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 | NOFXHeavy Petting Zoo1996 Epitaph 
 Review by: fathead See others by this writer www.epitaph.com (link) Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on August 27th 2001 So what do you say about an album that most people seem to hate? Here's what I say, "I LOVE it". NOFX has put out some of the most popular punk albums ever, but Heavy Petting Zoo gets little recognition. They expeiramented with different sounds a little more than usual, and that's maybe why it's in the pits of most punkers' collections. HPZ starts out with a classic NOFX funny song, 'Hobophobic(scared of bums)'. 'Philthy Phil Philanthropist' is next, and continues to be one of my favorite noFX songs. Its relatively simple, but contains some cool lyrics and a xylophone. 'Freedom like a shopping cart' is one of the best songs on HPZ, with a melody that sticks like glue. 'Bleeding Heart Disease', one of the fastest songs, breaks down into one of the happiest nOFX moments in history, with a chant of 'do-da-do-do-do-da-do'. 'Hot dog in a hallway' is slow, mellow through half, and heavy through the rest, and easily one of the funniest Nofx songs ever. Fat women need lovins too.'Release the hostages' is a really fast song about drinking, so its gotta be good, right? Next is one of the best songs they've ever written. 'Liza' has a semi-slow tempo, but the arrangement and the mixing of styles shows their growth as musicians better than any track on the album. 'What's the matter with the kids today?' is a short, rockin' song, but it's pretty much mediocre. 'Love Story' is soft and satirically sweet, then blows up into punk rock. However, I prefer the mellow part of this song. The loud part is rather annoying. 'The black and white' is a good fast song, but it doesn't stand out. 'Whatever Didi wants' is as pop as nofX will ever sound, but it does have some really cool interchanging guitar parts. 'August 8th' pokes fun at the hippie culture, who lost their leader (Jerry Garcia) on the afformentioned date. It's funny and different, but I found it kinda harsh. Sure, Garcia was a junkie for most of his life, and his late work stunk like my undies, but no one toured like the Dead and he was a good guitar player. I mean, I doubt a hippie band will write a song making fun of the day Joey Ramone died, but oh well, it's classic NofX rudeness. Boy, I'm gonna hear some shit for that one! 'Drop the World' is melodic and fast, and it actually has some cool FX. Most of the lyrics on Heavy Petting Zoo are suprisningly deeper than most of nofx's work, and the booklet is just classic. I've seen NOfx twice, and I've never heard a single song from Heavy Petting Zoo. Granted, both times were at Warped Tour, so that's only an hour total, but it's like they've just forgotten about the album all together. I like it. The expeiramentation made HPZ a nice change from the normal, fast NOFX CD. Ignore all the criticizems about this album, and check it out yourself. It make take some getting used to, but you'll eventually warm up to it. People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
I've been listening to this album recently and it's actually really good, a real grower (NOFX is usually catchy then gets boring after a while for every album since the Decline). The songwriting is awesome here, original drumming, and kickass mutes. lyrically, the best NOFX full-length. I think NOFX don't like the record, too... Just got this album. I stayed away from it because everyone talks bad about it, but it is really a great album. I think he lyrics are hilarious! This cd is decent for a NOFX fan. It is not amazing... just good. Some bad songs. Their softest cd by far. hey atomicgarden if ya wanna read a real lame review look at the one for americana! oh wait you wrote that. NOFX puts crappy songs at the end of their CD's? Eh? How about "She's Gone", second to last on White Trash...? And I personally think "Reeko" is good song. Just because it's not fast doesn't mean it sucks! The narrowmindedness of some of you really annoys me. you're right atomic garden, this was a lame review.-fathead Surfer isn't really an album, it's a 7" record. Fathead you're so fucking right!!! This album kick ass and the artworks is pretty funny!! Nofx sont des dieus pis cet album la est rafraichissant, c'est bien d'entendre autre chose que du nofx rapide. NOFX's better albums... White Trash Two Heebs & A Bean, Punk In Drublic, Heavy Petting Zoo, So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes, Pump Up The Valuum, Surfer, and The Decline. I rest my case... Simply the BEST NOFX ALBUM and right I give it a 10. Simply the BEST NOFX ALBUM and right I give it a 10. A good cd for a nofx fan, but I wouldn't recomend it to a new listner. This was my first nofx cd, and it took me a while to get into them. It wasn't until "So Long" came out the next year that I became a hardcore fan. I think so long is their best, but this has some good songs. One of the few bands that experiment with different sounds that actually come out great. Warning by Green Day would be another one of those albums. Anyway, I own every NOFX album and I find myself listening to this one the most. I'll back you up on this one. I'd say their very early stuff was the worst.... Considering the 2 albums that this album is sandwiched between, it really isn't that good. Everyone was expecting more after Punk in Drublic. Some of the songs are kinda irritating. From what I've been told, the band did not see a whole lot of each other in the year or so before this album was recorded, and that the songs were written individually rather than collectively going into the studio. Who knows. I know that they still do play some of these songs live. Hotdog, Drop The World, and Hobophobic are still regulars on their setlists. Biggest fuck up on the album: Jerry Garcia died Aug 9. Oops! Also, I too havn't heard much live material from this album... except for when they played two shows in Seattle. The second night they wanted to play a bit of stuff they didn't play last night, so they played lots of REALLY early stuff, including some stuff they rarely play including parts of this album, and "Reeko" (dope!). But that's off topic. Lame review, but I really love this album. It's got some incredible songs (Love Story, Black and White, August 8th, Freedom Like a Shopping Cart, Drop the World, Release the Hostages). Those are some of my favorite NOFX songs, but the rest on the album are just decent in my opinion (and I actually have a strong disliking towards "Whatever Didi Wants"). This was one of the first NOFX albums I heard and probabaly the last one I actually got into. People are stupid in general though, and most of the people who didn't like this album only didn't like it because it was too slow. One of the worst NOFX albums ever |
