This is a bit of an unusual post for PC, but I was inspired by conversation in the typically maligned* LFG Chat Channel. The other evening, I was on Neve, questing away, when conversation in Horde LFG Chat turned to music. I can't remember the exact exchange, but I think it involved someone saying "Who?" to a comment I made about how someone was almost as old as the Violent Femmes' first album.
"Please tell me you're joking," I replied.
"No, I'm not."
"Crap. I just suddenly felt really old." I reached into the back of my mind and tried to figure out what would be roughly a contemporary of the Violent Femmes, but would be lighthearted enough --and common enough-- to discuss in LFG.
And I struck gold.
"Instead of the Femmes, do you at least know of Doctor Demento?"
Now THAT got a conversation going.
First there was Napoleon XIV with "They're Coming to Take Me Away",
Then I mentioned "Rock and Roll Doctor", which is spoken word, but it rang a bell,
And then someone mentioned that they had that first song stuck in their head, so I countered with the Weird Al classic "Yoda",
Which inevitably led to The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, sung by Leonard Nimoy...
"No, Spock! WHYYYY" was the response.
It's right up there with William Shatner singing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
We kept on going for the next 15 minutes, covering a lot of ground, from The Frantics' Roman Numerals
to Polka-dot Undies, which sounds like a Bob Dylan song:
to the Chuck Berry classic, My Ding-a-ling:
I could have kept going for a long time. My roommate my freshman year of college used to tape Doctor Demento's radio show --we didn't have it locally-- so I used to listen to his tapes throughout my freshman year. Given the transition from high school to college was rough at times, being able to laugh was a premium.
Eventually the conversation switched to something else, but for a short period of time LFG Chat was glorious.
*And with good reason!!
Rock-n-roll Doctor - wasn't that David Letterman doing that, before he was David Effing Letterman?
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of the Femmes, somebody did a dance video for the Heigan Dance with "Dance, Motherfucker, Dance". Doesn't seem to be on YouTube anymore though, or my search skills are just bad.
But I am happy to report that The Frantics' "Boot to the Head" WoW parody is still up, albeit a bit on the blocky side.
https://youtu.be/gtlnVjU7LhU
Apparently it wasn't done by Letterman, although it might have been played by him back in the day.
DeleteNIGHTWATCH - Teen Comedy Party by Travesty Ltd
Oh man, I totally forgot about that parody!
Great post! I learned a lot.
ReplyDeleteI love the Violent Femmes but that's really not a very good version of Blister In The Sun. I don't think we ever had Dr. Demento over here and although I've known the name for many years this is probably the first time I've ever heard anything by him/them/it. Pretty funny.
Weird Al is another very American obsession, I think. I'm fairly sure if I didn't also play video games I'd never even have heard of him. I don't think he has any real presence over here, although I guess that could change if the upcoming biopic is a hit in the UK, which it could be since everyone does know who Daniel Radcliffe is. I can't say I've ever found Weird Al remotely amusing but then I haven't made much of an effort to listen to him, either.
I own a vinyl 45 of Napoleon XIV doing that song and I used to play it a lot back in my punk days. It somehow seemed to fit. The Shatner oeuvre I'm very familiar with but I have never seen or heard that particular Nimoy living nightmare before. I was drinking coffee when it started and I nearly choked, so thanks for that.
The Frantics and Bowser and Blue are also completely new to me. I note they're all Canadian, which probably explains it. That's an excellent sketch on Roman Numerals. I did Latin at school and I realize now I have no idea how the Romans did actually verbalise numbers. The Dylan parody is spot on, too. I'll be following up both of those leads. I'll be very happy never to hear My Ding-a-Ling again in my life, though.
That version was when they'd just come back from a long hiatus/breakup and were about to embark on tour in 2016. I chose it because they recruited Stephen Colbert to sing part of the song, and to be honest he did a better job on falsetto than they did.
DeleteI actually heard the Nimoy song before Shatner's version of Lucy. I was at a used record store while I was back at uni and the staff there were evaluating the quality of a record of "Golden Throats" to see how much to offer the seller, and they put THAT song on....
The Bower and Blue song was a favorite of one of my roommates the summer of my Junior and Senior years. (I spent my summers at college to stay away from home.) Between that and his love of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, my summers were definitely... eclectic.
Hahaha! I got your old right here!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTZavs4WAo
Oh man, it's been YEARS since I heard that old Humble Pie song. Thanks, Ancient!!
DeleteHoo Boy! Nice reach back into the past Red!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite comedy skits was Tae Kwan Leep by the Frantics, which delivered the awesome line "Boot to the head". I think I wore out that cassette listening to it over and over.
All the rest you listed were always favourites on the radio, a local station would play the Sunday Night Funnies for a couple of hours, and then the Mystery Theatre Hour with shows like Boston Blackie and The Shadow.
Great trip down memory lane for sure. Appreciate it Red!
Bill
Oh, back in the day one of our local stations --WVXU-- used to play a lot of the old time radio shows in the mornings after NPR's Morning Edition. It's amazing how well some of those shows have held up over time, such as Jack Benny and Bob and Ray.
DeleteI had this happen with a Femmes song all the way back in 2003 when Gnarles Bakrley's first album came out. I was asked my opinion on the album and I said it had 3 singles on it, but one was a cover. Even people just a decade younger than me had no idea Gone Daddy Gone was not an original.
ReplyDeleteMan did I have fun i that thread introducing people to the Femmes. Nothing quite like that first album by them has ever come out.