First pick is (drumroll)... "One Fierce Beer Coaster" by The Bloodhound Gang.
In 1996 I was a high-school freshman with a strange sense of humor. A friend introduced me to "One Fierce Beer Coaster" by the Bloodhound Gang and immediately I found a album where not only were pubescent jokes put into a musical format, they were put into songs that were... well... good. Catchy even. I was hooked.
What made it even better was the album had just been released that year, and it was band that nobody in my small southern Indiana town had ever heard of. It was new, it was cool, and goddammit I was cool for listening to it (at least that's what i told myself). The mind of a 14 year old boy is a strange, strange place. Believe me, I've been there.
With simile-drenched lyrics these ruffians from Pennsylvania tapped into everything I thought was funny at the time. (curse words, sex jokes, etc.) We used to ride around in my buddy's 1990 Plymouth Laser and play "Fire Water Burn" as loud as we could. It was a magical time for me. I'll never forget that car.
If you've never listened to the album (in it's entirety!) and you harbor a sense of humor somewhere in your brain that resembles a young weird kid, then listen to it already. I will note that as I've aged and my music taste has changed, the songs aren't quite as stylistic and satirically brilliant as they were to 14 year old Mr. Phip, but they still hold their own. I'm turning 30 this summer, so really it's only a matter of time before I find myself toe-tapping to John Tesh while cruising in a mini-van, but this album reminds me I was once a weird kid. And that weird kid is the only thing keeping me from completely turning into my dad.
I'll leave you with two pieces of information that should propel you even further into the loving arms of "One Fierce Beer Coaster"
1. I'm Jimmy Pop I am
Jimmity Jimmity Pop I am I am
See my name's not Hoover and I don't give a damn
And I got a different angle like a parellelogram
-snippet of lyrics from "Shut Up"
2. the track "Boom" features Vanilla Ice (Rob Van Winkle). Mind you - this was post "Ice Ice Baby" and pre "The Surreal Life". Basically - the purgatory section of Vanilla's* career.
* I can just call him Vanilla, because this is the second time I've referenced him in the MusiqSphere. I should charge him for the damn publicity.
