His college master’s thesis was on the evolution of rhythm and blues. But it was changing radio formats that did in his syndicated show, said Demento, 69, who in a parallel life is Barret Hansen, music writer and ethnomusicologist. Over the decades, Demento, who was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame last year, has kept his playlists contemporary. He had planned to stop syndicating it this month until he learned a college station in Amarillo, Texas, had committed to airing it through the summer. Recently, however, the radio stations carrying Demento’s show declined to fewer than a dozen. “He kept my whole career alive by playing Freberg records constantly,” says Stan Freberg, the Grammy-winning song satirist who, at 83, continues to write and perform comedy music and make public appearances. So are trashy surf instrumentals and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (particularly as interpreted by Joan Jett, who crisply and compellingly covers “Science Fiction/Double Feature” here) and outsider artists from the 1960s and 1970s and lo-fi weirdoes.Media Res Taps Michael McCormick to Lead Physical Production (Exclusive) That’s the thing about punk: its definition is broad to the point of meaninglessness. Demento Show favorites like Barnes & Barnes’ “Fish Heads” and Ogden Edsl’s “Dead Puppies”, William Shatner and Adam West William Shatnering and Adam Westing their way through covers of “Garbage Man” and “The Thing” ,respectively, and a whole bunch of stuff that, in the grand novelty song tradition, does not need to be heard twice or even once, for that matter.ĭo I need to hear Brak from Space Ghost: Coast to Coast cover Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized” ever again? Oh God no, but I suppose I am glad that it exists and that at least now I can go to my grave never having to wonder what it would be like if the Adult Swim fan favorite were to sing a seminal punk anthem of ironic angst. In that respect, Covered in Punk is a blast from the past in more ways than one, a slickly produced exercise in old-timey punk nostalgia featuring punked-up covers of The Dr. One of my only regrets about Weird Al: The Book is that I never got an opportunity to talk to him for it. How could I not? He brought “Weird Al” Yankovic into my lives as well as those of everyone else’s. I would suggest that it’s worth your money as well.Īnd, of course I have a deep nostalgic and emotional connection to The Dr. I figure that anything that features both American pop parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic covering The Ramone’s “Beat on the Brat” (which is a great song but dreadful parenting advice) and Jon Wurster, in character as Philly Boy Roy, doing a Philadelphia-centric version of “Punk Rock Girl” was worth my money. That is certainly the case with the double-disc CD Dr. So I buy very few albums these days, and the new albums I buy have a tendency to feel old as fuck. That was, of course, before I failed as a music critic en route to also failing as a mommy blogger, staff writer, head writer, television critic and ultimately film critic. For a very long time, I did not buy many, if any, new records for a very simple reason: if I wanted something, I could almost invariably get it for free, and probably before its release date, due to my profession as a music critic for The A.V Club.
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