This selection is a total lie in order to both expand the list of albums I'm talking about and to tell more goofy stories, which I have demonstrated a willingness to do for any reason I can think of.
It does not really belong on the Mighty Catchy Top ten, however there are three excellent reasons for it being here.
A) What should be the real holder of a place on this list is the third 100 minute tape that lived in the TDK pouch in the car, was and is constantly used while working around the house, was used by my Mom as her regular "Painting Tape," and is the only instrumental music my daughter doesn't skip on our drives. Due to continued acquisitions it evolved into a playlist that is ALWAYS on my device.
It is GODZILLA MUSIC. The original tape had the History of Godzilla Volume 1 (Showa) and 2 (Heisei) plus an import with early Showa era tracks and trailers on it.
It is truly a crime that a volume 3 (for Millennium) of the History CDs never came out, nor additional volumes of the one with the Trailers either.
My collection has since expanded with a Volume 2 of another Showa import set to get more representation of the latter half of those films, including the incredibly catchy music from Hedorah and Megalon.
Another crime is the lack of the lyrics to the Jet Jaguar song on any of these albums. At least the new one says, "PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH" over the instrumental.
There's also Bear McCreary's awesome use of classic Kaiju tunes with a modern bent in the amazing Godzilla King of the Monsters soundtrack.
However, I have written ENDLESSLY about Godzilla and will continue to do so in the future with only minor provocation. I even revisited the music specifically when talking about soundtracks in the over bloated film lists I obsessed over for a while. Therefore, though Godzilla tunes are both Mighty and Catchy, I used this spot to write about something else.
B) This bizarre CD by a British Sketch comedy act featuring Paul McCartney's brother is a perfect example of a kind of album I love to have on in the car that doesn't really rate as a Top Ten ranking for me personally. It is one of those recordings that are delightfully weird, which I live to see peoples reactions to. This dates back to bringing the cassette recordings of the Doctor Demento Twentieth Anniversary "Decades" album set Up the Lake, starting before I was old enough to drive, to introduce multiple generations of kids to wacky and fun songs.
Interesting novelty music trivia based on multiple test groups:
All boys age 8-10 think "Shaving Cream" is the funniest thing ever.
and
All early teen age girls think "The Cockroach that Ate Cincinnati" is a great song.
The albums falling under this classification include:
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 albums, both original and Netflix.
Saturday Mornings Greatest Hits, featuring classic cartoon themes sung by alternative bands
Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits from the Homestarrunner page.
Modern Music for Swinging Superheroes from Cartoon Planet featuring Space Ghost, Zorak and the ever awesome Brak,
These are not merely for my solo entertainment. They are for me to be entertained by other people's reactions to them.
It's kind of like why I own films like Howard the Duck, or Super Infra Man.
Yes, of course I enjoy watching them,
but I get much greater enjoyment out of watching others watch them.
C) The Scaffold has a great story associated with a particular song on it.
In my defense for this long and meandering explanation, the album is catchy as anything.
Their signature song "Lilly the Pink" is a hoot and will get stuck in your head forever.
Other tracks such as "Today's Monday," "Good Bat Night Man," "Ging Gang Goolie," "Thank You Very Much" and "Liverpool Lou" are all both insanely catchy and funny.
The reason I own this album goes back to a Sunday night in the Bowling Alley Room of the E-Dorms.
Jesse and I had turned in for the night, contrairy to our usual operating procedure, getting some rest before a week of classes. The Doctor Demento Show was on the stereo, but Jesse wasn't taping it that week. We were both pretty stressed and wiped out. (As per the norm at RPI.) It was impossible to determine if what happened was a shared dream experience, or a song at the end of the show: a weird little number called "Three Blind Jellyfish."
It was a maudlin repetition song counting down about three blind jellyfish,
three blind jellyfish
three BLIIIIIIND JELLYYYYYfi-ish
sitting...
on...
a rock.
and one fell off.
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
Until they were all gone.
"OH NOOOO!"
Then, with a it switched to peppy music counting up following-
"And one jumped back on.
HOORAY!!!!"
Before switching back to them falling off yet again.
Jesse and I, in our half asleep, and burned out state, were wracked by falling on the floor hysterics as the song went on for what felt like hours.
The next morning, we weren't sure if we heard it or made it up, but continued to talk about it and sing it all week.
Decades of searching found other versions of it, but not the one we'd heard.
That is...
Until one day, I found the Scaffold on YouTube and with a bit more digging learned only one particular, harder to find version of their Best of CD had "Three Blind Jellyfish" on it.
Vindicated, I bought one for me, and one for Jesse immediately.
And that album has been on my phone ever since.
Come back next week for the greatest, and MIGHTIEST instrumental soundtrack OF ALL TIME..
I thought that was all a dream!
ReplyDeleteSo did I for a long time. That's why I bought two copies.
ReplyDelete