Kid Songs

Over the course of three albums and an EP, Ugly Kid Joe managed to parlay their pronounced Guns N' Roses fixation into something of a career. On their best songs – "Everything About You," "Neighbour," and "Milkman's Son" – they blended cartoon rebellion and a sense of humor best described as pre-adolescent into powerhouse singles full of tasteless good fun. Perfect for that time of life when all one wants to do is go around breaking things. Though routinely flagged as a hair band, their twin-guitar attack and fondness for funky, bottom-end heavy riffing also places Ugly Kid Joe among the forefathers of the late-'90s rap-metal explosion. As Ugly as They Wanna Be showcases the band in all their juvenile glory – from their surprise hit version of Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" to their tight cover of Black Sabbath's "NIB" to "Busybee" – pretty much the best Guns N' Roses song Guns N' Roses never recorded – all the hits are here, present and accounted for.

Complacency kills creativity, and nobody seems to know that better than COMEBACK KID. »Outsider«, the long-running hardcore outfit’s latest LP, showcases that in spades. Capturing the all-out intensity of the band’s riotous live shows, it’s as urgent and unrelenting as anything they’ve done in the past. And yet while many of their peers consider sonic evolution an enemy of their scene, COMEBACK KID has built a career on progression and evolution, continually expanding their now-signature sound while never compromising its integrity. “We’re a hardcore band, but we don’t feel like we belong to any particular sect of that,” states frontman Andrew Neufeld, speaking on behalf of bandmates Jeremy Hiebert (guitar), Stu Ross (guitar), Ron Friesen (bass), and Loren Legare (drums). “We don’t want to be limited in any sense, and prefer to work on our own terms.” Indeed, over the course of their career, they’ve covered a lot of territory – both musically and literally.

"Messin' With The Kid", on which Wells comes on like a young Muddy, proved to be a great success in the clubs and even provoked a response from Muddy, which he typically called "Messin' With The Man". The rest of the session produced another version of "So Tired" and a further attempt to emulate the hit formula of "Little By Little". It was called "You Sure Look Good To Me" and must have made some impression, for it turns up word-for-word three years later masquerading as "Oo-Wee Baby" on the Chess "Folk Festival Of The Blues" album.