Tag Archives: 1980s

“Addicted To Spuds” by Weird Al Yankovic – LIVE on MTV’s New Year’s Eve Party 1987 – A Parody of “Addicted To Love” by Robert Palmer

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First off let me just say that today is National Potato Day. Personally I love potatoes. I like them prepared any which way. If it has potato in it, I’ll eat it. I’ll probably like it too. When I was a kid my Grandma made me the best potato pancakes on earth.

Yes I love the tuber but I am not ready to admit it. I am NOT “Addicted to Spuds”.

This track first appeared on Weird Al’s 1986 release, Polka Party. There is no official music video for it but Al did perform the song live many times. His 1980s performances featured a back up band of giant Mr Potato Heads.

There are a few instances of this on YouTube. All of them are low quality recordings. The audio on this is terrible but the performance is keen. Luckily someone found this on a VHS tape and uploaded it.

Top 10 Most Iconic Songs About The Radio – The Best of All Media Formats

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DJs on the radio are obsessed with music. Musicians sometimes write songs about the radio. Picture a Venn diagram. If you are obsessed with both the radio and music then this list is for you. I asked legendary radio pro Bart Shore to help us compile this list. I think we nailed it.

NUMBER TEN
“Transmission” by Joy Division

NUMBER NINE
“Radio Radio” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions

NUMBER EIGHT
“The Spirit of Radio” by Rush

NUMBER SEVEN
“Radio GaGa” by Queen

NUMBER SIX
“Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles

NUMBER FIVE
“I Can’t Live Without My Radio” by LL Cool J

NUMBER FOUR
“Mexican Radio” by Wall of Woodoo

NUMBER THREE
“On The Radio” by Donna Summer

NUMBER TWO
“Don’t Listen To The Radio” by The Vines

HONORABLE MENTIONS
“Satellite Radio” by Steve Earle
“Devil’s Radio” by George Harrison
“There Ain’t No Tits on The Radio” by Scissor Sisters
“You Turn Me On I’m A Radio” by Joni Mitchell
“Turn Up The Radio” by Autograph
“On The Radio” by The Selector

NUMBER ONE
“Wolfman Jack” by Todd Rundgrend

Trade ad for Wolfman’s radio show.  circa 1975

For this one, we have Bart Shore presenting from Time Warp Radio.


Wolfman Jack is considered to be the most iconic Radio DJ ever at this point. His name is synonymous with radio fame and that’s why a song about him made the top of our list. Todd Rundgrend was a great song writer. This track have been a little overlooked.

courtesy of discogs

This has gotten paradoxically meta. Is this Inception? Are we in the movie Inception right now?

-Wacky Alex & Bart Shore

“Sucking On A Chili Dog” parody of “Jack & Diane” by John Mellencamp

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Hell yeah! It’s National Chili Dog Day. You may know that I am from Detroit. What most people call a “Detroit-style” chili dog, we actually call a “Coney-Dog”, “Coney” or even “Coney Island”.

This style of hot dog was actually created by Greek immigrants that were living in Detroit after having spent a short time in New York City after entering the country. They borrowed the name from New York but invented it in Detroit.

A proper Detroit-style chili dog uses a ground beef based chili with no beans. It’s really just spiced up ground beef to be honest. Then you add chopped raw onions and mustard. That’s it. That’s a chili dog. I hope you can go suck on one today! And if you are in Detroit try the American Coney Island restaurant. I’d say they have the last word on the subject.

This goofy parody song has been done by a number of people. A guy named Tom McGovern got a lot of press about his version. The one embedded on this page appears to be the original but it is not the original upload. The original upload may have been taken down because of copyright issues. At this point the creator is unknown. If know who it is, let me know.

courtesy of the hopeless housewife

If you would like to try to make these or yourself, here is a recipe.

“Big Lizard” by The Dead Milkmen

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This is basically the title track to an amazing album Big Lizard in My Backyard. Of course it contains their big hit “Bitchin’ Camero”. I also love “Swordfish”, “Right Wing Pigeons”, & “Nutrition”. It’s a blast to just listen to the album straight through.

The story behind the song reminds me of Little Shop of Horrors. Rather than a plant that grows too large and gets out of control, it’s a big lizard.

Back in the early 90s my best friend had the album on cassette. I have it on CD now but I would love to find the LP in good condition.

I got to see The Dead Milkmen perform at the Phoenix Amphitheater in Pontiac. They were great and lived up to their zany reputation.

courtesy of discogs

The image above is of the cassette release. It’s sideways or “landscape” rather than the typical “portrait” orientation.

“Vibrator” by Prince & Vanity – Unreleased 1983 Demo – Yeah THAT kind of Vibrator

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The song was written by Prince for Vanity 6 back in 1983. It was intended to appear on the second Vanity 6 album timed to release around the same time as the movie Purple Rain.

Vanity (the singer) and Prince ended their romantic relationship around this time. She was also unhappy with her royalties and pay. So she decided to leave the group and not to participate in the Purple Rain movie. The album and the song were shelved and never officially released.

The rather long track is a tribute to a battery-powered sex toy. The narrator (Vanity) reaches for her vibrator. When the batteries run out, she goes to a store and encounters a clerk, who offers to “carry it downstairs” and install new batteries. The narrator then takes the device to a different store, where she meets a cashier (Prince in his Jamie Starr accent). The cashier gives her the batteries and sends her out of the door.

The song concludes with the narrator achieving orgasm. Nice. I can only imagine what Tipper Gore would have said.

This demo leaked long ago. So far every example that I have found includes the sound of cassette tape hiss. They are from a cassette with a rough mix demo that Prince handed out in limited number. The example that appears on soundcloud is someone’s remaster of the track.

It is unclear if Prince’s Estate will release this song in the future. Vanity sadly passed away in 2016, the same year Prince died.

source: PrinceVault

“Tequila” by The Champs (as seen in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure) PLUS Collecting The Vinyl & Cassettes

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Today is National Tequila Day and I can’t think of a better track to mark the occasion. I don’t drink hard liquor anymore but I used to enjoy Tequila shots.

“Tequila” by The Champs was first released in 1958 and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released in 1987 as the demand for the track suddenly rose because of it’s appearance in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.

It was available as a 7 inch 45 RPM disc. That version have a long and short version on sides A and B. It had a similar cover to what we see below, which is the 12 inch 45 RPM version.

The surprising thing about the 12 inch version is that the B side contains a rather wacky hip hop track called “Pee-Wee’s Dance” by Joeski Love.

courtesy of discogs
courtesy of discogs

Now I have a new record to add to my list of “grails”. If you are not a vinyl collector, let me explain what a “grail” is. The term comes from the Monte Python movie Quest For The Holy Grail. The records on a collector’s list of grails are usually hard to find items that may have special appeal to the collector.

It was released as a single in it’s own right. As a kid I remember hearing the Joeski Love track on the radio. I had a compilation cassette called Rap’s Greatest Hits that included the song. I used to bump this in my little boom box all day. I would love to find this on vinyl in good condition.

By now you must be wondering what this song sounded like. Well we won’t let you down! Here it is!

Note that the vocals are a little too low in the mix and hard to understand. It’s not you. They needed a better compressor on the vocals. I hope someone finds the master tapes and does up a nice new mix. Then they can re-issue the 12 inch double single again as a remaster.

TAKE MY MONEY!

CD Collecting : Recited, Sung & Shouted by Shel Silverstein

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I am thrilled to have these two CDs in my hands. I found them on amazon but they came used from the goodwill. Both are in great condition. Great is that space between good and excellent.

As a kid I had both Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic in book form. I read the poems over and over to myself, friends, and family. These books helped me understand humor in a way that no other children’s book could.

I find them to be priceless and I recommend them to any child ages 6 to 12. When I was that age, it seemed like every kid wanted a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Adults will enjoy reading the poems to their kids too. Here is a favorite of mine called “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out”. Let’s listen to the man himself.

I challenge everyone on the internet to record themselves reciting a poem from one of these two books. Upload it to YouTube. Let’s start an online challenge that does not cause bodily harm but instead feeds the soul.

“Hip To Be The Sandman” a mashup of “Hip To Be Square” by Huey Lewis & The News and “Enter Sandman” by Metallica

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Created by Bill McClintock, here we have a strange combination of musical styles that never quite mesh. Party-pop vs a thrasher. It’s entertaining to say the least. And there is a lot more where that came from.

I did embed a video on this blog, but I recommend skipping the videos, and go directly to his audio page. The sound quality is better and you can download the audio. You’ll find quite a few gems in there.