Portrait: Bloodhound Gang

Philadelphia is a shelter for lunatics. Famous natives of the city include, for example, the serial killer Ted Bundy and the off-beat basketball star Wilt Chamberlain, who claims to have slept with more than 20,000 women. And of course the Bloodhound Gang. In comparison, it may well be that the five boys don’t measure up in terms of madness, but they do their best.

Founded in 1993 as a Depeche Mode cover band, the Bloodhound Gang attempted to transplant the synthetic machismo of the 80s onto the just emerging crossover sound of hip hop and rock. Not only did the college girls like it, but also the people from Sony Music who dared to contract the chaotic band.

A demo tape with the macabre name "The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Hitler’s Handicapped Helpers" tipped the scales. A first EP was quickly released and the album "Use Your Fingers" followed in 1995. The record was a commercial flop and musically it was not convincing. The rock version of Kim Wilde’s classic "Kids in America" was the only track which could captivate the listener with a certain originality. But the five riot rockers could not be deterred and just one year later released "One Fierce Beer Coaster", the album which managed their breakthrough in Europe.

During extensive tours they established themselves as an earthy party band which tried to entertain with sleazy lyrics and dirty jokes. In 1999 the Bloodhound Gang scored an absolute hit with their third album, "Hooray for Boobies", which climbed to the top of the hit list. The singles "Along Comes Mary" and "The Bad Touch" ran in endless loops in the radio and on MTV. The Bloodhound Gang had managed to infect the mainstream living rooms with their music. After the hype had begun to ebb, it was quiet for a long time. The Philadelphians didn’t catch any attention until September 2005 with "Hefty Fine", which appears to be headed for success.


You will most likely find the Bloodhound Gang in the rock section of your music store, but of course it isn’t so easy to categorize the music. The older albums, "Use Your Fingers" and "Hooray for Boobies" sound a lot like hip hop rock crossover, as was the case in the 90s.

Even then the five rowdies from the Gang were mixing this sound with the droll but catchy tunes which contrasted with the raunchy lyrics. Simple but pressing guitar riffs provide for groove somewhere between college punk and metal, with a few cheap-sounding keyboards added as a special treat. Lead vocal Jimi Pop sings about porn films, diarrhea, and "hard feelings", the stuff that runs through the stereotypical male brain – probably it’s boredom which bestows him with such ideas. The verses are frequently rapped while the choruses are often sung, but which intentionally sounds naïve and unmotivated. In this respect, Jimi Pop is reminiscent of the anti-folksinger Adam Green, who also appears to be observing himself as he produces some absurd vulgarity.

The Bloodhound Gang pursue this concept in their newest work, "Hefty Fine", although it works more with a dated dance sound, which, however, is drowned out in most songs after a while by the guitars.

Only in the second single release from the album, "Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss" are the dance beats drawn out in their full length, a daring experiment. The song "Ralph Wiggum" named for a figure in "The Simpsons" cartoon series, displays artistic ambitions. The lyrics consist only of one-sentence quotations of this figure like "I’m a brick", "You smell like dead bunnies" or "I’m a pop sensation".

"I’m a pop sensation" – that’s fitting.
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