Everything About You

Album: As Ugly as They Wanna Be (1991)
Charted: 3 9
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This sourpuss anthem was written by Ugly Kid Joe lead singer Whitfield Crane and guitarist Klaus Eichstadt. The song was inspired by their friend Farrell T. Smith, who they grew up with in Palo Alto, California.

    In our interview with Crane, he explained: "Farrell is a very cynical man and he's very good at it. He's not mean-spirited by any means, but he can sure pick apart any situation. And he always had that charm about him."

    Smith later became a captain in the Woodside, California fire department.
  • Ugly Kid Joe described themselves at the time as "A bunch of stupid-ass, cheesy idiots from Santa Barbara." They embraced their ugly side in their music and their artwork, with a logo that looks like it came from the Garbage Pail Kids.

    Their live shows got the attention of Polygram Records, which was hot and heavy to sign authentic acts with a grunge sound. With the big-label backing, the group released a debut EP, As Ugly as They Wanna Be, in 1991, which contained the first version of "Everything About You." Polygram's investment paid off, and the EP eventually sold over a million copies.

    "Everything About You" was released as a single and became a surprise international hit, filling a niche for novelty grunge.

    A new version of the song was included on the band's first full-length album, As Ugly As They Wanna Be, in 1992.
  • With an aversion to ballads, UKG guitarist Klaus Eichstadt wrote this as "an anti-love song."
  • The opening line, "I hate the rain and sunny weather," was inspired by the song's muse, Farrell T. Smith, who seemed to dislike every weather condition. According to the band, Smith refused to go skiing (too cold) and hated going to the beach (too hot).
  • This is by far their most popular song, but Ugly Kid Joe is not a one-hit wonder. In fact, this isn't even their biggest US hit. Their cover of "Cat's in the Cradle" made #6 US in 1993.
  • The album version features a spoken part by Julia Sweeney, who does her androgynous Saturday Night Live character Pat on the song, saying: "Are you the guys on the beach that hate everything? Uuuugggh. Is this some sort of hip music that I don't understand?"
  • Thomas Mignone directed the video, which was shot on the beach in Isla Vista, California on a $5000 budget, some of which was spent on inflatable sex dolls the band flies like kites in the clip.

    It was a loose and relaxed shoot - friends of the band watched from a nearby cliff, making fun of them during the proceedings. The dogs in the video just happened to be there. It's unclear if they signed waivers.

    The video did very well on MTV and earned Ugly Kid Joe an appearance at the network's Spring Break concert in the summer of 1992.
  • This was featured in the 1992 movie Wayne's World in a scene where Glen, the manager at Mikita's Donuts (played by Ed O'Neill) offers some deranged dialogue: "Why is it that if a man kills another man in battle it's called heroic, yet if he kills a man in the heat of passion it's called murder?"

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