Everything eventually categorizes itself. It is almost a universal inevitability as a room full of physicists will start dividing into subclasses of physicists based on fields of expertise, numbers of papers published, and how that translates into picking up freshmen girls at the local bar. “Hey miss, wanna see my doctorates?”
The same goes for music, and while novelty records are fewer and farther between now having been supplanted by the YouTube video, there was a window of time when it was a pop culture world unto itself. You’d think that would produce a full realm of peacefully coexisting artists with similarly bizarre intentions, all eating the same bad bowl of cereal in skewed harmony. You’d be stupid to think that though.
Barret Hansen, a/k/a Dr. Demento had a syndicated radio program for many years which ended as such in 2010. The last I’d heard the show in original broadcast form must have been the late 1980′s. Last week however, I won an Ebay auction consisting of a record album from a show broadcast from the early ’90s. Not surprisingly, most of the favorite tracks were the same as were in the Eighties. The show apparently continues on as an internet radio broadcast yet I have not had the ability to hear it as such. After reading some text recaps, I was finally surprised to learn, all the way into these ten-teens, those same batches of songs still rank among the highest requested on his show.
Classic rock radio has their Who, Clapton, and Zeppelin, and Dr. Demento has his Ogden Edsel, Loudon Wainwright III, and Barnes & Barnes. I don’t really know what to say about that.
Ogden Edsel – Dead Puppies (Aren’t Much Fun)
Loudon Wainwright III – Dead Skunk
Tom T-Bone Stankus – Existential Blues
Napoleon XIV – They’re Coming To Take Me Away
And for extra credit, here’s Mr. Bungle fronted by Mike Patton with a special cover for you.
Mr. Bungle – Existential Blues
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