The Frogs,
My Daughter the Broad [30th Anniversary Edition]
FOREIGN LEISURE
Writing anything positive about The Frogs in 2026 seems like a bad idea. Formed in 1980 in Milwaukee by brothers Jimmy and Dennis Flemion, the band has always been a wildly provocative and deliberately shocking affair, and these days, they probably would’ve been canceled after the release of their second album. Released in 1989, It’s Only Right and Natural set (or perhaps lowered) the bar for everything that would follow, which mainly involved crude, improvised home recordings with cruder lyrics that largely focused on sexuality—a good chunk of it on charged homoeroticism that borders on the obscene. In fact, it doesn’t just border on it—it gleefully indulges in it.
My Daughter the Broad was The Frogs’ follow-up to that record, released on Matador Records in 1996. That might sound surprising, but the band had a legion of fans in the alternative music world—including Kurt Cobain, Mudhoney, Beck, Pearl Jam, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Not only did Billy Corgan produce 1997’s Star Job EP, and a short film about them titled Meet The Frogs, but it’s said that “1979” was inspired after he heard the then-unreleased Frogs song “Pleasure.” Dennis even replaced the late Smashing Pumpkins’ touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin on the “Infinite Sadness Tour,” while Jimmy performed “1979” with the Pumpkins every night during that tour’s encore.
To celebrate this record’s 30th anniversary, it’s been re-released with eight extra tracks, upping the number from the original 22 to 30. Without giving anything away, you’ll probably know after the first 25 seconds of the parodic ’50s-styled rock ’n’ roll opener “Reelin’ & Rockin’ #1” whether the next 29 songs are for you or not. You can probably tell from their titles, too: There’s “Children, Run Away (The Man with the Candy),” “I’m Sad the Goat Just Died Today,” “God Is Gay,” “Which One of You Gave My Daughter the Dope?,” and the double-whammy of “Who’s Sucking on Grampa’s Balls Since Grandma Ain’t Home Tonight?” and “Grandma’s Sitting in the Corner with a Penis in Her Hand Going ‘No, No, No, No, No.’”
Yet there’s something tender, touching, and tragic about it all. Indeed, the aforementioned “God Is Gay” is a beautiful early-Bowie-esque lament, “I Love U (You Know I Don’t)” is as sublime as it is ridiculous, and “Reelin’ & Rockin’ #2” brings the original to a close with a hilarious reprise of the opening song that also doubles down on it. Among the bonus tracks, “Candy Apples Red (5 for a Penny)” and “Pickin’ Flowers on the Hillside 4 My Love” are similarly (and weirdly) evocative, and “Smack Goes the Dragon” is a perfect pastiche of American rock ’n’ roll culture that holds a mirror up to the country as well.
Really, though, it’s the sense of joy and fun the brothers had dreaming these songs up that shines throughout. It’s joyous and fun and funny, over-the-top and outrageous and silly. Is it offensive? Not really, if you understand that there’s no malice or prejudice here. In fact, as a critique of white American values, it works incredibly well. Fourteen years after Dennis Flemion died in a boating accident, he’d be overjoyed and probably very surprised that The Frogs’ legacy is alive and well in 2026—even if there’s no way that a new band could get away with doing this now. Somehow, The Frogs manage.
