The Bloodhound Gang
Hooray For Boobies

THE REVIEW

Perhaps some of you remember them for "The Bad Touch," the dance hit from 2000, and the related video where they were acting like fools dressed as monkeys goofing around the streets of Paris...

If this doesn’t help you remember, it doesn’t matter, because I’m about to introduce you to the Bloodhound Gang!
So far, they have released 3 albums: Use Your Fingers from 1995 (which was a total flop), One Fierce Beer Coaster from 1996, and this Hooray For Boobies released in 2000. Even from the title (it translates to "Hooray for Boobies") you can guess what kind of band they are... A group of goofy losers, the coolest losers in America, and they are Lupus Thunder (guitar), Evil Hasselhoff (bass), Dj Q-Ball (dj and sampler), Spanky G (drums) and finally Jimmy Pop, singer, rapper, lyricist, front-man, head-goofball. As mentioned earlier, they are goofy, but they are not newcomers; I read that they have toured all the continents and thus know how to stand in front of a large audience, and they have performed with some of the most famous bands in recent years.

Surely the strength of the Bloodhound Gang lies in their lyrics, funny, self-ironic, almost absurd: I think they are the American equivalent of Elio E Le Storie Tese (oh, I'm talking about the lyrics and not the music, because musically the aforementioned groups are very different from each other!), and it's hard to argue against that: it starts with praises for fellatio in "Yummy Down On This" ("Ouch, it won't reach my mouth/ If I could do it myself I'd probably never leave the house") besides, as Jimmy Pop himself said, "There's nothing more frustrating than looking for the G Spot in a beef canyon knowing it won't be reciprocal, it would be better to have sex with a kilo of salmon, at least you wouldn't have to buy it breakfast the next morning", then it goes to the song "The Ballad Of Chasey Lain" dedicated to Jimmy Pop's favorite adult film actress ("You've had a lotta dick/ I've had a lotta time/ You've had a lotta dick, Chasey/ But you ain't had mine"), the absurd questions of "Three Point One Four" ("How many girls do you know that can play the harmonica with their pussies?"), and who could forget the now historic reference to making love like animals on the Discovery Channel in "The Bad Touch" ("You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals/ So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel"). This is just about this album, otherwise the list would be even longer...

Of course, the music also plays a very important role in the Bloodhound Gang's formula: it is difficult to associate them with a specific genre because there is a little bit of everything! From hip hop to pop, from dance to rock, and very often all these genres together.. Even though the most present and evident component is Jimmy's rap. Obviously, Hooray For Boobies also respects what has just been said. If the first album was almost entirely hip hop oriented and the second definitely had more rock, in this album electronics reigns: in fact, almost all the songs are full of electronic arrangements and scratch rap, sometimes combined with rock guitars, sometimes with hip hop or dance beats; the initial "I Hope You Die" and the final "Along Comes Mary" are nothing more than negligible punk-rock songs almost in the style of Blink 182, the frequently mentioned "The Bad Touch" is a dance hit made to be danced to, "The Inevitable Return To The Great White Dope" (soundtrack of the movie "Scary Movie," just to stay on the semi-absurd theme) captures with its rap rhythm on a club beat. Very interesting is "Mope" with samples of "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and the Pacman game theme (who remembers it??), but there are also harder episodes like in "The Ballad Of Chasey Lain" and in "Yummy Down On This" (which becomes even heavier in the finale, thanks also to the continuous shout of "Suck It!" by Jimmy Pop), also interesting is "Magna Cum Nada" which presents an intertwine of rap, electronics, and rock. "Three Point One Four" is the only song in a "classic" style, in the sense that it is played without computer gimmicks, only with the old and dear formula of voice-guitars-bass-drums.

Well, I think I have said enough about this (great) band, now it’s up to you to confirm or deny. In conclusion: too goofy, too loser, too cool!
Bye, see you next time!