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Underground > Radio & Music >

'Novelty' records

15:43 / 22.12.01

I got a beautiful little record yesterday.

It was This Isn't It by The Diff'rent Strokes

It's Casio keyboard covers of Strokes tunes - and it's quite lovely as it is, and a great Christmas soundtrack.

But most people will dismiss it as being wilfully 'ironic.' And this happens with a lot of music which I like.

So am I the only person to see the worth in the Novelty Single?

If not, which ones do you like, and why?

Please, don't be ironic....

A

08:47 / 24.12.01

I love the novelty record. One of the problems with music today is the lack of good novelty records. I'm in no mood to post about all my favourites right now, but i shall soon.

08:04 / 27.12.01

I'm a bit of a sucker for novelty records.

Like, er,

'Cognoscenti Vs. Intellegensia' by The Cuban Boys! Novelty Record of the decade!

08:07 / 27.12.01

My all time favourite novelty record is by Marvin the Paranoid Android from Hitch-hikers'. I can't remember the title - probably "Don't Talk To Me About Life" or something. The B-Side was called "Metal Man", I think.

12:50 / 27.12.01

I'm sufficiently old and sufficiently cranky that everything I hear on the radio sounds like a novelty song to me.

"Wacky" ironic covers. The so-called ska revival. Hip-hop tunes with big obvious samples. Intentionally cartoonish pop-punk. Big Beat techno with sampled movie dialogue.

In short, the entire careers of Chumbawamba, Marilyn Manson, Save Ferris, Blink-182, Green Day, Puff Daddy, and a zillion chart-topping one-hit wonders.

Look at some big hits of the last couple years:

Afroman's "Because I Got High"
Lou Bega's "Mambo #5"
Sisquo's "The Thong Song"
Alien Ant Farm's "Smooth Criminal"
Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out?"
Propellorheads' "Bang On!"
Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life"

...Christ, I haven't the heart to go on. It's all enough to make me yearn for the triumphant return of Rolf Harris and his wobble-board.

[ 27-12-2001: Message edited by: Jack Fear ]

13:12 / 27.12.01

Rolf Harris a novelty act? Gasp. Such heresy.

"Two Little Boys" always brings a tear to my eye.

And when I hear the haunting refrain: "sun ari-ise, early in tha mow-ow-nin'", well my legs go all wobbly. It's an ambient classic.

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:13 / 27.12.01

quote:Originally posted by Jack Fear:
It's all enough to make me yearn for the triumphant return of Rolf Harris and his wobble-board.Hie thee from me, Satan.

You must've missed the "ironic" Rolf Revival that happened a couple of years ago. With his releasing an album of covers of rock songs.

[ 27-12-2001: Message edited by: The Return Of Rothkoid ]

08:43 / 28.12.01

Cartman singing 'I'm Sailing Away'. That foulmouthed little cartoon kid nearly broke my heart...

13:08 / 28.12.01

I bought the School House Rocks cd...all the songs from the cartoon done by actual bands.

21:07 / 28.12.01

quote:Originally posted by Jack Fear:
I'm sufficiently old and sufficiently cranky that everything I hear on the radio sounds like a novelty song to me.

%As opposed to the old days, when every hit song was a rousing, heart-breaking musical classic, goshdarnit!%

except for, um, the Monster Mash and My Dingaling and Fire and Yellow Submarine and Big Bad John and Bohemian Rhapsody and School's Out and so on..

11:55 / 29.12.01

quote:Originally posted by Rizla Year Zero:
I'm a bit of a sucker for novelty records.

Like, er,

'Cognoscenti Vs. Intellegensia' by The Cuban Boys! Novelty Record of the decade!

yes, Yes, YES, YES, YES!

What an amazing tune. Has anyone heard the album? I was thinking of getting it. Awesome video, too.

Novelty music is fine by me. The dark kings are V/VM, who are sound like your average pop novelty spun through a mincer, and then vomited on by Chris Morris. How they get away without being sued I’ll never know.

Then there’s the KLF. I have nothing but love for everything they’ve put their hands to. And Aqua. And Pizzicato 5. The best novelty music just sounds poignant, heartfelt and effecting to me.

15:52 / 29.12.01

arrrrrgh! Jack, don't lump Chumbawamba in with all that crap. They've been making absolutely brilliant music since about 1981. Their "English Rebel Songs" is an acapella folk album encompassing music from the 1300's to the 1900's. I really love this band, but since their one radio hit everyone thinks they're poppy nonsense. "Anarchy" is one of the great records of the last 20 years.

(Of course, you might have heard all their old stuff and still feel that way, in which case I'm a little embarrased of my rant

)

Mike Flowers Pops anyone?
Jaymz Bee and the Jelly Orchestra - lounge covers of contemporary hits.

What about Apocalyptica? They're a quartet of cellists who cover Metallica. Quite good.

Zoom.

17:21 / 29.12.01

quote:Originally posted by Captain Zoom:
arrrrrgh! Jack, don't lump Chumbawamba in with all that crap. ... (Of course, you might have heard all their old stuff and still feel that way, in which case I'm a little embarrased of my rant )Why, Zoom... you're blushing!

Let's have a look at Chumbawamba's career, shall we?

An anti-Geldof screed entitled Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records. A band member called Boff. Another surnamed Nobacon... who wears a skirt. Alice wearing a nun costume and doing little skits onstage. The aforementioned English Rebel Songs (which, I would argue, is in fact their most most gimmicky album). The obnoxiously right-on politics--politics which have gained them more media attention than the the music, in fact. The "censored in the USA" liner notes of Tubthumping. The dumping of water on a cabinet minister. Et cetera and bleedin' so forth.

...nahh, no whiff of a novelty act there, huh?

18:17 / 29.12.01

[Jack make Zoom feel 2 inches tall. Zoom going to cave to sulk]

Well, enough of that.

I love 'em.

Wait til someone has the balls to list Weird Al as a novelty. Then you'll see a real rant!

Zoom.

20:48 / 29.12.01

quote:Originally posted by Captain Zoom:
Wait til someone has the balls to list Weird Al as a novelty.Nobody could be so vulgar as to overstate the obvious.

05:49 / 30.12.01

Yeah, but what Jack fails to mention is that he really likes Chumbawamba. Who else but a fan would have even heard of English Rebel Songs?

I love novelty records. One of my favourites is Killdozer's 'Uncompromising War on Art Under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat', a concept album based on the premise that Killdozer are completely humourless, hardline Marxist-Leninists. The sleevenotes include mini-essays explaining the materialist themes of each song, complete with extensive and spurious footnotes. The high point is "Knuckles the Dog (who helps people)", about a selfless canine militant who is eventually murdered by evil capitalists.

Other favourites: The Fat Boys' "rap opera", 'On and On', predating MTV's Carmen by a decade or so, and featuring Dr Dre on the Yo!verture and After(word!). Also, the FBs cover of Wipeout! Australian indie acts like TISM ("Defecate on my face", "I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix") and No Waver ("No One Likes You," a stomping up-beat disco-house track with taunting schoolboy vocals chanting 'we're gonna get you after school, no one likes you' over and over) - I don't know, a lot of songs I like I can't decide if they're novelty songs or not. Is Ethyl Meatplow's 'Devil's Johnson' a novelty song? Tribe 8's 'Wrong Bathroom'? Pulp's 'Common People'? Sun Ra's 'Rocket Number 9'? Anything by Atari Teenage Riot, Chicks on Speed, Dr Octagon or Le Tigre?

Is calling a track a novelty song just a way of saying you don't take it seriously? Confused now.

15:40 / 01.01.02

quote:Originally posted by Dread Pirate Crunchy:
Is calling a track a novelty song just a way of saying you don't take it seriously? Not at all. "Peace Mango," for instance, is undeniably a novelty song: but if it succeeds in magickally triggering a global change, then it will be The Most Important Song Ever--which means it must be taken very seriously indeed.

The root of the word "novelty" is that which is new: but the word "novel" in common parlance refers to something unique, different, or strange: so with novelty records.

In practical terms, this translates into music that is memorable for extramusical reasons--that is, for something other than, or in addition to, the music itself: the novelty of parody songs lies in their relationship to their referents, for instance.

A "novelty" record may be novel in its performance style (Todd Rundgren's A Cappella), its overriding concept/conceit (English Rebel Songs), its production technique ("Flying Saucer" and its jillions of descendents), its instrumental approach (Switched-On Bach, or the Diff'rent Strokes record that started this thread), its politics, its reference to other musics (parodies and pastiches, Puff Daddy's most obvious samples/rewrites) and/or current events...

Basically, a novelty record is any record that stands out from the pack for reasons other than its own sheer excellence--although novelty alone neither precludes nor guarantees excellence.

That's my thought, anyway.

[ 01-01-2002: Message edited by: Jack Fear ]

13:16 / 27.10.06

Novelty records also play with boundaries in ways "straight" records can't.

Like this thing I just found, from when Eminem wouldn't give Weird Al Yankovic permission to do a video for a parody song. So Weird Al does a parody interview. I can't tell if it counts as a video or not.

But it's funny. Messes with your expectations, too.