)

The Bloodhound Gang began as a small alternative band from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.[1] The band took its name from "The Bloodhound Gang", a segment on the 1980s PBS kids' show 3-2-1 Contact that featured three young detectives solving mysteries and fighting crime.[1] The band consisted of Jimmy Pop, Daddy Long Legs, M.S.G., Lupus Thunder, and Skip O'Pot2Mus. In April 1994, the band released their second demo tape, The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Hitler's Handicapped Helpers (1994).[2] This resulted in a record deal with Cheese Factory Records, which was later renamed Republic Records. Later that year, the Bloodhound Gang released their first EP, Dingleberry Haze (1994).[2]

In March 1995 the group signed a record deal with Columbia Records and released their first full-length album, titled Use Your Fingers (1995), but were subsequently dropped by the label.[1][2] At this time Daddy Long Legs and M.S.G., who were angry with Columbia Records, left the band to form another rap group, Wolfpac.[1][2] Bass player Evil Jared Hasselhoff, drummer Spanky G and turntablist D.J. Q-Ball joined Bloodhound Gang as replacements.[2] In addition, Skip O'Pot2Mus eventually left to pursue a career outside of the music industry.[2] Eventually, the band began working on their new album, One Fierce Beer Coaster.

Music

The Bloodhound Gang entered Dome Sound/Ultra Psyche Studios with engineer Rich Gavalis in March 1996 to record One Fierce Beer Coaster.[2] All of the songs were produced by Jimmy Pop, who also mixed most of the musical tracks on his personal Macintosh.[3] The album was later mastered by Joe Palmaccio at Sterling Sound Studios in New York City.[3]

Style
"Fire Water Burn" (sample)
"Fire Water Burn," from the group's 1996 album One Fierce Beer Coaster.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

While the album's predecessor, Use Your Fingers, was written and recorded in a more hip hop-oriented style, featuring distinct rap beats, One Fierce Beer Coaster featured a more alternative-oriented sound. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described The Bloodhound Gang's sound as, "smarmy, smirky alternative funk-metal, complete with junk culture references and "ironic" musical allusions."[4] Former Bloodhound Gang guitarist Lupus Thunder credits Weezer as an inspiration for "Fire Water Burn" and Lemonade and Brownies-era Sugar Ray for "Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny."[5]

To create the hip-hop and rock fusions on the album, Jimmy Pop utilized the standard hip hop technique of sampling. The chorus for "Fire Water Burn" is taken from "The Roof Is on Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three[6] and also features the lyrics 'I am white like Frank Black is / So if man is five and the devil is six then that must make me seven / This honkey's gone to heaven,' a direct reference to the post-1993 stage name of Black Francis who wrote the Pixies song "Monkey Gone to Heaven" to which the lyrics allude.[7] "Why's Everybody Always Pickin' On Me?" is built around a re-recorded sample of "Spooky", by Mike Sharpe as performed by Classics IV[6] and also features a small lift from the Bill Cosby track "Greasy Kid Stuff."[8] Finally, the track "Your Only Friends Are Make Believe" features a chorus melody lifted from the Duran Duran song "Hungry Like the Wolf."[9]

Originally, the Republic Records version of the album contained a sample from the Men At Work single "Down Under" in the song "Shut Up" and a scratchy recording introducing the album at the beginning of "Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny".[10] The samples were subsequently removed on Geffen pressings.[9]

Lyricism

The lyrics for One Fierce Beer Coaster utilize over-the-top satire and toilet humor to provide comedy. For instance the album opener, "Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny", is a song about a man and his new girlfriend and their adventures in cunnilingus. It was written by Jimmy Pop about his then-girlfriend; the two subsequent albums would each have one song about said girlfriend - "Three Point One Four" and "No Hard Feelings," respectively.[11] "Lift Your Head Up High (And Blow Your Brains Out)" is a satirical call for people who have considered suicide to go through with the act, because their life is worthless. Three minutes into the song, Jimmy Pop says "Rewind and let me reverse it backwards like Judas Priest first did." Immediately after this, a four-second segment of backwards vocals repeats four times. When played in reverse, this segment says, "Devil shall wake up and eat chef Boyardee Beefaroni."[12]

The album's best-known single, "Fire Water Burn", is a diatribe against a white boy who attempts, and fails, to act like a black thug. "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks" is satirical song about the belief that girls only like gay men, playing on the stereotype that gay men are often better looking and more sensitive than straight men. "Why's Everybody Always Pickin' On Me?" is mainly about how Jimmy Pop was constantly picked on in high school and has since developed extreme katagelophobia, an intense fear of being ridiculed.[3]

The album also includes a cover of Run DMC's "It's Tricky" and "Boom", which features an appearance by Vanilla Ice.[6] Vanilla Ice later incorporated his verse into the song "Prozac", which appeared on the album Hard to Swallow.

Release and promotion

"[Maverick] really wanted to sign the band in the worst possible way, even to the point where I had to tell Madonna that I couldn’t put her on the phone with Jimmy Pop."

—Brett Alperowitz[13]

One Fierce Beer Coaster was originally released on Republic Records, which, under its earlier name, Cheese Factory Records, had previously released material by the band.[14] As word-of-mouth praise for the album spread, however, Geffen Records signed the band after two months.[4] Packaging design was created by designer Michael Calleia.[3]

The original release contained a song called "Yellow Fever", which was about having sex with Asian women, as well as a hidden track on track number 69 on the original release.[6] It consisted of an audio collage featuring Howard Stern talking about peanut butter, a televangelist, a news broadcast on the disease Lupus (a reference to Lüpüs Thünder), a phone call from a drunk friend of Jimmy's, and other assorted oddities.[10] The Geffen re-release omitted this track. "Yellow Fever" and the hidden track were later released on an EP called One Censored Beer Coaster.[15]

"Fire Water Burn" played a major role in the slow build of interest that ultimately led to the band's mainstream breakthrough.[13] Because the band could not afford financially solvent national tours, they promoted themselves by sending their music to alternative rock-based radio stations across the country.[13] Eventually, an intern brought the band to the attention of the music director of 107.7 The End in Seattle. The director, liking what he heard, played "Fire Water Burn" on his Friday night show.[13] After airing, the station was flooded with phone calls asking about the song and the band and the director passed the song onto the music director at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles.[13] This snowball effect eventually overwhelmed the band with demands for their new record.[13] After hearing of the underground success One Fierce Beer Coaster was receiving, many record labels began courting the band.[2][13] According to manager Brett Alperowitz in an interview with HitQuarters, Madonna's label Maverick "really wanted to sign the band in the worst possible way, even to the point where I had to tell Madonna that I couldn’t put her on the phone with Jimmy Pop."[13] The band eventually signed a record deal with Geffen Records.[2]

Controversy

When Geffen Records re-released the album, the label refused to release the song "Yellow Fever" because of its graphic lyrical content. As such, the song was removed from Geffen pressings of the album.[16] In response, Jimmy Pop told Yahoo! Launch that the Gang's lyrical matter was not intended to be taken literally.

“ I think on the first record there's stuff that [offended people]… Really we're not trying to shock anybody, we're just saying things that we laugh at," he explained. "That was always the idea. The same things that we talk about on the bus are the same things we put on our records. On the first record we had lyrics like, 'There's little children unattended, let me get some poison candy,' which to me, that isn't very good.[16] ”

In 2000, the song was the subject of further controversy when students at the University of Maryland, including members of the East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU) and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Alliance demanded the band’s removal from a concert line-up.[17]

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Robert Christgau[18]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[19]
Ultimate Guitar9.3[20]

One Fierce Beer Coaster has received mixed to moderately favorable reviews. Roni Sarig said that it was "full of smart lines, great hooks, and creative arranging."[21] AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that, "One Fierce Beer Coaster was picked up by DGC about two months after its release [...] And, listening to the single, "Fire Water Burn," it's possible to hear why."[4]

However, not all reviews were complimentary. In his review of the lead single "Fire Water Burn," Entertainment Weekly reviewer Matt Diehl referred to the band's music as "mumbling hip-hop slang with self-conscious Caucasian stiffness."[22] The album was also panned for its heavy use of toilet and sex-based humor. Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes that, "what really sinks the album is the revolting, sophomoric humor that passes for lyrics."[4]

Chart performance

On January 18, 1997, One Fierce Beer Coaster debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 132. It peaked at number 57 less than a month later,[23] dropping off the charts over the next few weeks. It later made a final reappearance at number 170. The album spent a total of 26 weeks on the chart.[24]

On October 16, 1998, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[25]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Jimmy Pop except when noted. 

Geffen Records version[6]
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny"  Jimmy Pop, Lupus Thunder 3:08
2. "Lift Your Head Up High (And Blow Your Brains Out)"    4:58
3. "Fire Water Burn"  Jimmy Pop, Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three 4:54
4. "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks"    3:49
5. "Why's Everybody Always Pickin' On Me?"  Jimmy Pop, Mike Sharpe, Harry Middlebrooks 3:22
6. "It's Tricky"  Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels 2:37
7. "Asleep at the Wheel"    4:05
8. "Shut Up"    3:15
9. "Your Only Friends Are Make Believe"  Jimmy Pop, Duran Duran 7:02
10. "Boom" (featuring Vanilla Ice)Jimmy Pop, Vanilla Ice 4:06
11. "Going Nowhere Slow"  Jimmy Pop, Lupus Thunder 4:22
12. "Reflections of Remoh"    0:53
Total length:
 46:15

Credits

Band members[6]
Other personnel[6]
  • Rich Gavalis - Engineer, Editing, Mixing
  • Rob Van Winkle - Guest vocals on "Boom"
Production[6]

Charts and certifications

Charts
Chart Peak
Position
AUS ARIA Charts 3[27]
AUT Ö3 Austria Top 40 11[28]
NLD Dutch Top 40 21[29]
NZL RIANZ Album Chart 3[30]
SWE Sverigetopplistan 20[31]
US Billboard 200 57[4]
US Top Heatseekers 2[4]
Certifications
Country Certification
United States Gold[25]

Singles
Year Song Peak positions
US
Mod
[4][32]		 US
Main
[4]		 UK
[33]		 NLD
[29]		 AUS
[27]		 NOR
[34]		 SWE
[31]		 NZL
[30]
1997 "Fire Water Burn" 18 28 — 7 13 2 6 6
1997 "Why's Everybody Always Pickin' On Me?" — — 56 85 — — — 7
1997 "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks" — — — — — — — 32
1997 "Your Only Friends Are Make Believe" — — — — — — — —

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jeffries, David. "The Bloodhound Gang". Allmusic. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "History 101". BloodhoundGang.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 One Fierce Beer Coaster (liner). Bloodhound Gang. Republic Records. 1996.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "One Fierce Beer Coaster - The Bloodhound Gang". Allmusic. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  5. ↑ Miserandino, Dominick. "Bloodhound Gang". Celebrity Cafe. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 One Fierce Beer Coaster (liner). Bloodhound Gang. Geffen Records. 1996.
  7. ↑ Wiser, Carl. "Fire Water Burn by Bloodhound Gang Songfacts". Songfacts. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Why's Everybody Always Picking On Me sample of Bill Cosby's Greasy Kids Stuff". Who Sampled. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  9. 1 2 One Fierce Beer Coaster (Media notes). Bloodhound Gang. Geffen Records. 1996.
  10. 1 2 One Fierce Beer Coaster (Media notes). Bloodhound Gang. Republic Records. 1996.
  11. ↑ Lorring, Raina. "10 Best Breaking Up Songs". Mademan.com. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  12. ↑ "The 10 Most Satanic Hidden Messages in Songs". Funkjelly.com. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Interview with Brett Alperowitz". HitQuarters. May 6, 2002. Retrieved Nov 19, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Interview with AVERY LIPMAN". HitQuarters. August 7, 2006. Retrieved Feb 4, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Bloodhound Gang - One Censored Beer Coaster". Discogs.com. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  16. 1 2 Rosen, Craig (May 2, 2005). "Bloodhound Gang Targeted For Alleged Racist Lyrics". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on July 26, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2006.
  17. ↑ Ma, Jason (April 27, 2000). "'Yellow Fever' Lyrics Roil Students". Asian Week. Archived from the original on March 18, 2006. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
  18. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: The Bloodhound Gang". Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  19. ↑ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 86. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  20. ↑ "One Fierce Beer Coaster Review". Ultimate Guitar. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  21. ↑ Sarig, Roni. "Amazon.com: One Fierce Beer Coaster: Bloodhound Gang: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
  22. ↑ Diehl, Matt (January 10, 1997). ""Fire Water Burn" (1997) Bloodhound Gang". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  23. ↑ "The Bloodhound Gang Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  24. ↑ "The Visualizer - The Bloodhound Gang". Billboard.
  25. 1 2 "Gold & Platinum – Search Results: Bloodhound Gang". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  26. ↑ One Fierce Beer Coaster (European Edition) (liner). Bloodhound Gang. Geffen Records. 1996.
  27. 1 2 "Australian Charts". charts.org. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  28. ↑ "Austrian Charts". charts.org. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  29. 1 2 "Dutch Charts". charts.org. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  30. 1 2 "New Zealand Charts". charts.org. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  31. 1 2 "Swedish Charts". charts.org. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  32. ↑ "The Bloodhound Gang Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  33. ↑ "Chart Log UK 1994-2008". zobbel.de. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
  34. ↑ "Norwegian Charts". charts.org. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
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