Thursday, May 15, 2003
Screamin' Jay Hawkins recorded "Constipation Blues" but did not explore the theme as the Anachronisms have.
The Fugs did "River of Shit", but it was metaphorical shit. I also may be wrong about the dramatic content of "Johnny Pissoff." Now that I think of it, it seems chiefly to consist of the National Teenage Haiku Contest:
Do not tell me
I am source of your knock-up.
The mud elephant wading through the sea
Leaves no tracks.
I'm sure I heard the Fugs but they're a bit vague in my memory; I should try to reacquaint myself. But you're dead-on about Zappa.
I don't think the Anachros are into product endorsement as such; I guess Oat Bran Blues isn't as specific as Bran Buds but it's reasonably clear that if it improves bowel performance the Anchovies are for it, for a very large range of vales of "it". As Wentworth Sutton's classic piece ("Inward and Upward") points out, the "lads" are almost certainly unique in popular culture for their willingness to confront the bowel. Other than Blind Drunk's "All Bran", which is, of course, a parody of The Trogg's "Wild Thing", it's hard to come up with any titles that explore these nether regions. Even Roy Harper has shied away. I can think of the wonderful couplet (I've got a brother and he's one year old/he's got a zappy little nappy/he squeezes the contents through the cot rails/what a very crappy little chappie) from "Feeling All the Saturday", but that's about it. For all their supposed shock value, the punk wave and Goth/Heavy Metal purveyors seem to have stayed away from matters fecal, although I'd be delighted hear otherwise.
I don't think the Anachros are into product endorsement as such; I guess Oat Bran Blues isn't as specific as Bran Buds but it's reasonably clear that if it improves bowel performance the Anchovies are for it, for a very large range of vales of "it". As Wentworth Sutton's classic piece ("Inward and Upward") points out, the "lads" are almost certainly unique in popular culture for their willingness to confront the bowel. Other than Blind Drunk's "All Bran", which is, of course, a parody of The Trogg's "Wild Thing", it's hard to come up with any titles that explore these nether regions. Even Roy Harper has shied away. I can think of the wonderful couplet (I've got a brother and he's one year old/he's got a zappy little nappy/he squeezes the contents through the cot rails/what a very crappy little chappie) from "Feeling All the Saturday", but that's about it. For all their supposed shock value, the punk wave and Goth/Heavy Metal purveyors seem to have stayed away from matters fecal, although I'd be delighted hear otherwise.
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Metamucil? Aren't the Anachronisms proponents of Bran Buds?
Other groups which should be considered as precursors of the Anachronisms are Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and the Fugs. In particular, both groups incorporated the dramatic into their work. That probably hasn't been noted often about the Fugs, but "Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel" is clearly a dramatic work.
So perhaps the Anachronisms should be considered as metageneric as well.
