Stoopid Ugly Stik is a former band out of Dallas, Texas. The band, composed of SX on vocals and keys, Tony on bass and 7734 on guitar, split up due to lack of interest. One CD – Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, A, B, Start – was released over the Internet at no cost, but it is difficult to find now.
Their MySpace page describes their type of music as “Nintendocore.” When you hear the growls and screams from SX, you’ll begin to understand why. For a three-man band, they put out a surprising amount of sound and energy.
If you couldn’t figure out what the songs were about you’d be tempted to put Stoopid Ugly Stik in a techno-rock/thrash-core/heavy-metal genre, but when you realize that most of the songs are only about video games it becomes clear where the Nintendocore label comes from.
Of the two songs that don’t “talk” about video games, one – Japonica – is a loose reference to where SX began seriously playing with music in Plano, Texas. The other, Fanny and Faggot, is a tribute of sorts to the victims of 11-year-old killers “Mary and Norma Bell/No relation/Both from hell.”
The lyrics are mostly conveyed in growls or screams, so it can be hard to figure out what exactly is going on in any given Stoopid Ugly Stik song. However, once you’ve managed to peel the layers of obfuscation off the songs and you can understand what SX is saying, you discover that even the songs that have only a passing connection to video games are clever and well written.
One of the songs that fits this mold best is Evolutions. The attentive ear will quickly pick up that this is a heavy metal song about Pokémon. “They gaze up at me/Through their sparkling eyes/They utter no other words but names/They’re all mine/To have to hold/To teach the ways of battle/To create legends untold.” The highlight of this song is trying to figure out which Pokémon he’s naming/growling/screaming during the chorus.
Other standout songs on this album include their popular Atma Weapon, which should be familiar to the Final Fantasy fanatics out there; AD 2636, named after the year Contra 3 was set in; and Shurikanz Level 2-1, a loose reference to Ninja Gaiden.
If you’re interested, the best way to find this album will be a basic Internet search or using your favorite P2P software. While Stoopid Ugly Stik is no longer together, you can find more music from SX in his new project 2 Headed Cat vs. Unicorn Octopus.