Hooray For Boobies

Album review

On one hand, it's easy to hate the Bloodhound Gang. They're vulgar, obnoxious, lunk-headed, awkward, offensive, and defiantly stupid. On the other hand, you almost have to admire the lengths that they go to be, well, defiantly stupid. It's not just in the words -- the music is as dumb and dopey as Jimmy Pop's ridiculous lyrics. This is really, really, really dumb music. Pop doesn't care about being cool, he just wants to make dirty jokes and sing silly songs. Granted, that's not for everyone, but if you find the very title of their third album, Hooray for Boobies, funny, you'll find that this is their masterpiece. Pop isn't just a white rapper, he also has a fondness for white-trash metal and a fetish for early-MTV one-hit wonders. He's also partial to jokes about puke, coughing, and sex. He never wastes an opportunity to be obvious. Instead of telling the story of Vivid girl Chasey Lain in "The Ballad of Chasey Lain," he writes the song from the point of view of a mock-stalker. Never mind that that doesn't constitute a ballad -- it's unclear what it is, actually -- and it's not really funny either, which an actual ballad about Chasey's rise to power could have been. Then again, that's too much thought to expend on a group whose catchiest hook is "You and me baby ain't nuthin' but mammals/So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel" ("Bad Touch"). Clearly, a song like that, set to a robotic new romantic beat, isn't made for an audience that wishes "Take the Long Way Home" was a Supertramp cover. The thing of it is, given his musical and lyrical allusions, Pop is smarter than he seems. Of course, he enjoys playing to the lowest common denominator, and depending on your mood (or your level of resistance), there's almost charm to its dumbness, particularly since the group reaches beyond the white-boy rap-metal that is their foundation. Does that make Hooray for Boobies a good album? Well, yes, at least for adolescent boys. It's the kind of record that sounds good at parties and in the car, and it will certainly shock some parents, even though anyone with a taste for the truly outrageous and extreme will find this tame and dorky.

© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo