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11-20-2003, 08:30 AM
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#1 of 22 
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Novelty records
Do they still make these things, apart from Weird Al? For that matter, I haven't heard much from him lately. I liked some of Jonathan Richman's quirky 80's songs, like "Government Center" and "Takin the bus", but I can't think of much from the 90's.
Any suggestions about why, or maybe I'm wrong, and someone can fill me in on what I've missed?
This question inspired by seeing that ACE (a top notch UK reissue label) has issued a Novelty Records chapter in its Golden Age of American Rock and Roll series (1956-64). The Novelty disk has 30 tracks, including Haunted House (yippee!) on it. There are at least 8 more tracks I've never even heard of.
If novelty tunes from decades ago don't appeal to you, Ace has also just issued a 3 cd WattStax set.
http://www.acerecords.co.uk/gotrt/oct03/cdchd980.html |
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11-20-2003, 06:32 PM
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#2 of 22
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Check out the Austin Lounge Lizards.
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11-20-2003, 07:23 PM
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#3 of 22
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Weird Al released a new album earlier on in the year. It's called Poodle Hat. Check it out.
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11-20-2003, 08:09 PM
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#4 of 22
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Anybody remember "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" by Boys Don't Cry? I think it was released around 1986. Quite funny & I always thought the music itself was actually pretty good. They played this on several different stations (this was before every station was categorized & pigeonholed by the corporate "format experts"  ).
Yippee yo yo yo...............
LJ |
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11-21-2003, 02:09 PM
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#5 of 22
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Yep, Weird Al is still going strong.
Do you mean "novelty" as in parodies of real songs, or as in odd little tracks that most "artists" wouldn't be caught dead releasing because of subject matter or arrangement? 
If it's the latter, I'd consider "Barbie Girl" by Aqua a "novelty" song that was a big hit a few years ago. Also Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5."
There's usually quite a few "novelty" tracks in the UK over the course of a year. "Fast Food Song" by the Fast Food Rockers was just a #2 hit a few months ago....
A Pizza Hut
a Pizza Hut
Kentucky Fried Chicken
and a Pizza Hut
A Pizza Hut
a Pizza Hut
Kentucky Fried Chicken
and a Pizza Hut
McDonald's
McDonald's
Kentucky Fried Chicken
and a Pizza Hut
McDonald's
McDonald's
Kentucky Fried Chicken
and a Pizza Hut
[sung to a 4/4 Eurobeat]  |
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11-21-2003, 03:44 PM
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#6 of 22
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I think a song that is fun, like Mambo #5 and Little Bit of Mary, or "Endicott" (by Kid Creole and the Coconuts) or Dire Straits "Industrial Disease", are not quite novelty.
I never did hear Barbie, tho I heard of it.
Parody counts, so Wierd Al is carrying on the tradition.
I'm kinda thinking now that our world is so kooky and diverse, that maybe there can't be novelty songs any more.
I even wonder if there is enough other materiel for Dr Demento to put out a 1990's compilation?
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11-21-2003, 04:07 PM
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#7 of 22
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What about "Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia? Wasn't there a "Space Invaders" song too?
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11-21-2003, 06:57 PM
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#8 of 22
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Yes, Buckner & Garcia did a whole album of video game songs. That's hardly recent, though....
I don't hear much popular music these days. I remember a few years ago there was the Mike Flowers Pops, who did loungey easy-listening covers of current hits ("Wonderwall"). A little further back there was Dread Zeppelin... reggae versions of Led Zeppelin songs with an Elvis impersonator as the singer.
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11-21-2003, 10:19 PM
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#10 of 22
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Heck, it's not just musical comedy, what happened to comedy albums at all?
In tape I had tons, Bill Cosby, Bowser & Blue, Sam Kinison, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, Bob & Doug McKenzie, Monty Python.. heck, tons of them, including my all time favorite comedy album (which snapped due to overplaying and I've never been able to replace)... Father Guido Sarducci's Breakfast In Heaven. Most stores don't even HAVE a comedy section anymore, and when they do, it's only musical comedy, never standup.
Damn I miss the 80's sometimes =p
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