Parodies, novelty music, and humor et cetera

Jun 26 10:48 UTC 2002

The music business must find this droll and above them, because it 
really hasn't been very much a part of what's been produced lately.

Weird Al Yankovic is still the reigning king of parody, although even 
he has been fading from the mainstream popular spotlight.  Perhaps he 
will capture a new generation of fans, but his last video appearances 
were on VH1, not MTV.

I don't even know where to find new Dr. Demento broadcasts anymore 
(perhaps Tim would know).  He, of course, was a big supporter of Weird 
Al's music when Yankovic was first starting out (I believe "My 
Bologna," a parody of the Knack's "My Sharona" was the debut) and his 
radio show was all about this kind of music: parody and novelty.  Last 
I remember, Dr. Demento was strictly syndicated and he wasn't doing a 
live show anymore, either by retirement or forcing from execs.

Al Sherman, known for "Camp Granada"-- he was the parody king before 
Yankovic.  Before that, there was Spike Jones, and he was more novelty 
than parody.  There was also Harry Stewart, who did the Yogi Yorgesson, 
Harry Kari, Claude Hopper, and Klaus Hammerschmidt characters 
(http://www.yogiyorgesson.com/records.html for discography and digital 
samples.  Main page includes biography, pictures, and trivia as well)

Jock Blaney of 2nu was the last person I can remember that did 
something novelty in recent years, although he disappeared about as 
fast as he came in the very early 90s.  "This is Ponderous," "Spaz 
Attack" and "Two Outta Three" were big hits for a little while, at 
least here in the Northwest; Blaney was a radio announcer in Washington 
and OK95 in Kennewick did a lot of promotion for his first album.  It 
was different as Blaney didn't sing but told stories to music.  The odd 
songs aforementioned worked; but others that tried to be more.. 
musical.. flopped, especially his cover of "Spill the Wine."  Again, no 
singing.  Eventually, Blaney recycled part of the lyrics to "Two Outta 
Three" into a spa commercial.

So is the music business just taking itself waaaayyy too seriously?  
Most of these songs are hard to find outside of the Rhino label, which 
does oldies tunes as well as everything Dr. Demento.

response 2 of 15:

Jun 26 22:42 UTC 2002

Isn't Joe Black's side project (forget the name) all about parody?

response 4 of 15:

Jun 27 05:56 UTC 2002

resp:1  Doh, I shouldn't have forgotten Ray Stevens.  He serves up a 
lot of comedy songs, mostly ones that poke fun of Southern culture.  
Can't believe I forgot about him, and I'm a fairly big fan.

The songs you're referring to are "Ahab the A-rab" and "The Mississippi 
Squirrel Revival."  The _I Have Returned_ album has most of my 
favorites, including "Kiss a Pig, Hug a Swine," "The Armchair 
Quarterback," and "Vacation Bible School."

The Harry Stewart site really is worth checking into.

Don't believe I've never heard of Joe Black or The Capital Steps.

response 6 of 15:

Jun 27 16:40 UTC 2002

        a prince of parody, the great Luke Ski will be performing this
weekend in Michigan at Top Secret ConTraption, a Science Fiction 
convention held at the DoubleTree Hotel.  That's June 28-30th, 2002
to those reading this as history.  I will be there to introduce him.
http://www.contraption.org

response 8 of 15:

Jun 27 23:49 UTC 2002

I think it's helpful to distinguish comedy songs in general from 
parodies in particular.  Back in my day, Tom Lehrer did comedy songs, 
Allan Sherman (not "Al" - ugh) did parodies.

response 10 of 15:

Jun 28 02:43 UTC 2002

DOH! Yeah, you know, that crazy actor dude.

response 12 of 15:

Jul 5 14:41 UTC 2002

Re #7: Uh, Tim, I think you meant news://rec.music.dementia ...
Is there a website that shows which stations carry the show?

response 14 of 15:

Jul 5 20:35 UTC 2002

I read an article today that jogged my memory. Jack Black's band is Tenacious
D.