America's Least Wanted

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America's Least Wanted
Studio album by Ugly Kid Joe
Label (s) Mercury Records

Genre (s)

Hard rock

Title (number)

13

running time

59 min 8 s

occupation
  • Guitar / vocals: Klaus Eichstadt
  • Guitar / vocals: Dave Fortman
  • Bass / vocals: Cordell Crockett

production

Mark Dodson, Ryan Dorn & Ugly Kid Joe

Studio (s)

Devonshire Studios, North Hollywood

chronology
- America's Least Wanted Menace to Sobriety
(2005)

America's Least Wanted is the first studio album by the US hard rock band Ugly Kid Joe . It was released on September 8, 1992 via Mercury Records and has sold more than two million copies in the United States.

Origin and background

At the beginning of 1992 the guitarist Roger Lahr left the band due to creative differences. Lahr was still involved in the song Goddamn Devil . Lahr's successor was Dave Fortman, who previously played in the band Sugartooth. The album was recorded at Devonshire Studios in North Hollywood . Since the band was to go on tour in autumn 1992 as the opening act for Ozzy Osbourne , the musicians and producer Mark Dodson had to hurry. Finally, with Madman and Everything About You , the band used two songs from the EP As Ugly as They Wanna Be , released the previous year, as well as a cover version of Harry Chapin 's song Cat's in the Cradle .

The band was able to win numerous prominent guest musicians for the album, such as Rob Halford from Judas Priest , Dean Pleasants from the band Infectious Grooves or the actress Julia Sweeney , who became known with the TV show Saturday Night Live . Six songs from the album were released as a single . The album cover shows the band mascot as a statue of liberty , which extends the middle finger . Some retail chains in the US refused to sell the album with this cover, so an alternative cover had to be made.

Track list

  1. Neighbor - 4:43
  2. Goddamn Devil - 4:53
  3. Come Tomorrow - 4:54
  4. Panhandlin 'Prince - 5:41
  5. Busy Bee - 4:08
  6. Don't Go - 4:30
  7. So Damn Cool - 4:24
  2. Same Side - 4:48
  3. Cat's in the Cradle - 4:01
  4. I'll keep tryin ' - 4:58
  5. Everything About You - 4:20
  6. Madman ('92 Remix) - 3:37
  7. Mr. Recordman - 4:11

reception

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
America's Least Wanted
  US 27 04/24/1993 (51 weeks)
  DE 10 09/14/1992 (39 weeks)
  UK 11 09/12/1992 (24 weeks)
  AT 4th 09/27/1992 (23 weeks)
  CH 16 09/13/1992 (21 weeks)
Singles
Neighbor
  UK 28 08/22/1992 (4 weeks)
So damn cool
  UK 44 10/31/1992 (4 weeks)
Cat's in the cradle
  US 6th 04/10/1993 (20 weeks)
  DE 10 04/12/1993 (29 weeks)
  UK 7th 03/13/1993 (9 weeks)
  AT 7th 06/27/1993 (13 weeks)
  CH 5 06/06/1993 (22 weeks)
Busy bee
  UK 39 06/19/1993 (2 weeks)

Reviews

For Oliver Klemm from the German magazine Rock Hard , Ugly Kid Joe proved with this album that they are “definitely more than the last teen sensation who was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right pop anthem”. Klemm rated the album with eight out of ten points. Deborah Frost from the US magazine Entertainment Weekly, on the other hand, described the album as a weak attempt to drag the band concept to LP length. Mr. Recordman is the poorest love song to a record company that was ever written, according to Frost.

Charts

America's Least Wanted reached number 27 on the US album charts . The album was tenth in Germany and eleventh in the UK . The album reached the highest chart position in Austria, where it reached number four. The album achieved further placements in the top ten in Australia (seventh place) and Norway (eighth place)

Of the six singles released, four made it into the charts. Here occupied neighbor , So Damn Cool and Busy Bee only in the UK chart positions. The most successful single was Cat's in the Cradle , which became a number one hit in Australia . In Switzerland the single reached number five, in the United States number six, in Austria and the United Kingdom number seven and in Germany number ten.

Awards

America's Least Wanted has been awarded double platinum status in the United States for more than two million units sold . The single Cat's in the Cradle received a gold record in the United States . Outside the USA, the album was awarded a gold record in Austria and Switzerland .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Charts US Charts DE Charts UK AT Charts CH
  2. ↑ rockhard.de: Ugly Kid Joe - America's Least Wanted
  3. ↑ ew.com: Ugly Kid Joe - America's Least Wanted
  4. ↑ a b australian-charts.com: Ugly Kid Joe in the Australian charts
  5. ↑ norwegiancharts.com: Ugly Kid Joe in the Norwegian charts
  6. ↑ riaa.com: Gold & Platinum Searchable Database
  7. ↑ ifpi.at: Gold & Platinum
  8. ↑ hitparade.ch: Edelmetall 1993