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by Tony Pascarella Published: December 3, 2004
He's back! Yes, folks, there really is a guy who sings worse than you do in the shower. The sad part is that he gets paid to do so. William Hung, the object of America's affection (for about three days), drops his second release, Hung For The Holidays. In addition to possibly the most hilarious title in modern history, this EP provides seven songs and two interludes (that includes a cheese-filled bonus track). The American Idol reject (and Cal-Berkeley student) was booted from the show in 2003 in the midst of his outlandish performances of Ricky Martin's hits. And by outlandish, I do mean absolutely pitiful. America swarmed over the new icon, perhaps as a savior for karaoke singers everywhere. His debut sold over 100,000 copies upon its release by Koch Records. This is the same Koch Records whose diverse artist list includes Scandinavian metal stalwarts Opeth, The Diplomats, Chumbawumba, Bob The Builder, Barney (the lovable purple dinosaur), and The Wiggles. William Hung telling everyone how grateful he was for picking up his album and wishing everyone a Happy New Year isn't exactly a great start to this EP. Frankly, he's seeking approval too much, and the entire comment sounds forced. Either that or incredibly naive. "Deck The Halls" begins the onslaught of murdered holiday classics. You'd be better off lining up Santa and Rudolph and company against a brick wall and emptying a clip into them. The song is absolutely horrendous, with Hung struggling to hit the highest fa-la-la's. Don't bother singing along with this drivel. You can do better while singing on the drive to work. "O Come All Ye Faithful" might be the best William Hung song on record, just because he doesn't have to exhibit any sort of range. That aside, this song has no light whatsoever. His accent shines through the lyrics, dropping the song's credibility a notch or two. Next up is a brief interlude in which Hung reminds us all to give back to our families. Yeah, we won't be giving your album, buddy. I would get disowned if I put this in anyone's stocking, that's for sure. "Silver Bells" uses a bit of originality all his own. That is, he manages to screw up possibly one of my favorite holiday songs. His clipped notes are difficult to deal with. The only positive thing to come out of this track is some nice instrumentation by whoever's killing their career to appear with William Hung. "Little Drummer Boy" is next up on Hung's hit list. Frankly, if he gets anything but coal in his stocking this year, I think Santa's falling down on the job. Ugh, it's absolutely horrible. He holds the wrong notes and stumbles on the lyrics several times throughout this three and a half minutes of torture. Impart the spirit of holiday cheer, the man does not. Arguably the most well-known holiday song of all time has to be "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer." He's got a backing group that may be the same as the one he used in his rendition of "YMCA" on Inspiration. They add all the extra parts to the song, such as echoing "reindeer." William Hung's voice is just incredibly grating here. It turns a classic song into an awful mess. As the last (or so we believe) singing track, "Winter Wonderland" offers hope for those of you who listen to Hung For The Holidays. It's almost over! Offering absolutely no life to the melody, Hung plods over the lyrics with his trademark accent carefully butchering them. The backing music again is solid, but nothing will ever save this man from flaming mediocrity. For some reason, the line in the song that mentions a circus clown made me laugh when sung by W.H. To close the album, Hung begins to speak. We then realize this is a famed bonus track. Oh joy! What will he do next? It turns out that this is a cover, much like all of the music on Inspiration. But rather than taking something upbeat and squeezing the very life out of it, Hung covers the Freddie Mercury-penned superhit, "We Are The Champions." Amazingly enough, this track is tolerable. The electric guitars make it almost worthwhile, as they really lend the Queen flair to the music. It does still sound like William Hung's living from line to line on the song, with much hesitation and poor vocals on his part. To summarize, this album isn't a train wreck of epic proportions, but it will go down as just a footnote on William Hung's illustriously short career (hopefully). I see signs of him improving, but by the time that happens, we'll have all written him off as an overblown hack. I don't think this needs to be said, but I can't recommend anything this awful. Please, kids. Save Christmas from bad, bad, men like this.  Recommendation: Are you kidding me? Genre: Novelty/Dance-Pop Overall Grade: F To contact the author, use the "Contact Us" link at the top of the page. He will respond to all e-mail, hatemail included. On the Internet: William Hung at Sirlinksalot.net |
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