Heavy Petting Zoo

Heavy Petting Zoo (known as Eating Lamb on the LP version) is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on January 31, 1996, through Epitaph Records. The record reached a position of No. 63 on the American Billboard 200 Albums chart, the first NOFX album to do so.[4] In Austria Heavy Petting Zoo peaked at No. 20, while the album achieved the No. 13 position in both Sweden and Finland.

Heavy Petting Zoo
a man sitting down on the ground in a petting zoo cuddling a sheep with his hand on the sheep's genitalia area.
Studio album by
NOFX
ReleasedJanuary 31, 1996
RecordedOctober 1995
StudioRazors Edge, and Fat Planet
GenrePunk rock, skate punk, ska punk
Length34:54
LabelEpitaph
ProducerRyan Greene, NOFX
NOFX chronology
HOFX
(1995)		 Heavy Petting Zoo
(1996)		 Fuck the Kids
(1996)
Eating Lamb
a man in the 69 position with a sheep.
12" vinyl cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Christgau's Consumer Guide(neither)[2]
Spin7/10[3]

Music

NOFX recorded the album in October 1995 with Ryan Greene at the Razor's Edge studio, San Francisco, a garage described by the band as "a total dive".[5]

The music on Heavy Petting Zoo has been complimented as "melodic", and the album has been favorably compared to the band's 1991 Ribbed LP,[6] but although tracks like "Hobophobic (Scared of Bums)" and "Freedom Lika Shopping Cart" have been lauded for their witty titles, they have also been criticized for being overly cynical.[7]

The track "August 8th" makes reference to the death of Jerry Garcia. Songwriter Fat Mike commented that he wrote the song, "cuz I fucking hate the Grateful Dead, but it turns out I had the date wrong. He really dies on August 9th. Whoops. I guess I'm lame."[8] According to Fat Mike, the first half of "The Black And White" is concerned with a repressed homosexual male living in "Small Town, USA".[9]

"Liza" revisits the lesbians Liza and Louise introduced on the 1992 album White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean. The third song in the series, "Louise" is found on their eighth album Pump up the Valuum.[10]

Artwork

There are two different cover images for the album, both illustrated by Mark deSalvo, a noted designer of punk album art.[11] The artwork for the CD edition features a man fingering a sheep. The band's name and album title are featured at the top of the cover. The vinyl edition's artwork features the same man and sheep in a 69 position. The title Eating Lamb is given on the cover of the LP,[12] with Heavy Petting Zoo written on the spine and record itself.

CMJ New Music Monthly, in their review of the album, described it as the band's "nastiest cover yet..",[13] and in their analysis of NOFX's attitude, the authors of Screaming for Change: Articulating a Unifying Philosophy of Punk Rock state: "..the fact that none of the songs on the record deal with animals, zoos, or even bestiality, supports the assertion that the artwork contains little, if any, significant meaning other than portraying images the band is confident will upset and shock the establishment."[14]

To promote the album's release, record label Epitaph sent out inflatable sheep with the message "Fuck ewe" attached.[15] The LP version was banned in Germany, due to its Zoophilia content.[16] A court order in October 1996 prohibited distribution of the record in Germany, and confiscated copies with the offending artwork that were already on public display.[17]

Track listing

All tracks written by Fat Mike.

No.TitleLength
1."Hobophobic (Scared of Bums)"0:48
2."Philthy Phil Philanthropist"3:10
3."Freedom Lika Shopping Cart"3:43
4."Bleeding Heart Disease"3:36
5."Hot Dog in a Hallway"2:50
6."Release the Hostages"2:29
7."Liza"2:55
8."What's the Matter with Kids Today?"1:13
9."Love Story"2:37
10."The Black and White"3:36
11."Whatever Didi Wants"3:00
12."August 8th"1:35
13."Drop the World"3:22
Total length:34:58

Personnel

Charts
Chart performance for Heavy Petting Zoo
Chart (1996) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 57
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 20
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[20] 62
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[21] 13
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[22] 40
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[23] 13
UK Albums (OCC)[24] 60
US Billboard 200[25] 63

See also

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Heavy Petting Zoo - NOFX". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  2. Christgau, Robert (2000-10-15). "NOFX". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 9780312245603.
  3. Gold, Jonathan (April 1996). "NOFX: Heavy Petting Zoo". Spin. SPIN Media LLC. p. 113. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  4. "NOFX Biography". Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  5. "NOFX Albums: Heavy Petting Zoo". Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  6. Gold, Jonathan (1996). "Reviews: Heavy Petting Zoo, NOFX". Spin (April): 113.
  7. Molanphy, Chris (1996). "Reviews: Heavy Petting Zoo, NOFX". CMJ New Music Monthly (April): 40.
  8. "NOFX: Q&A". Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  9. "NOFX: Q&A". Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  10. Zimmermann, Curtis. "Pump Up the Valuum". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  11. "Mark deSalvo artwork". Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  12. Spiegel, Josef (2004). "Nur für Erwachsene": Rock und Popmusik: zensiert, diskutiert, unterschlagen. p. 79. ISBN 9783933060167.
  13. Molanphy, Chris (1996). "Reviews: Heavy Petting Zoo, NOFX". CMJ New Music Monthly (April): 40.
  14. Kristiansen, Lars J.; Blaney, Joseph R.; Chidester, Philip J.; Simonds, Brent K. (10 July 2012). Screaming for Change: Articulating a Unifying Philosophy of Punk Rock. p. 113. ISBN 978-0739142769.
  15. Cmj Network, Inc (1996). "Promo". CMJ New Music Monthly. {{cite journal}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
  16. Spiegel, Josef (2004). "Nur für Erwachsene": Rock und Popmusik: zensiert, diskutiert, unterschlagen. p. 79. ISBN 9783933060167.
  17. "List of various image-examples: Censorship by banning and confiscating media objects". zensur.org.
  18. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 205.
  19. "Austriancharts.at – NOFX – Heavy Petting Zoo" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  20. "Dutchcharts.nl – NOFX – Heavy Petting Zoo" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  21. "NOFX: Heavy Petting Zoo" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  22. "Offiziellecharts.de – NOFX – Heavy Petting Zoo" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  23. "Swedishcharts.com – NOFX – Heavy Petting Zoo". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  24. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  25. "NOFX Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
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