Zodiac Mindwarp And The Love Reaction - Hoodlum Thunder

"Hoodlum Thunder," the second album by Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, is a mixed bag. While it showcases the band's signature sleazy, hard rock sound, with some catchy and crazy compositions, it also veers into silly and politically incorrect territory. Some reviewers find it a must-own for fans of late 80s glam and sleaze metal, while others find it a less timeless classic than their earlier work. "Hoodlum Thunder" is a record that polarizes listeners. While some find it a fun and exciting slab of sleazy rock, others find it too uneven and offensive. It's a record that leans heavily into the band's over-the-top persona and may not appeal to everyone. 

Some would argue that Hoodlum Thunder, the follow-up to the band’s ‘88 full length debut, Tattooed Beat Messiah, came out right at the wrong time: the post-Nevermind 90s. That, had it come out earlier, it would have done numbers.

I’ll say that's partially true; had this come out in ‘89, rather than ‘92 (December ‘91 is ‘92, c’mon), I could see it doing better than the debut. For one thing, while it lacks the debut’s balls, it makes up for it with far improved songwriting. Where Tattoo Beat Messiah got by on the power of three chords and a smirking aesthetic, Hoodlum Thunder goes for true pop metal gold - and they just about get there.

The production level is extremely high, somewhere between Mutt Lange’s Hysteria, Desmond Child chart toppers, and Stock, Aitken and Waterman’s failed experiment with Judas Priest, “Everything is You”* and their hit-and-run on Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s “Success”. It's metal, but wholly in service to pop. There's a lot of samples, sequencing, synths and drum machines backing up those three chord vamps now and - as cheeZoid and cringedelic as it gets - it works. Premium commercial end Hard Wave.

The actual songwriting seems to be informed by Zodiac’s work with Alice Cooper (there's the Desmond Child connection); true, they do a rendition of the tune he wrote for Alice, “Feed My Frankenstein”, but any number of these would fit on his work of the era. What's interesting is, as commercially minded as the album is, it prefigures some of the more commercial industrial rock that would become a 90s mainstay five years later. If it was just a little less pop and a little more aggressive, this could have dropped in ‘95 and captured some of the same audience that gravitated to Rob Zombie.

Ripped to MP3

1 - Elvis Died for You

2 - Tomorrow Belongs to the Love Reaction

3 - Feed My Frankenstein

4 - Trash Madonna

5 - Airline Highway

6 - Chainsaw

7 - President of the United States of Love

8 - Dr. Jekyll and Me

9 - Hoodlum Thunder

10 - Meanstreak