OK, you're all in trouble. Why am I only just now learning about Happy Flowers? Noisy, disturbing/hilarious songs written from the perspective of a toddler? Band members named Mr. Anus and Mr. Horribly Charred Infant? Covers of Big Star, Michael Schenker, and Silver Apples on the same album? These guys were obviously geniuses way ahead of their time, and I missed the whole thing. They even had a 20th anniversary reunion show in 2004 and I still had no idea who they were. Fortunately we can all experience the whole delirious thing via the magic of youtube (audio NSFW right off the bat).
Well, in case you also happened to miss the Happy Flowers train, please take this moment to familiarize yourself as much as possible, and tip your hat once again to the supreme coolness of the KCMU DJ population.
"A new direction for Mr. Anus and Mr. Horribly Charred Infant. 'Pudger' (Pudge) was my nickname when I was very young.""Quite a step up to 'Rat Boy.' Mom must be proud."
"I listened closely and heard no 'red dots.' Just don't say the title of 2-3. The music is noisy but there's a real shift in some places to Butthole Surfer metal and weird/exotic/short instrumentals (1-6 and 2-3). Lyrically, the Flowers are growing up and out of the kid stuff, though it is still there in some songs. Try 1-6, 1-7, 2-3, 2-7."'Rock Bottom' was originally done by the Michael Schenker Group. '13' was originally done by Big Star. 'A Pox on You' was originally done by a group called Silver Apples in NYC in the '70s."
"Pull off its head!!"
"I want to marry the song 'We Rock.'"
I don't know how much needs to be said about Hasil "Haze" Adkins that wouldn't be better communicated by merely listening to any of the approximately one million songs he recorded to various fidelities of tape over his fifty-ish year career. The first song I ever heard by Mr. Adkins (thanks to a ca…
If you're my age and MTV was a huge part of your musical awakening, this album (or really its hit single "Goody Two-Shoes") was your first exposure to the artist known as Adam Ant. And you probably thought it was pretty cool. But if you were a college radio DJ at the time, and had been enjoying the…
