1.Eminem Is Gay (2.35) 2.The Headcold Bit of the Winter (2:10)
After the hassle of that lengthy Hefner EP, a record that lasts less than five minutes in total. I bought this on a bit of a whim; it never made it to the Harrow shops, but I picked it up with a 15 quid voucher in a well-known London Megastore alongside an album by his labelmates Candidate. I already knew of Mr T-T's low-budget slightly comical rock through Steve Lamacq's Evening Session.
The perhaps bravely-titled Eminem Is Gay is, he insists, not a direct attack on M.B. Mathers III. Rather, it imagines the boardroom's reaction to such a revelation - it would, the song surmises, be turned into a marketing opportunity. The funniest part is the parodic ending: "I've got your true sexuality locked in the boot of my pick-up* and I'm going to drive it off a bridge..."
Unfortunately, the only place where this sort of thing could expect any airplay was the specialist shows on Radio 1, a station which was sponsoring Eminem's UK tour that year. Oops. It's even alleged that Chris T-T was edited out of a documentary on songwriting for this very reason. On the positive side, they also spared us any Ja Rule records for the week he was in this country. I think Eminem's made some good records (see Shelf 3!) but it's hard not to get tired of him. Oh, and it's also worth noting that the Pet Shop Boys album track 'The Night I Fell in Love' has similar subject matter, but isn't brave enough to name names.
The Headcold Bit of the Winter was favoured with a bit of radio play (presumably before its fellow A-side was announced). If the title doesn't give it away, the cover design makes it clear that this is as exact a parody as copyright laws allow of Queens of the Stone Age's 'Feelgood Hit of the Summer', replacing the original's litany of recreational substances with a selection of remedies for the sniffly: Lucozade, Benylin, Neurofen, Lemsip, Anadin, hot milk... N-N-N-Nightnurse." The sheer silliness makes it a lot funnier than QOTSA's supposedly daring original.
*Pedantic note: Pick-up trucks don't really have boots, and even if they did, they're called trunks in American English.
ONLINE:
The official site is an obvious starting point, complete with further info on this release.
His record company page has a profile of sorts and a picture of the sleeve.
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