Monday, September 21, 2009

The Best of The World of Wonder: Billy & The Boingers!


If you grew up in the 80s you were privy to two of the greatest comics of all time. One was Calvin and Hobbes and the other was Bloom County. In fact, I dare say that Bloom County might be the greatest comic ever. In 1986, smack dab in the middle of the hair band regime, the story line of Bloom County turned towards the characters forming a band called "Deathtöngue". The band was created by lawyer Steve Dallas and their first single, "Demon Drooler of the Sewer" (which sold with "Leper Lover") peaked at 1,012 on the Top 100 list. Their record deal with CBS Records fell through because of explicit lyrics on their song, "Let's Run Over Lionel Ritchie with a Tank." During congressional hearings on "porn rock," Dallas, under grilling by the wives of several congressmen, completely caved into congressional pressure and announced the band had changed their name and image. The rechristened "Billy and the Boingers" embarked on their first world tour, sponsored by Dr. Scholl's Odor Eaters, which consisted of a single gig: the Moose Lodge in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was around this time that Berkley Breathed, the creator of Bloom County, announced a songwriting competition for what would be the real first single from Billy and The Boingers. Two entrants were picked for a flexi-disc that was released with a collection of the strips entitled,"Billy and The Boingers Bootleg". The songs were "I'm a Boinger", written and played by the Harry Pitts Band, and "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U", written and performed by the band Mucky Pup. Here now are those songs! Enjoy!

Billy and The Boingers

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I well remember carefullt removing the acetate from the book and cueing it up. What a hoot! Thanks for rekindling the memories.

And yes Bloom County rules.

Cheers, SamIam

Anonymous said...

thanks a lot.
your right, bloom county was great!! It was my favorite in the 80's.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for making these songs available. I love Bloom County so much.

Anonymous said...

wow...i remember having to flatten this one out under a pile of books because it began to warp.

thanks for the memory!

Otto said...

Now that you've posted Billy and the Boingers, any chance you could post the (Doonesbury) Jimmy Thudpucker album of long ago? That's one I have on vinyl but would love to get ahold of electronically...

Thanks for all the great music,
David M.

FilmFather said...

I've still got the flexi-disc and the Bootleg book in a box somewhere. I think I also still have the Boingers t-shirt, with all the tour dates on the back stamped CANCELLED -- except Albuquerque(?), which was SOLD OUT.

Great blog; I found you through a comment you left on '70s Child.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin