Neighbor

Album: America's Least Wanted (1992)
Charted: 28
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this song, Ugly Kid Joe frontman Whitfield Crane sings from the perspective of a white-trash drunk who moves into an idyllic suburban community, ruining the neighborhood. The song was written by the band's guitarist, Klaus Eichstadt, who after the song was released told Crane that the song was really about him.

    Connecting Crane to the character isn't much of a stretch: He and Eichstadt grew up in upper-class Palo Alto, California, where they were rather disruptive in their youth.
  • Ugly Kid Joe was having a moment when this song was released; their hit "Everything About You" earned them airplay on radio and MTV. In our interview with Whitfield Crane, he said: "I think about that as that's 1992, we were blowing up. Lyrically, it's this family that moves into the suburbs - somewhere like Palo Alto where Klaus and I grew up - and torture their neighbors through wine, women, and song. It reminds me of good times."
  • The music video for this song shows these neighbors from hell while the band plays on their front lawn. Julia Sweeney shows up in the clip as Pat, her androgynous character from Saturday Night Live. Sweeney also did Pat for a spoken intro to "Everything About You."

    The video made an episode of MTV's Beavis and Butt-head, a show about two morons who watch MTV. Here's the dialogue:

    Beavis: "How come he calls himself Ugly Kid? He's not even that ugly."

    Butt-head: "Do you find him attractive, Beavis?"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Concert Disasters

Concert DisastersFact or Fiction

Ozzy biting a dove? Alice Cooper causing mayhem with a chicken? Creed so bad they were sued? See if you can spot the real concert mishaps.

Carl Sturken

Carl SturkenSongwriter Interviews

Hitmaker Carl Sturken on writing and producing for Rihanna, 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Donny Osmond, Shakira and Karyn White.

Melanie

MelanieSongwriter Interviews

The singer-songwriter Melanie talks about her spiritual awakening at Woodstock, "Brand New Key," and why songwriting is an art, not a craft.

Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe ShaverSongwriter Interviews

The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.

Michael Sweet of Stryper

Michael Sweet of StryperSongwriter Interviews

Find out how God and glam metal go together from the Stryper frontman.

Country Song Titles

Country Song TitlesFact or Fiction

Country songs with titles so bizarre they can't possibly be real... or can they?