King Of The Hill - King Of The Hill (1991)

I can see why the alterno-metal scene fizzled out so quickly. Sure, there were some very cool acts amongst that crowd who sought out a more inventive or colourful rock sound. Of course, everything was being labelled as alternative back in the late '80s and early '90s, especially after Faith No More has lit metal up with 'The Real Thing' classic album. However, for the most part, the scene experienced a negative uprising - too many bands moving away from metal to vomit out an almost fake new fad - funk metal. I could reel off so many awkward sounding acts who succumbed to the 'funk metal' curse, and probably count on the fingers of one hand the few bands who actually made it work. Mordred, Faith No More, Fishbone, weren't officially funk bands - Mordred were a thrash act who diversified their sound. FNM were a cool, original rock band, and Fishbone were always a soulful, and sincere funk rock act. On the down side, Scat Opera, Ignorance, Freaky Fukin' Weirdoz, Fungo Mungo, Boot Sauce, Atom Seed, Psychefunkupus, ...to an extent the names speak volumes. They all got caught up in the funk metal melee and it made me want to puke. King Of The Hill no doubt found themselves caught up in the trend.

There were a few bands also who weren't funk metal, but because of their unusual rock sound, got lumped in with the 'funk'' crowd - Saigon Kick, The Front, Mindfunk, even Love/Hate, were put into the alterno-metal category, many suffered for their talent. King Of The Hill suffered because in reality, their sound, like so many others, seemed unnatural. A hybrid of hair metal and funky rock just wasn't going to be a career. 'I Do U' a prime example of that weak, cheesy, horn-littered pizza with it's dire chorus and Prince-influenced groove.

'If I Say' on the other hand was the token hair metal ballad. None of this melted together, and, like so many other similar acts, King Of The Hill faded into obscurity. The real tragedy being that this kind of sound doesn't even enable such bands to even exist as a cult phenomenon. The victims of the funk metal fad went down with the already sinking ship, forever labelled as bubblegum rock bereft of weight and any real soul. The songs weren't good enough, the image was corny, and the career short. Funk metal probably had to happen, but as a genre it was made up of too many bands similar to King Of The Hill.

5/10