Stairway to Hell is an EP by California alternative rock band Ugly Kid Joe, originally released digitally on June 5, 2012 and in physical form on July 9, 2012 via UKJ Records — the band's first studio recording since their 1996 album Motel California and their first EP since As Ugly as They Wanna Be in 1991. The title is a deliberate portmanteau of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and AC/DC's Highway to Hell, and the packaging cheekily incorporates both bands' iconic typefaces — a classically irreverent gesture in line with the band's history of playful rock references. The original six-track EP was reissued in April 2013 with three acoustic bonus tracks and a DVD containing the band's complete performance from the 2012 Download Festival, bringing the total track count to nine. The lineup features the reunited classic configuration of vocalist Whitfield Crane, guitarists Klaus Eichstadt and Dave Fortman, bassist Cordell Crockett, and drummer Shannon Larkin.The six core tracks — "Devil's Paradise," "You Make Me Sick," "No One Survives," "I'm Alright," "Love Ain't True!" (featuring Angelo Moore and Dirty Walt of Fishbone), and "Another Beer" — deal in the band's familiar territory of hard rock riffing, sex, drugs, and tongue-in-cheek attitude, drawing heavily on AC/DC and Black Sabbath influences. As PopMatters notes, "Ugly Kid Joe still know how to craft crunchy, fun grunge tunes," even if some of the spark of their early 1990s peak is absent. The three acoustic bonus tracks on the reissue — including a rendition of "Cat's in the Cradle," which the band famously covered on their 1992 debut America's Least Wanted — are widely considered among the release's highlights, with Real Gone Rocks praising them as moments where "the band's more mature talents" are put to particularly effective use.
Related
Related
Related
Related