AMERICA'S BEST KNOWN UNKNOWN

You've never heard of Jesse Frederick but you are well aware of him. Chances are, you could sing at least one (probably even two) of his songs all the way through.

In the early 70's, Frederick was just another aspiring songwriter. He cut his first album (self-titled) in Nashville in 1971 with a little help from Todd Rundgren. It's decent singer/songwriter boogie rock, but ultimately forgettable and didn't sell much. He cut two more albums over the next few years but neither of them were ever released. He started acting and writing soundtracks for film and television and eventually scored a minor hit on the Flamingo Kid soundtrack.

But success didn't truly strike for Jess Frederick until he teamed up with a composer named Bennett Salvay. In 1985, the duo was commissioned by ABC to write the theme song for a new sitcom called The Greenhorn. The show aired a year later under a new name and became a hit, lasting eight seasons.


Youtube won't let me embed most of these songs. Click on the image to take a trip back in time.


The show and it's theme were such a hit that Frederick and Salvay were invited back to write another theme.



And another.


And another.


So there you have it. Next time you and your buddies get drunk and someone starts a TGIF theme singalong, you know who to blame. Thanks, Jesse.

MORE SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

You've never heard of Family Matters and we've never heard of you either. Let's get acquainted.

Listen to it for free here.

Well that's pretty cool, I guess.

New Ghoul video made by Ezra and Aesop Dekker (who are also responsible for the Crud Wizard and Cosmic Hearse blogs).



I get poisoned at 1:15

NO MORE BOREDOM

You never heard of Feederz? Well listen up, punk! Not many "punk" bands have had much of an impact on me since I was a wee teen, but hearing these guys for the first time was a definite game changer.

Feederz formed in Arizona in 1977 and released one EP before their singer, Frank Discussion, was forced to flee to San Francisco for distributing anti-school literature in Arizona High Schools. He reformed the band in 1984 with Mark Roderick and D.H. Peligro. Frank was known for his outrageous shock tactics, such as firing blanks at the audience and appearing on stage with live crickets and bloody tampons glued to his face. The group was even banned from Gilman for throwing roadkill at the audience!

Feederz' first full-length, Ever Feel Like Killing Your Boss?, is a fucking masterpiece. They somehow manage to be catchy, snotty and abrasive in the same breath. And their lyrics are guaranteed to send poseurs running for the hills. Take their hit, "Jesus," for instance: "Jesus entering from the rear, fucking you in the ass. Just another faggot in just another mass." Something to offend everyone! Ever Feel... also includes an Olivia Newton-John cover ("Have You Never Been Mellow") and the original vinyl comes with grip tape on the cover so it thrashes your other records. Punk!



Go fuck yourself here.

100 PINTS OF LAGER

Before Spinal Tap there was... BAD NEWS, a joke NWOBHM band from the minds of several of the folks from cult British TV comedy "The Young Ones." That should be enough to send most people scrambling feverishly onto Youtube searching for any scraps of footage they can cram in their eye- and earholes. There were two episodes of BBC series "Comic Strip" devoted to the band, who basically sound like Motorhead with a lobotomy (i.e., I actually kind of like their songs even though they're supposed to suck), one in 1983 and another in 1988. They recorded an album with Brian May and played a bunch of gigs during their lifetime, including a date at Donington from which footage for their second "Comic Strip" appearance was culled.

I don't know if I can say Bad News is funnier than Spinal Tap (though I guess the first Bad News show was broadcast before Tap hit theaters if that counts for anything), but there's really no way out of comparing the two "bands." I will go on record that this is some hilarious stuff that the Archers' Guild nation better get into quick.

PS: Youtube won't let me post the original "Comic Strip" show on here, but it's on the site if you wanna have a laff.

Something's Wrong With Bloggers

Remember "freak folk?" Seemed pretty cool at the time until we realized that the best the scene had to offer were Devendra Banhart and Johanna Newsom. But there was one band that seemed to slip under the radar. Vermont's Feathers pulled from not only the best vintage avant-folk (think Comus and the Incredible String Band) but psychedelic rock and raga as well, giving them a truly "freaky" and chillingly beautiful sound. Their eight member lineup included Kyle Thomas and Asa Irons who went on to form Witch. (I personally think Feathers are better than Witch) They released one self-titled album (it rules) on Gnomonsong which can easily be found at your local record store but they also self-released a tour-only CDR called "Something's Wrong With Feathers." You're only gonna find this one on the world wide web so get it here now.

POSTER DUMP

Roy G. Biv

Trevor Mast

Rob Jones

Stacie Willoughby

Admc07

BIKERS, BABES, AND A BOX

New vid from Saviours' new album, Death's Procession, which just came out last week. I haven't heard it yet but if it's anywhere near as good as this song, I'm gonna be stoked.



What's in the box? Drugs? Marcellus Wallace's soul? Discuss...

POSTER DUMP

Roy G. Biv

Stacie Willoughby

C M Ruiz

Steve-O

Cyrille Rousseau

Drew Millward

Marina Tadic

Shawn K Knight

Thomas Perrodin

PSYCHEDELIC WTF

Not exactly sure what's going on here but I like it.

Terrence McKenna's "Stoned Ape Theory"

If you're not already familiar with Terrence McKenna, you should be. McKenna was a philosopher/spiritual leader/psychedelic explorer/speaker/author/hash smuggler who experienced popularity with the counter-culture movement in the 80's and 90's. His most famous work is a book called Food of the Gods which introduced his "stoned ape theory." There's a lot of crazy-ass ideas being thrown about by "counter-culture" types, but this is one of those that sorta seems plausible, especially if you've done many psychotropic drugs.

Humans evolved from apes incredibly fast. Our brain size doubled in less than two million years. According to McKenna, this all happened because of psilocybin mushrooms. He began forming this theory when he observed wild baboons in Africa turning over cow pies looking for grubs. And ya know what else grows on cow shit? That's right, psychedelic mushrooms! It is entirely possible that apes would have unintentionally ingested these mushrooms along with their bugs.

Okay, so we've got a bunch of stoned apes but what does that have to do with evolution? First of all, very small doses of psilocybin greatly improve visual acuity. A monkey that sees better is going to be more successful with hunting and gathering. Therefore, the stoned ape is more likely to survive than his square brother. In slightly larger doses (we're still talking about very small amounts) the mushroom acts as a sexual stimulant, so the stoned ape breeds more too. The mushrooms also help to break down social boundaries so it's likely to help diversify (and thereby strengthen) the gene pool.

As the doses get even heavier (now we're cookin!) our ape begins to experience synesthesia. Sight and sound are all mixed up and linguistic thinking begins for the first time. Suddenly we've got a bunch of tripping, fucking, talking monkeys on our hands. Before you know it they've started a band:

Ah, fuck it. Let's just watch a cartoon.


Hear it (and much more cool shit) in McKenna's own words here.