Ugly Kid Joe on Tour
If you took the humor of a Saturday Night Live writer and combined it with the heavy metal style of bands like Black Sabbath, you'd get the good-time rock band Ugly Kid Joe. Their unique mix of satirical lyrics and heart-pumping melodies has produced hits that have endured for decades.
Ugly Kid Joe signed with Mercury Records in 1991 and released their first EP As Ugly As They Wanna Be that same year. The EP featured the hit single "Everything About You," which landed in the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and was featured in the movie Wayne's World. The EP sold over a million copies in the U.S. and was the first short-form LP to be certified multi-platinum.
The band released their first full-length album America's Least Wanted in 1992, and landed a spot opening for Ozzy Osbourne on his "No More Tears" tour.
America's Least Wanted includes an updated version of the single "Everything About You" that features a spoken intro from SNL cast member Julia Sweeny as the character Pat. The album also features a popular cover of Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle."
The band broke up in 1997 but reunited in 2010 and released the EP Stairway to Hell in 2012.
Ugly Kid Joe Live in Concert
Ugly Kid Joe's current lineup consists of Whitfield Crane (lead vocals), Klaus Eichstadt (guitar, backing vocals), Cordell Crockett (bass, backing vocals), Dave Fortman (guitar, backing vocals), and Zac Morris (drums, percussion).
The band was formed in 1989 in Palo Alto, California, by childhood friends Whitfield Crane and Klaus Eichstadt.
In the band's early years, they went through several name iterations including Overdrive and Suburban White Alcoholic Trash. In preparation for a one-night show opener for the Los Angeles glam-metal band Pretty Boy Floyd in Santa Barbara, they landed on the name Ugly Kid Joe as a parody of the main act. Pretty Boy Floyd ended up pulling out of the show, which was canceled, but the band kept the name.
When the band was dropped by Mercury Records, they formed an independent label, Evilution Records.
