Menace to Sobriety (Ugly Kid Joe album)

Menace to Sobriety
Studio album by
Ugly Kid Joe
ReleasedJune 13, 1995
Recorded1994–1995
Length44:14
49:49 (non-U.S.)
LabelMercury
ProducerGGGarth
Ugly Kid Joe chronology
America's Least Wanted
(1992) 		Menace to Sobriety
(1995) 		Motel California
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB[3]
Kerrang![4]
MusicHound Rock[5]
Q
Select[6]

Menace to Sobriety is the second studio album by American rock band Ugly Kid Joe.[7] It was released in 1995 through Mercury Records.[5] The album title is an allusion to the movie Menace II Society. It peaked at No. 25 on the UK Albums Chart.[8] "Milkman's Son", "Tomorrow's World" and "Cloudy Skies" were released as singles and have music videos each. Menace to Sobriety is the first album to feature former Wrathchild America/Souls at Zero drummer Shannon Larkin on drums.

The album showcases the heavier sound with darker lyrics compared to the band's previous album and EP, yet without discarding humorous elements.[7][8]

Despite critical acclaim, the album did not sell well in the United States compared to band's previous releases, placed 178th in Billboard Top 200. It was the band's final album with the label, dropping them later in the same year of its release.

Critical reception

Trouser Press noted that singer Whitfield Crane adopted "a new and nasty W. Axl Rose vocal affliction on some songs", and wrote that the band "reintroduce themselves as a growly, serious rock lot attempting to fill the gap left by the Gunners' silence".[9] The Washington Post called the album "more varied and tuneful than its predecessor".[10]

Track listing

  1. "Intro" – 1:49
  2. "God" (Whitfield Crane, Klaus Eichstadt, Dave Fortman) – 2:54
  3. "Tomorrow's World" (Crane, Eichstadt, Fortman, Shannon Larkin) – 4:18
  4. "Clover" (Crane, Eichstadt, Fortman) – 3:34
  5. "C.U.S.T." (Crane, Fortman) – 2:59
  6. "Milkman's Son" (Crane, Fortman) – 3:51
  7. "Suckerpath" (Crockett) – 4:53
  8. "Cloudy Skies" (Crane, Fortman) – 4:28
  9. "Jesus Rode a Harley" (Crane, Fortman) – 3:15
  10. "10/10" (Crockett) – 3:37
  11. "V.I.P." (Crane, Eichstadt, Larkin) – 3:46
  12. "Oompa" (Crane, Crockett) – 2:04 (this song is track 7 on side one on the cassette tape)
  13. "Candle Song" (Crane, Fortman) – 2:56
  14. "Slower Than Nowhere" (Crane, Tom Fletcher, Crockett)- 5:25 (non-U.S. releases only)

Personnel

Charts

Chart performance for Menace to Sobriety
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 19
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 24
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[13] 28
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] 86
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[15] 26
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] 29
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 22
UK Albums (OCC)[18] 25
US Billboard 200[19] 178

References

  1. ^ Mathew, Leslie. "Menace to Sobriety - Ugly Kid Joe". AllMusic.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 8. MUZE. p. 335.
  3. ^ Eddy, Chuck (June 16, 1995). "Menace to Sobriety Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 7, 2013.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ^ Peake, Mike (May 27, 1995). "Albumz". Kerrang!. No. 545. EMAP. p. 43.
  5. ^ a b MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 1179.
  6. ^ Upton, Sam. "Ugly Kid Joe: Menace To Sobriety > Review".
  7. ^ a b "UGLY KID JOE Announces 30th Anniversary Vinyl Reissue Of Menace To Sobriety". Metal Injection. August 22, 2025. Retrieved December 23, 2025.
  8. ^ a b Noise11.com (August 22, 2025). "Ugly Kid Joe Celebrate 30 Years of Menace To Sobriety With Deluxe Vinyl Reissue". Noise11.com. Retrieved December 23, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "Ugly Kid Joe". Trouser Press. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  10. ^ Jenkins, Mark (August 18, 1995). "CHILDISH UGLY KID" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  11. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Ugly Kid Joe – Menace to Sobriety". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  12. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Ugly Kid Joe – Menace to Sobriety" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  13. ^ "Ultratop.be – Ugly Kid Joe – Menace to Sobriety" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  14. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Ugly Kid Joe – Menace to Sobriety" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  15. ^ "Ugly Kid Joe: Menace to Sobriety" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  16. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Ugly Kid Joe – Menace to Sobriety" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  17. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Ugly Kid Joe – Menace to Sobriety". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  18. ^ "Official Albums Chart on 11/6/1995 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  19. ^ "Ugly Kid Joe". Billboard.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.