Hefty Fine

Music

"Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo" was inspired by a joke between Jimmy Pop and "Evil" Jared Hasselhoff. Originally, the two had sent each other euphemisms for sexual intercourse via email. The joke later evolved into the song. According to Jimmy Pop, "Ralph Wiggum" took the longest to write because it required the band to sift through several scripts of The Simpsons. "Something Diabolical" features vocals from Finnish band HIM's lead singer, Ville Valo, who makes reference to the band in the lyric "Tonight belongs to H.I.M." HIM and Bloodhound Gang toured with each other in the 1990s. Eventually, the groups became close and Jimmy Pop offered to distribute HIM's CDs in America. When it came time to record "Something Diabolical," Valo was asked by the band to record some of the vocals. The hidden track is said by Bam Margera of CKY/Jackass/Viva La Bam fame. He can also be seen in the video for "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo" driving a car shaped like a banana and despite popular belief, he did not direct the video. RockHard Films director Marc Klasfeld directed the video. "Balls Out" can be heard briefly in the car chase scene from "Drillbit Taylor".

"I'm the Least You Can Do" reuses a piano riff from "Birthday Boy", a song by Jimmy Pop's pre-Bloodhound Gang band Bang Chamber 8, released in 1990 on a self-titled demo tape.

Title and artwork

The cover depicts a large, naked Caucasian man, whose genitals are obscured.

The title and album art each have unique stories. Originally, the album was going to be titled Heavy Flow, but Jimmy Pop discovered that there was a Moby song of the same name. Guitarist Lupus Thunder and Pop have expressed their distaste for Moby in the past. After scrapping Heavy Flow, Lupus Thunder and Jimmy Pop began trading emails that featured the recurring gag "now that's a hefty fine." The band later realized that Hefty Fine would make a good name for a record. Lupus Thunder, in an interview with News-Times said, "it just clicked in his head and [we're] like, 'Hefty fine? Hold on a minute.'" Bassist "Evil" Jared Hasselhoff and Lupus Thunder have also gone on the record stating that the name could be a play on words meaning an attractive obese person.

As for the cover art, there are several stories. According to "Evil" Jared Hasselhoff, the cover art was originally going to feature an obese African American woman, but Geffen insisted that the band change it. According to former guitarist Lupus Thunder, the cover model, Carlin Langley, was chosen out of several applicants. Potential models were asked to send in a picture and a bio, but Carlin Langley sent in a photograph of himself performing fellatio on another man. The band was impressed by Langley's sense of humor and hired him. Carlin Langley went on to post in the official Bloodhound Gang forums, under the user name "Hefty Fine."

Release and promotion

Sometime in 2006, Bloodhound Gang launched a campaign to have the Pennsylvania state anthem changed to their song, "Pennsylvania". The outcome is unknown. A follow-up single (and its accompanying video) entitled 'Screwing You On The Beach At Night' was released in 2007, an alternate version of the video features former porn actors Till Kraemer and Leonie Saint fornicating while the band is performing around them.

Critical response

Hefty Fine has been critically panned by music critics. The review aggregator website Metacritic gave the album an average score of 28/100 from ten reviews, making it the second worst reviewed album ever at the website.

Chart performance

On October 15, 2005, Hefty Fine debuted and peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 24, selling 38,066 copies. The next week, the album fell to number 64, selling an additional 23,665 copies. On its 6th, and final week, the album dropped to number 181, disappearing off the chart the following week. The album spent a total of 6 weeks on the chart.

Track listing

All tracks written by Jimmy Pop except when noted.

Charts and certifications