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The titles listed below are either titles of albums by punk bands or titles of programs that air on The Learning Channel (TLC) in the United States. The answer to each can be found by highlighting the area following each entry. See how many you can correctly identify!
- Addicted To Food ...is a program on TLC.
- What Makes A Man Start Fires? ...is an album by Minutemen.
- Real Wolf Kids ...is a program on TLC.
- Superhuman Strength ...is a program on TLC.
- Half Alive ...is an album by Suicide.
- Plastic Surgery Disasters ...is an album by Dead Kennedys.
- Shrinking The World's Heaviest Man ...is a program on TLC.
- Animal Boy ...is an album by Ramones.
- I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant ...is a program on TLC.
- Half Man, Half Tree ...is a program on TLC.
- The Baby Who Changed Colors ...is a program on TLC.
- It's Still Living ...is an album by The Birthday Party.
Squeeze formed in London around 1975, and originally contained five members: Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar), Jools Holland (piano, keyboards), Harry Kakoulli (bass), Chris Difford (guitar, vocals), and Paul Gunn (drums). Gunn would be replaced by Gilson Lavis before the group began recording its first release. From 1975 to 1998, the pop outfit recorded and released twelve studio albums and countless B-sides, broke up, re-united, and saw the arrival and/or departure of around twenty band members. When held up against many of their British contemporaries, Squeeze's albums managed to slip into America relatively unscathed. Only those which have been futzed with are listed below.
Squeeze (1978): A legal problem surfaced when Squeeze crossed the Atlantic: a group with the same name (though some reports state the band in question was actually named "Tight Squeeze") had taken legal action to keep the British group from encroaching on their turf. In order to placate the American group, the first Squeeze album was sold in North America under the name U.K. Squeeze, and the band was identified in the same manner. The album covers were altered for this reason, but other than that, the U.S. version of the record was the same as the original. The American group broke up later that same year, and Squeeze was able to revert back to their original name. In Australia, the band continued to be identified as U.K. Squeeze, in order to avoid confusion with an Australian group.
Cool For Cats (1979): The original incarnation of "Goodbye Girl" contained the line 'My wife has moved to Guernsey' in the final verse, but was re-recorded for U.S. single releases replacing 'Guernsey' with either 'Boston' or 'Jersey'. Other terms like 'pool room' and 'waistcoat' were also substituted. Additionally, the music for each was mixed differently. Truth be told, I'm not even certain if any of these changes apply to the track on the Cool For Cats album, as there are so many recordings floating around out there that its hard to keep track.
Argybargy (1980): "If I Didn't Love You" was released as a single in the U.S., though not in the U.K. Buried in the middle of Side 2 of Argybargy, A&M Records felt it would better for U.S. audiences to have this track at the top of the album side. The album's running order was altered to make this accomodation, though no tracks were removed or added.
East Side Story (1981): The song "Mumbo Jumbo" contained the line "And now and then, a little Arab friend / She would saddle". Though it referred to an Arabian horse, the racial double-entendre didn't pass the smell test with A&M, and was changed to "And it's now, and now it's then / She would saddle" on the American release.
Singles 45's And Under (1982): This collection of twelve singles on one album originally contained "Labelled With Love" in its British incarnation. Across the pond, this song would be axed to make space for "If I Didn't Love You", previously mentioned for being a single in America but not Britain. To confuse the issue further, North American vinyl and cassette releases contain the "Boston" take of Goodbye Girl, while the compact discs would revert to the "Jersey" mix.
Ridiculous (1995): The original album cover, showing a person and a monkey against a white background was scrapped for American release and replaced with an image of a muscleman performing an impressive card trick. In 2008, the CD remaster and re-releases featured the U.K. cover.
Hard as it is to believe, the most expensive and stressful time of year can just make some people want to hide their faces and wish they were somebody else...
The Snowmen: Four fellows decked out in snowman outfits released the novelty single "Hokey Cokey" in 1981 to good reception in the UK. The quartet was long believed to be Ian Dury and the Blockheads, due to the raspy, Dury-like mumbling of the lead singer and the record's release on Stiff Records. A visit to Stiff's official website reveals the true identity of the performer to be Martin Kershaw. The Snowmen who posed for the single sleeve photo and performed on television are still unknown.
Aside: "Hokey Cokey" is the British version of the party dance and song known in other parts of the world as "Hokey Pokey" or "Hokey Tokey". So any drug-related puns involving the name "Snowmen" are likely dead-ends!
The Three Wise Men: Throughout their career, XTC loved taking on different personas. They released an EP and an album as the obscure 60's group The Dukes Of Stratosphear, and even contributed a song to a tribute album under the pseudonym Terry And The Lovemen. (It was an XTC tribute album, by the way!) The band took on the identity of The Three Wise Men for the one-off single "Thanks For Christmas" b/w "Countdown To Christmas Party Time" on Virgin in 1983, even going so far as to credit songwriting to Kaspar / Melchior / Balthazar, who were, of course, the original three wise men. The label promoted the record with a press release challenging the public to pick out the true artists from the Virgin roster, reading in part, "Could it be Culture Club, Human League, Heaven 17, China Crisis or even Slapp Happy?". The clue came at the beginning, quoting the first line of "The Twelve Days Of Christmas", however the Partridge in this pear tree was a very subtle reference to XTC's frontman Andy Partridge.
Ivory And The Brain Eaters: If anyone in the music industry knows the ins and outs of going incognito, it's The Residents. In nearly forty years of recording, performing, and mind-bending, the members of this group have never revealed their identities. 1972 saw the release of Santa Dog, the debut recording from The Residents and their self-built label Ralph Records. The EP contained four songs, each attributed to a different group and given a unique songwriting credit. The songs were entitled "Fire", "Explosion", "Lightning", and "Aircraft Damage", and the sleeve was cleverly designed to take on the appearance of a promotional item from an insurance company. "Fire", better known as "Santa Dog", was credited to Ivory And The Brain Eaters. This would be the first of many versions of this song which the band would go back to re-record at several intervals through the years.
The Yobs: And now, the best-known of them all! They started as The Boys, a punk group of both British and Norwegian origin who signed to NEMS Records in 1977. As a way of earning some extra money for Christmas gifts, the band bootlegged their own single "Run Rudolph Run", and signed into the studio under the new moniker The Yobs, as NEMS Records was on some hard times and owed money to several studios in London. The following year, The Yobs resurfaced with "Silent Night", and again in 1979 with "Rub A Dum Dum (Little Drummer Boy)". Several compilation albums have been released, including Yobs treatments of such holiday standards as "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and "Silver Bells".
sources:
Stiff Records official website
TheBoys.co.uk
Chalkhills: The XTC Site
The Residents' Historical
These days, it's hard to name a TV series which hasn't had at least a few episodes released on DVD, even (read: especially) animated series. Warner Bros. has recently put out DVD compilations of episodes of series such as Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, and Pinky and The Brain. There is one animated TV series from this same era that Warner Bros. will probably never release though, and the reason may not be what you think it is.
Taz-Mania, a series which aired on Fox in the U.S., was centered around the life of Taz, best known as one of Bugs Bunny's numerous antagonists. The series was set in his home of Tasmania (or Tazmania) and introduced viewers to his family, as well as friends and neighbors, many of which were various Australian wildlife.
The voice and mannerisms of Taz's father were modeled after legendary crooner Bing Crosby. As Crosby was once a pitchman for Minute Maid orange juice, one common gag featured Taz's dad suddenly extolling the virtues of orange juice, or "O.J." as he called it, as a non sequitir. Believe it or not, this is where the trouble began.
Unusual though it may seem, [name redacted] trademarked the term "O.J." when he learned there was no current or previous ownership of it. Because of this, commercials and printed ads for orange juice brands no longer use the abbreviation, as they would have to pay royalties on it, or risk being sued. Likewise, Taz-Mania is now in legal limbo, as Taz's father appeared in most episodes and brought up the subject of orange juice on a regular basis. As there seems to be no other appropriate term to overdub as a replacement, and edits would be extensive, the series is now collecting dust and no plans for a DVD release are forthcoming or even being considered.
