Novelty music
 

i volunteer at my local college radio station and i got elected co-director of my music department. its my job to get music from labels and such.

so can anyone suggest novelty music that i might try and get for our library? stuff along the lines of weird al and tom lehrer. dr demento-esque.

my department also does spoken word, like jello biafra and poetry and such.

so yeah any suggestions would be great. thanks a bundle

try Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
It is quite eccentric, although i also found it very funny in some instances. After listening to it lots of times over, i really enjoy Although its quite different from anything esle.
Its also well regarded as one of the most important rock albums ever made, along with most of Captain Beefhearts other stuff, which i am waiting to hear with much anticipation.

April March - "Chick Habit"

Its more of an American take on French kitsch music. It's still really cool and everything, but it can really liven up a group as well. Good for at least a few listens, and then you can branch off into her other French tribute stuff and her punk workings.

Wesley Willis! Wesley Willis! Wesley Willis! Wesley Willis!

The man rules. The man tells it how it is!

Captain Beefheart was a serious musician, it wasn't a big damn joke, so his songs shouldn't really be billed as novelty. He did have some songs with novelty appeal like "big eyed beans from venus", but all in all he was quite a serious fellow. very serious, actually.

Frank Zappa, however, wrote many songs that you could use that are intentionally silly - "don't eat the yellow snow", "father o'blivion", "catholic girls", etc.

also try Primus, Mr. Bungle, Me First And The Gimme-Gimmes (they do lots of tv theme covers), david allen coe, and CKY.

the who made an excellent album of fake radio jingles and such - "the who sell out."

hope it helps!

i wasn't laughing at it as if it was stupid or something. As novelty mean something new or whatever. Captain Beefhaert is very different from anything i have ever heard of before, hence it has new or different sound. Thats why i suggested it. Not because i thought it was some stupid shit which everyone could laugh at as a joke. As i said before, i really enjoy listening to it. And i agree with most other saying that his contributions to the rock industry where very important. I also think Beefhearts work would be nmore aptly played in the vein of a novelty station (ie one who plays new or different music, it isn't always about funny lyrics and tongue in cheek etc) than a mainstream station alongside the likes of Britney spears and justin timberlake.

"thats right"

sorry if i snapped at you dude, just that novelty is a kind of music where both the artist and the listener know the music itself has little merit, and beefheart was a more serious songwriter, however goofy and nonsensical (he was dyslexic and almost illiterate you know) his lyrics were. He was one of the few avante gard-ists with a sense of humor.

as for his place on a novelty station, you're probably right.

play "big eyed beans"

first off, i didn't really take offence to yourself, i just wanted to put more justification on why i suggested it.

Although, its good to see another Beefheart fan ( i imagine you're one, given you were a little defensive about it and you know some). I only recently discovered some of his work so i am only new to it myself.

i gotta disagree somewhat on that. to me (because i dont think theres a standard definition for it) novelty music is just music that come from a novel idea (go figure). so everything from wesley willis to apes of god to zappa can -at times- be novelty. i think the dr demento part of it, is just the most popular one.

also its not really novelty station, its just one aspect of the department that im head of. if you want you can see what the station is all about here: WHRW.

thanks to everyone for the suggestions. the library is pretty freakin huge so we might actually have some of them already.
but keep 'em coming!

RE/Search's Incredibly Strange Music cds vol. 1 & 2 did wonders for me when I was in college radio. The mummy song in particular is fan-tastic. sk

everything ever written by wesley willis

If your looking for some spoken word Henry Rollins is a good choice...although some/most of it may have to be censored

Another funny guy is Red Peters. A lot of his stuff is a little "blue" but his record rep was cool about getting me radio edits of his stuff when I was in college. You may also want to consider picking up Dr. Demento (especially if the show's still free). If not, you CAN download his playlists for free on his website:http://www.drdemento.com

Check out Steven Lynch, great singer/songwriter comic. I don't know what all you can air, depends on your FCC standards for your station, and your personal taste.

P.S. I too work my college station, but I am in the prodution department.

If you want some international novelty music...

The band This Is Serious Mum, or TISM, is quite popular among Australian university students, and is pretty much completely novelty. Some songs wouldn't make sense unless you know something of Aussie pop culture and lifestyle, but most are universal, "All Homeboys Are Dickheads", "!uoy sevol nataS", "Defecate on my Face", "I may be a cunt, but I'm not a fucking cunt" and "Whatareya?" all being reasonably universally humourous in theme.

Tai Mai Shu has some good stuff, "Freestyle Chinese Rap" and "Chinese Chicken" are pretty funny. "Got Rice?" is okay, but mostly irritating.

'Stole My Car' by the Maori Bros is pretty good as well.

Oh! And Group X: Arabian Rap Sensation. A definite must.

Don't forget "Bitchin Camaro" by the Dead Milkmen. I second the Henry Rollins spoken word motion. Do you have any Spike Jones? "Der Fuhrer's Face" is hilarious.

Fish Karma

Get some of his stuff from 'The Wesley Willis Fiasco' days, before he became a solo act with his casio keyboard. Stuff like 'I Can't Drive', and 'Casper the Homosexual Friendly Ghost' are insane.
From the solo period, find stuff like 'Suck a Caribou's Ass' or anything about sucking any animal's privates. 'Rock n' Roll McDonald's' is also a classic, and it's a song that our 'growing' population needs to hear.

I saw him live 2 years ago. He got up in the middle of his set and announced "I'm going to the goddamn toilet!" and then came back 10 minutes later, shirtless. He would shout obscenities at anyone who tried to request songs, and he gave away headbutts at the end of the show.

Thanks for the suggestions. Some of this stuff I know is in the library but spread out into different sections. (It's all catagorized according to genre, so dead milkmen is in with alternative but definitly is novelty)

Don't worry about what can and can't get played. We can edit stuff fairly easily. FCC standards don't really vary from station to station as far as I know.

You've got to get some Barnes & Barnes. It's a classic and high on novelty value.

Feesh heads, feesh heads, rolly polly feesh heads
Feesh heads, feesh heads, eat them up, yum!