"Lost Penis" is not really a good name for a song
April 4, 2018 8:03 AM Subscribe
"['Detachable Penis'] was a nice little New York underground art-poetry scene thing that somehow burbled up into your MTV/SPIN world."
The Beavis and Butt-Head scene in question
The Beavis and Butt-Head scene in question
I used to be a college DJ. I used to play this song a lot. I am not proud of this, but I will not apologize.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:12 AM on April 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by cjorgensen at 8:12 AM on April 4, 2018 [18 favorites]
I was also a college DJ, except I played Cheesecake Truck, which is arguably a much better song. Mainly because it's much shorter and it doesn't have any penis in it.
posted by loquacious at 8:16 AM on April 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by loquacious at 8:16 AM on April 4, 2018 [9 favorites]
That last record we did I thought had a lot of good stuff on it, but you know what it was missing? It didn’t have any songs with the word “penis” in them. After a couple of weeks, the record company was like, “They don’t have any penis songs, so let’s move on to the next group.” I think we did another pass around the country and then it was, “Goodnight, funnymen!”
Live by the penis, die by the lack of penis I guess.
posted by Kikujiro's Summer at 8:16 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Live by the penis, die by the lack of penis I guess.
posted by Kikujiro's Summer at 8:16 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I remember in the late 90s a local UHF station using the music from Detachable Penis in promos for their afternoon reruns of The Addams Family, and it was a thing of wonder.
posted by Catblack at 8:17 AM on April 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 8:17 AM on April 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
i find myself relating to willy a lot these days:
"On the morning of the day of the apocalypse
Willy woke up and made himself bacon and eggs and rye toast
He didn't usually eat bacon, but since today was such a special day
He figured 'Why not?'"
posted by entropicamericana at 8:19 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
"On the morning of the day of the apocalypse
Willy woke up and made himself bacon and eggs and rye toast
He didn't usually eat bacon, but since today was such a special day
He figured 'Why not?'"
posted by entropicamericana at 8:19 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Here's some nice, semi-pro-shot video of King Missile from last February. Their first show with Chris Xefos since 1994, too.
posted by SansPoint at 8:36 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 8:36 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I remember in the late 90s a local UHF station using the music from Detachable Penis in promos for their afternoon reruns of The Addams Family, and it was a thing of wonder.
I see what they did there.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:40 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I see what they did there.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:40 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thank you for clearing up my embarrassing King Missile / King Crimson confusion
posted by grobstein at 8:45 AM on April 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by grobstein at 8:45 AM on April 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
Hall: About four months after the song came out, the John Wayne Bobbitt thing happened, so there were a lot of jokes and questions about that, which I found not really relevant to the song.
Really, John? Really?
posted by uncleozzy at 8:46 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Really, John? Really?
posted by uncleozzy at 8:46 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
im listening to king missile right now and i really feel like buying a pair of doc marten gibsons and a pack of cloves; who's with me
posted by entropicamericana at 8:46 AM on April 4, 2018 [30 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 8:46 AM on April 4, 2018 [30 favorites]
Huh, I would have put this song in the mid-late 80’s. In my mind I’ve lumped it in with
hi Dad I’m calling you from JAIL
happy birthday FROM JAIL
and that Suicidal Tendencies song where all he wants is a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and you wouldn’t give it to me.
And possibly the Dead Milkman calling me an art fag.
In my head they’re the same complainy guy. Dry delivery, over guitars.
posted by chococat at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2018 [25 favorites]
hi Dad I’m calling you from JAIL
happy birthday FROM JAIL
and that Suicidal Tendencies song where all he wants is a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and you wouldn’t give it to me.
And possibly the Dead Milkman calling me an art fag.
In my head they’re the same complainy guy. Dry delivery, over guitars.
posted by chococat at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2018 [25 favorites]
I have one of the earlier Shimmy Disc releases that is all...well...Hall/Dogbowl compositions.
It's...interesting. The song titles are...interesting...
And yeah, Detachable Penis is...interesting too. But my favorite track of theirs is probably still To Walk Among the Pigs from The Way to Salvation.
posted by Naberius at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
It's...interesting. The song titles are...interesting...
And yeah, Detachable Penis is...interesting too. But my favorite track of theirs is probably still To Walk Among the Pigs from The Way to Salvation.
posted by Naberius at 8:48 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
I remember this song as one of the first to be widely spread as an MP3.
posted by Yowser at 8:51 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Yowser at 8:51 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
I used to be a college DJ. I used to play this song a lot. I am not proud of this, but I will not apologize.
I used to be a college radio music director. I heard you (the royal you) playing this song a lot. I wanted to melt the CD in a microwave and bury the remains.
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:54 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
I used to be a college radio music director. I heard you (the royal you) playing this song a lot. I wanted to melt the CD in a microwave and bury the remains.
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:54 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
"He wanted 22 bucks, but I talked him down to 17."
I love this song and it is still on my playlist today and I don't care.
posted by Mchelly at 8:58 AM on April 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
I love this song and it is still on my playlist today and I don't care.
posted by Mchelly at 8:58 AM on April 4, 2018 [12 favorites]
Yowser: That's certainly how I heard it for the first time. Though, I found it as a misattributed song, to (of all bands) DEVO. I was trawling through AudioGalaxy looking for deep cuts and other DEVO weirdness, when I came across "Detachable Penis." I knew it was not a DEVO song, but I was curious what a song called "Detachable Penis" would sound like. So I downloaded it, loved it, looked up who actually recorded it, checked out a bunch of King Missile stuff, and just fell madly in love with the band and with John S. Hall's poetry.
posted by SansPoint at 9:04 AM on April 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 9:04 AM on April 4, 2018 [7 favorites]
I dl’ed a bunch of their MP3s back in the day.(sorry fellas!)
I still quote heavily from them to this day, e.g. “he makes the best fuckin films!” or “manly yes but i like it too”
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:05 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I still quote heavily from them to this day, e.g. “he makes the best fuckin films!” or “manly yes but i like it too”
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:05 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I always think that "Jesus was way cool" when I hear about detachable penises.
posted by maxwelton at 9:09 AM on April 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 9:09 AM on April 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
Though, I found it as a misattributed song, to (of all bands) DEVO.
In some ways I miss the days of unlabeled mix tapes and poorly tagged mp3s. I once had a mix tape from a not-very-good-at-labelling friend with Aerosmith's "Dream On" on it, and it was so different from what I was used to hearing from mid-90s Aerosmith, that I assumed it was misattributed for the longest time.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:25 AM on April 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
In some ways I miss the days of unlabeled mix tapes and poorly tagged mp3s. I once had a mix tape from a not-very-good-at-labelling friend with Aerosmith's "Dream On" on it, and it was so different from what I was used to hearing from mid-90s Aerosmith, that I assumed it was misattributed for the longest time.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:25 AM on April 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
Really, John? Really?
Well, of course. Bobbitt's penis was demonstrably NOT detachable, which is why his wife had to saw at it with a knife to remove it successfully. That is the opposite of detachable.
My favorite memory of this song was when it came on the radio during a church youth group event, and mid-sentence our youth pastor went "wait, what IS this?" and all of us knew the song and something in his eyes died that day.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 9:29 AM on April 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
Well, of course. Bobbitt's penis was demonstrably NOT detachable, which is why his wife had to saw at it with a knife to remove it successfully. That is the opposite of detachable.
My favorite memory of this song was when it came on the radio during a church youth group event, and mid-sentence our youth pastor went "wait, what IS this?" and all of us knew the song and something in his eyes died that day.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 9:29 AM on April 4, 2018 [17 favorites]
Rock Steady: Ah, the days where any remotely amusing song was attributed to "Weird" Al, and you could download a live recording of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" performed with Billy Corgan and Slash.
posted by SansPoint at 9:36 AM on April 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 9:36 AM on April 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
I don't know this song but I'm now mentally singing "It's a detachable penis" to the chorus of Just What I Needed by The Cars so I'm doing fine
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:42 AM on April 4, 2018 [20 favorites]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:42 AM on April 4, 2018 [20 favorites]
I always liked stuff like "Real Men" and "I Am A Sensitive Artist" more. Plus, "Take Stuff From Work" should be the new national anthem.
"I wrote this at work. They're paying me to write about stuff I steal from them. Life is good."
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:42 AM on April 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
"I wrote this at work. They're paying me to write about stuff I steal from them. Life is good."
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:42 AM on April 4, 2018 [13 favorites]
If anyone's interested, Scotland works as a four-part round.
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:46 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:46 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
It’s really weird to see the King Missle story framed as all leading up to DP and then petering (heh) out. I was in college and had just discovered getting really, really high when Fluting on the Hump came out and it was one of those DIY iconoclastic things that was just absolutely mind blowing. You kids just would not understand what it was like before irony was A Thing. And there were all these bands doing really clever things in their basement apartments with found instruments. I’d lump King Missle in with bands like Bongwater (also Kramer), Negativland, Camper Van Beethoven, etc.
Mystical Shit just upped the instrumentation and production value but maintained the surreal destroy-your-idols and do something different aesthetic. Case in point: Rock and Roll Will Never Die and of course the iconic Jesus Was Way Cool, Gary and Melissa, and on and on.
It’s cliche now to say that signing to major labels ruins bands but the reason for the cliche is that’s exactly what happened to tons of indie bands and King Missle is a classic example. Their first Atlantic release was The Way To Salvation and it just lacked any surprise at all. Before this, Hall and co. were clearly pushing some kind of boundary redefining what kind of music would move people and then it was all just the same stuff: irreverent wise cracking. My Heart is a Flower makes fun of the inanity of meaningless sensitive guy rock but it’s way less interesting, shocking, funny, or biting than the earlier Sensitive Artist. They found a formula that got them paid and they stuck to it. “Sign here, boys, we’d like to see more of the same. Can I get you another Dr Pepper?” I don’t blame them, this was the era when REM went from garage band to gazillionaires but their popularity at the time came from making smart outcasts think about the hollowness of the mainstream market of ideas and there’s plenty of other music still doing that.
By the time DP came out and I heard it on commercial radio my first thought was “Huh, these guys are still around?” and then two minutes later “Well this isn’t bad, kinda amusing.” I ended up seeing them again on this tour and they did play it near the front of their set but Hall went through the lyrics quickly and an intentionally bored affect literally rolling his eyes, and when he finished, audience roaring, he said “I’m so glad that song came out because now we can finally enjoy playing this one again” and launched into an over the top extended Jesus Was Way Cool. It was weird time when bands knew they were sell outs but there was no internet and no model for doing things different.
Tl;dr: I was way into this band before any of you had heard of them and they used to be much better than that song you like.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:47 AM on April 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
Mystical Shit just upped the instrumentation and production value but maintained the surreal destroy-your-idols and do something different aesthetic. Case in point: Rock and Roll Will Never Die and of course the iconic Jesus Was Way Cool, Gary and Melissa, and on and on.
It’s cliche now to say that signing to major labels ruins bands but the reason for the cliche is that’s exactly what happened to tons of indie bands and King Missle is a classic example. Their first Atlantic release was The Way To Salvation and it just lacked any surprise at all. Before this, Hall and co. were clearly pushing some kind of boundary redefining what kind of music would move people and then it was all just the same stuff: irreverent wise cracking. My Heart is a Flower makes fun of the inanity of meaningless sensitive guy rock but it’s way less interesting, shocking, funny, or biting than the earlier Sensitive Artist. They found a formula that got them paid and they stuck to it. “Sign here, boys, we’d like to see more of the same. Can I get you another Dr Pepper?” I don’t blame them, this was the era when REM went from garage band to gazillionaires but their popularity at the time came from making smart outcasts think about the hollowness of the mainstream market of ideas and there’s plenty of other music still doing that.
By the time DP came out and I heard it on commercial radio my first thought was “Huh, these guys are still around?” and then two minutes later “Well this isn’t bad, kinda amusing.” I ended up seeing them again on this tour and they did play it near the front of their set but Hall went through the lyrics quickly and an intentionally bored affect literally rolling his eyes, and when he finished, audience roaring, he said “I’m so glad that song came out because now we can finally enjoy playing this one again” and launched into an over the top extended Jesus Was Way Cool. It was weird time when bands knew they were sell outs but there was no internet and no model for doing things different.
Tl;dr: I was way into this band before any of you had heard of them and they used to be much better than that song you like.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:47 AM on April 4, 2018 [11 favorites]
East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94: Dang it, I love that first Cars album, but I'll be singing that next time I hear it now.
fifteen schnitzelgruben is my limit: Personally, I'm a fan of "Failure" by King Missile III
posted by SansPoint at 9:48 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
fifteen schnitzelgruben is my limit: Personally, I'm a fan of "Failure" by King Missile III
Think of how many times in your life things didn't go your way, and remember: external forces are never to blame. You are the center of your universe, the only force that can ever affect you. Therefore, anything that doesn't work out for you is all your faultIt's so oddly ... inspirational.
You are responsible for all of your successes, and the lack thereof. And that is the essential point that failure, your ever-faithful friend, wants to make
posted by SansPoint at 9:48 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Slarty Bartfast: Go check out the King Missile III (post-Atlantic Records) stuff, and John's new band Unusual Squirrel (linked in my first comment). Both are more in the King Missile/Dog Fly Religion vein, both in terms of lyrics and instrumentation.
posted by SansPoint at 9:50 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by SansPoint at 9:50 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I also was a college radio DJ. Our station wasn't very strong (officially, at least) but if you turned up the in-station monitors, you could hear it well into the campus center.
I played DP. A lot.
Mostly when tour groups of potential new students came through.
And most definitely when my ex girlfriend was leading the tour.
(To be completely honest, sometimes it was Dennis Leary's "Asshole" that got played instead. And once "Big Dumb Sex" by Soundgarden.)
posted by neilbert at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I played DP. A lot.
Mostly when tour groups of potential new students came through.
And most definitely when my ex girlfriend was leading the tour.
(To be completely honest, sometimes it was Dennis Leary's "Asshole" that got played instead. And once "Big Dumb Sex" by Soundgarden.)
posted by neilbert at 9:59 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
With the right crowd and a confident delivery you can make Detachable Penis a decent karaoke song. Unlike the other dirty song people sing at karaoke this is sung with such a straight delivery it doesn't come off as a joke.
posted by ShakeyJake at 10:04 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ShakeyJake at 10:04 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
In the last few days of its "Guess how many times Rolling Stone voted us number one radio station in a medium sized market" existence before becoming the third KLOVE affiliate in the area, WBRU, having, I believe, been previously banned from playing Detachable Penis, took great joy in playing it as often as possible. Kid Ruki went from "Did he just say?" to absolutely horrified when she looked over to the driver's seat and realized I was monotonously singing along.
posted by Ruki at 10:16 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ruki at 10:16 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sometimes I think to understand my father all you need to know was that he loved this song so much he made a cassette with this song looping on side A. Side B was a loop of “I want to sex you up”.
He played this cassette in the car for YEARS.
posted by lepus at 10:21 AM on April 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
He played this cassette in the car for YEARS.
posted by lepus at 10:21 AM on April 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
aside from the whole actual penis situation, the entire song is basically an hour by hour description of any given day in like 1996 for me.
i miss that sidewalk hobo flea market. my friend got a plug-in fake log fire there for $5 that i have coveted for over 20 years.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:23 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
i miss that sidewalk hobo flea market. my friend got a plug-in fake log fire there for $5 that i have coveted for over 20 years.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:23 AM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
Sometimes I think to understand my father all you need to know was that he loved this song so much he made a cassette with this song looping on side A. Side B was a loop of “I want to sex you up”.
the color me badd version or the shatner version?
...wait, is your dad shatner?
posted by entropicamericana at 10:26 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
the color me badd version or the shatner version?
...wait, is your dad shatner?
posted by entropicamericana at 10:26 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I used to be a college radio music director. I heard you (the royal you) playing this song a lot. I wanted to melt the CD in a microwave and bury the remains.
No you (royally) didn't. Most of my shows were in safe harbor after midnight.
Plus I was too busy patching Studio A into Studio B and back again for weird, unlistenable raw audio feedback experiments and general ambient masturbation with lots of old gospel, sermon and dirty trucker records.
Yes, yes that was us that blew out the monitors in Studio B. And wore out the cart machines with tape loops. Oh, and sorry about those FCC complaints from the time my friend sampled himself on a digicart saying "fuck" and looped it for 6 hours with a bunch of Jimmy Swaggert and TV evangelical recordings just because he could. We were in safe harbor. And yes, we threw another rave last night with the remote broadcast rig and PA.
(note: Friend who pulled the looped "fuck" stunt eventually became music director. Then program director. He would have likely become station manager, but that job was taken by someone we liked, and by that point he was burnt out from people playing "Detachable Penis" and "Push the Little Daisies".)
Hey, call a safety meeting, will you? I think we need to inspect the roof. For... safety.
posted by loquacious at 10:40 AM on April 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
No you (royally) didn't. Most of my shows were in safe harbor after midnight.
Plus I was too busy patching Studio A into Studio B and back again for weird, unlistenable raw audio feedback experiments and general ambient masturbation with lots of old gospel, sermon and dirty trucker records.
Yes, yes that was us that blew out the monitors in Studio B. And wore out the cart machines with tape loops. Oh, and sorry about those FCC complaints from the time my friend sampled himself on a digicart saying "fuck" and looped it for 6 hours with a bunch of Jimmy Swaggert and TV evangelical recordings just because he could. We were in safe harbor. And yes, we threw another rave last night with the remote broadcast rig and PA.
(note: Friend who pulled the looped "fuck" stunt eventually became music director. Then program director. He would have likely become station manager, but that job was taken by someone we liked, and by that point he was burnt out from people playing "Detachable Penis" and "Push the Little Daisies".)
Hey, call a safety meeting, will you? I think we need to inspect the roof. For... safety.
posted by loquacious at 10:40 AM on April 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
And hey, if you need more penis in your life there's always Da Vinci's Notebook and their Enormous Penis. No sense in going to the same well every time.
posted by wierdo at 10:46 AM on April 4, 2018
posted by wierdo at 10:46 AM on April 4, 2018
Bobbitt's penis was demonstrably NOT detachable
I dunno, I heard he got a job selling Snap-On Tools...
(and Lorena got a job selling Ginsu Knives)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:56 AM on April 4, 2018
I dunno, I heard he got a job selling Snap-On Tools...
(and Lorena got a job selling Ginsu Knives)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:56 AM on April 4, 2018
I still have this song burned on a few CDs in my car. I first heard it downloading from napster/kazaa/limewire era programs and it was always attributed to Butthole Surfers, even though it clearly wasn't them.
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:58 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:58 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
A few months ago my daughter asked for the song "Happy", so I told my phone, "Hey Siri, play Happy".
Siri correctly recognized what I said on screen, and inexplicably played "Detachable Penis".
posted by w0mbat at 11:03 AM on April 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
Siri correctly recognized what I said on screen, and inexplicably played "Detachable Penis".
posted by w0mbat at 11:03 AM on April 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
Huh, I would have put this song in the mid-late 80’s. In my mind I’ve lumped it in with
hi Dad I’m calling you from JAIL
happy birthday FROM JAIL
and that Suicidal Tendencies song where all he wants is a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and you wouldn’t give it to me.
And possibly the Dead Milkman calling me an art fag.
In my head they’re the same complainy guy. Dry delivery, over guitars.
That's nothing. I just realized that the B-52's "Deadbeat Club," Sugar Cubes's "Delicious Demon," and Aqua's "Barbie Girl" are the same song!
Chirpy pretty girl followed blurts from Mr. No Octave who can't sing.
posted by jonp72 at 11:11 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
hi Dad I’m calling you from JAIL
happy birthday FROM JAIL
and that Suicidal Tendencies song where all he wants is a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and you wouldn’t give it to me.
And possibly the Dead Milkman calling me an art fag.
In my head they’re the same complainy guy. Dry delivery, over guitars.
That's nothing. I just realized that the B-52's "Deadbeat Club," Sugar Cubes's "Delicious Demon," and Aqua's "Barbie Girl" are the same song!
Chirpy pretty girl followed blurts from Mr. No Octave who can't sing.
posted by jonp72 at 11:11 AM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Bobbitt's penis was demonstrably NOT detachable
I dunno, I heard he got a job selling Snap-On Tools...
"Have you heard John Wayne Bobbitt is now a truck driver?"
"Yeah, he wanted a shiny new Peterbilt."
Boo if you want, but that joke would have killed back in 1993 at the Chuckle Factory by the airport Ramada.
posted by jonp72 at 11:13 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I dunno, I heard he got a job selling Snap-On Tools...
"Have you heard John Wayne Bobbitt is now a truck driver?"
"Yeah, he wanted a shiny new Peterbilt."
Boo if you want, but that joke would have killed back in 1993 at the Chuckle Factory by the airport Ramada.
posted by jonp72 at 11:13 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
Heh. For me it seems like the song's narrator was living the sort of lifestyle one of the characters in Slacker (current MeFi thread - it's like there's been a run of FPPs directed at teenage me) would have lived. For me, the lyrics are tied up in the same cultural knot because in high school I came across Slacker at the exact same time the college radio station from Michigan we got was playing "Detachable Penis" constantly. CONSTANTLY.
I still think it's kinda funny.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:20 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I still think it's kinda funny.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:20 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
I first came across King Missile back in the 90s primarily through the video to Love is… , which I still believe was the first MTV-aired music video featuring bears making out. For the teenaged cub version of me back then, this was Very Important.
posted by LMGM at 11:24 AM on April 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by LMGM at 11:24 AM on April 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
I played their song "The Commercial" a bunch. And, of course, "Jesus Was Way Cool.". Reflecting back, I played a bunch of King Missile on the radio.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:25 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:25 AM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
i was always a fan of "The Boy Who Ate Lasagna and Could Jump Over a Church" because of its high levels of exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin-ness
posted by murphy slaw at 11:54 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 11:54 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I was 14 when "Detachable Penis" became popular. Of course its initial appeal was juvenile, but it quickly became apparent that King Missile was more than a puerile novelty act. As a rising high school freshman, King Missile is what I thought was cool by, like, college standards. There were cool kids in high school who listened to Pavement and stuff, but this seemed like the kind of thing that those kids would look up to.
It's one of those things about the early- to mid-90s where I expected the world would be kind of incredible when I would be old enough to appreciate it, but it turned out that the world had moved on by that point, and I was left with Korn.
posted by kevinbelt at 11:55 AM on April 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
It's one of those things about the early- to mid-90s where I expected the world would be kind of incredible when I would be old enough to appreciate it, but it turned out that the world had moved on by that point, and I was left with Korn.
posted by kevinbelt at 11:55 AM on April 4, 2018 [14 favorites]
I always thought it had a bit of a Burroughs vibe.
posted by Artw at 12:35 PM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:35 PM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
I downloaded this attributed to Ween, when trying to download their discography in 2004ish, it fit in well.
posted by WeekendJen at 1:08 PM on April 4, 2018
posted by WeekendJen at 1:08 PM on April 4, 2018
I had never heard this song until about 5 years ago when it came on the free satellite radio that came with my new car. That is literally the only good thing to come out of my experience with satellite radio. I love the shit out of that song!
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:29 PM on April 4, 2018
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:29 PM on April 4, 2018
THIS is not King Missile. However, I've always attributed it to them and it always seemed to fit with their work.
posted by evilDoug at 2:03 PM on April 4, 2018
posted by evilDoug at 2:03 PM on April 4, 2018
Oh! I've loved this song since it was on high rotation on JJJ. I learned all the words and would perform it as a monologue at many inopportune times. This was made especially funny by my being a conservatively dressed mid-30s female. Many questions can be answered by a line from the song. Not necessarily useful answers, but answers all the same.
posted by Thella at 2:17 PM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Thella at 2:17 PM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
look at me I'm Philip Glass
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 2:44 PM on April 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 2:44 PM on April 4, 2018 [10 favorites]
Somehow a distressed cassette copy of "Mystical Shit/Fluting on the Hump" landed in my teen hand in 1990. Living in Des Moines, Ia at the time it was like a gateway album. Sensitive Artist, Jesus Was..., Dick, GARY & MELISSA, Wuss, Heavy Holy Man.. all of them are ingrained forever in my mind.
Thanks for the link up thread SansPoint.
posted by djseafood at 2:51 PM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thanks for the link up thread SansPoint.
posted by djseafood at 2:51 PM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
If I had a penis, I'd wear it outside. In cafes and car lots, with pomp and with pride. If I had a penis, I'd pamper it proper. I'd stay in the tub, and use me as a stopper.(Uncle Bonsai, off a lonely grain of corn.)
posted by clew at 3:41 PM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
> I wanted to melt the CD in a microwave and bury the remains.
From 89-94, I was a country radio DJ for a small 100kW station in rural Oklahoma.
One daythe word came down from the program director, "don't play the Chipmunks version of 'Achy Breaky Heart' anymore, I don't like it."
A few days later, one of the afternoon shift DJs played it because it had been requested.
The PD happened to be in the building at the time, came storming down the hallway, burst into the studio, drug the DJ out of her chair *by her hair* and threw her to the ground.
Needless to say he was handcuffed, arrested, and relieved of his employment in very short order.
I had the fun of coming in to relieve her and work my 6pm-midnight shift when this had all transpired a couple hours before. They'd sent her home after the police statement and called in one of the other board ops to cover until my shift started.
posted by mrbill at 6:51 PM on April 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
From 89-94, I was a country radio DJ for a small 100kW station in rural Oklahoma.
One daythe word came down from the program director, "don't play the Chipmunks version of 'Achy Breaky Heart' anymore, I don't like it."
A few days later, one of the afternoon shift DJs played it because it had been requested.
The PD happened to be in the building at the time, came storming down the hallway, burst into the studio, drug the DJ out of her chair *by her hair* and threw her to the ground.
Needless to say he was handcuffed, arrested, and relieved of his employment in very short order.
I had the fun of coming in to relieve her and work my 6pm-midnight shift when this had all transpired a couple hours before. They'd sent her home after the police statement and called in one of the other board ops to cover until my shift started.
posted by mrbill at 6:51 PM on April 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
mrbill, my husband wants to know if that was KTLS, in Ada (KTEN). Keep the listeners satisfied, perhaps? He worked there in 84 or 85.
Watching King Missile perform their live version of The Sandbox was amazing. I can't speak to the line-up changes, or management changes, and I had to grow into their hard rock sounds over time, but I always loved the spoken word style, and the clever lyrics. It belonged on late eighties/early nineties college rock. Take Stuff From Work, Jesus Was Waycool, He Needed, She Had Nothing - Hell, I still quote Sensitive Artist on a regular basis. Still count myself as a fan.
posted by knitcrazybooknut at 7:19 PM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Watching King Missile perform their live version of The Sandbox was amazing. I can't speak to the line-up changes, or management changes, and I had to grow into their hard rock sounds over time, but I always loved the spoken word style, and the clever lyrics. It belonged on late eighties/early nineties college rock. Take Stuff From Work, Jesus Was Waycool, He Needed, She Had Nothing - Hell, I still quote Sensitive Artist on a regular basis. Still count myself as a fan.
posted by knitcrazybooknut at 7:19 PM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
> my husband wants to know if that was KTLS, in Ada (KTEN).
Nope, KRPT in Anadarko. 103.7 "The Best In The Country" / 850 AM.
Station mascot was a frog in a cowboy outfit. I felt sorry for the staffer(s)
who had to wear the outfit to remotes; I don't know if it was ever professionally cleaned.
The call letters now belong to an "outlaw country" station in San Antonio (and I'm now in Houston, heh).
It was an amazing job to have during high school and my first year of college. Someone from the station interviewed me about winning at state level in a computer competition in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), they happened to need someone who knew computers to do some data entry.
I helped out over a summer, eventually got hired as a "board op", and worked my way up to doing my own full show for six hours a night six days a week (6p-12a, after I got out of school at 3pm on weekdays). Of course the local station and newspaper followed me as I placed in the top 10 every year at state FBLA competitions, won first three years in a row, and then proceeded to place in the top 10 at nationals. Fun times.
Somewhere I've got a pic of myself set up for work that day in the studio, wearing my birthday present - my mother had an exact replica of the shirt Garth Brooks wore on the cover of his "No Fences" album, made by the same place in Apache, OK.
Perfect job if you just wanted to do homework and read a *lot* of books.
Wikipedia says: "KRPT-FM went on the air as a Country station in 1981 serving the Anadarko area. The station later changed its calls to KRMP in March 2003 and became known as "Superstar Country 103.5." The station moved to southwest of Oklahoma City from Anadarko in July 2004 and became KVSP "Power 103.5" with an Mainstream Urban format."
posted by mrbill at 7:39 PM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Nope, KRPT in Anadarko. 103.7 "The Best In The Country" / 850 AM.
Station mascot was a frog in a cowboy outfit. I felt sorry for the staffer(s)
who had to wear the outfit to remotes; I don't know if it was ever professionally cleaned.
The call letters now belong to an "outlaw country" station in San Antonio (and I'm now in Houston, heh).
It was an amazing job to have during high school and my first year of college. Someone from the station interviewed me about winning at state level in a computer competition in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), they happened to need someone who knew computers to do some data entry.
I helped out over a summer, eventually got hired as a "board op", and worked my way up to doing my own full show for six hours a night six days a week (6p-12a, after I got out of school at 3pm on weekdays). Of course the local station and newspaper followed me as I placed in the top 10 every year at state FBLA competitions, won first three years in a row, and then proceeded to place in the top 10 at nationals. Fun times.
Somewhere I've got a pic of myself set up for work that day in the studio, wearing my birthday present - my mother had an exact replica of the shirt Garth Brooks wore on the cover of his "No Fences" album, made by the same place in Apache, OK.
Perfect job if you just wanted to do homework and read a *lot* of books.
Wikipedia says: "KRPT-FM went on the air as a Country station in 1981 serving the Anadarko area. The station later changed its calls to KRMP in March 2003 and became known as "Superstar Country 103.5." The station moved to southwest of Oklahoma City from Anadarko in July 2004 and became KVSP "Power 103.5" with an Mainstream Urban format."
posted by mrbill at 7:39 PM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Ok, I’ve gone down a King Missle hole all day because of this post, thanks J.K. Seazer. Their early stuff is so incredibly good. The highlight was driving my 6 year old home from school and once inside the house:
“Mom, mom, did you know Jesus could walk on the water and swim on the land? Also, he played guitar better than Jimi Hendrix!”
He also asked me: “so, if you don’t say ‘here, kitty kitty kitty kitty’ you won’t remember your dreams?”
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM EQUALS BOSTON CREAM FILLED DONUT
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:12 PM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
“Mom, mom, did you know Jesus could walk on the water and swim on the land? Also, he played guitar better than Jimi Hendrix!”
He also asked me: “so, if you don’t say ‘here, kitty kitty kitty kitty’ you won’t remember your dreams?”
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM EQUALS BOSTON CREAM FILLED DONUT
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:12 PM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
HEY EINSTEIN, HEY, GET OFF THE BEACH
posted by murphy slaw at 8:42 PM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by murphy slaw at 8:42 PM on April 4, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm now regretting not including this 1998 AV Club interview with Hall in the FPP, because it's really interesting:
Having the hit was good, not just for money reasons, but also because it indicated that we had commercial potential. The downside, obviously, is the same downside that comes with any hit, which is just a general problem with hits: It tends to supercede the rest of your work. But, you know, I've been thinking about this more. I've always said that I'm against hits and against the radio and all this other stuff, but I realize that hits kind of develop in any body of artwork, no matter what kind of art you do. So, Picasso has his paintings that he's known for, and there are painters who are only known for one or two works, even though they've made thousands of paintings. It's certainly true of authors, as well. Salman Rushdie was recently on TV talking about Satanic Verses, and trying to move the conversation to his forthcoming book, or even books he's written within the last 10 years, but everyone talks about this. So, they'll ask him the same question: Does he regret having written the book? And he says no, because it falls into his body of work, but that the fuss over it is regrettable. And I would say the same thing about "Detachable": I'm glad I wrote it, and it is a shame that it… I think the biggest shame is the way it was used by shock jocks, and the way it was misinterpreted and correlated with John Bobbitt. So a lot of kind of heinous things were done. But that's just sort of a function of the radio. You can be like Cat Stevens and say, "I renounce everything I've ever recorded, and I don't want them to play it on the radio, and I don't want them selling the records," but that's kind of an extreme view.posted by J.K. Seazer at 9:10 PM on April 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
[...]
Obviously, there are elements to "Detachable" about male identity that are there, but not really overtly there. For the person who wants to find it, it's there. I don't know. I don't think… I like to think I'm not obvious about the humor, and I'm not obvious about the feelings, either. There's a certain degree of subtlety to what I'm doing; even in very obvious things, there's something underneath that's interesting. I think we're guilty of being clever at times, to the detriment of conveying something more important, more real, more honest. I'll cop to that. But I will also say that there's also stuff that does have meaning.
HEY EINSTEIN, HEY, GET OFF THE BEACH
Crap, now I need a really serious Ambient or New Classical show to go in the near future to so I can yell this from the peanut gallery and get dragged out of the venue by a giant, bearded and deadly serious Norwegian vegan dude.
Meanwhile, I'm about to unironically play with the arp on my synth and noodle myself silly. I'm sure I'll feel so very serious at least once. It might actually be a good thing I didn't have one of these damn things when I was younger because I wouldn't have any friends.
posted by loquacious at 9:45 PM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Crap, now I need a really serious Ambient or New Classical show to go in the near future to so I can yell this from the peanut gallery and get dragged out of the venue by a giant, bearded and deadly serious Norwegian vegan dude.
Meanwhile, I'm about to unironically play with the arp on my synth and noodle myself silly. I'm sure I'll feel so very serious at least once. It might actually be a good thing I didn't have one of these damn things when I was younger because I wouldn't have any friends.
posted by loquacious at 9:45 PM on April 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
One more from college radio. This song played exactly once on KCFS ("Sioux Falls' Christian Rock Authority!") before being pulled by the radio station advisor. I regret that I was not the one to play it.
(Wait. Or was this Denis Leary's "Asshole"? Dammit, I can't remember anymore.)
posted by themanwho at 10:51 PM on April 4, 2018
(Wait. Or was this Denis Leary's "Asshole"? Dammit, I can't remember anymore.)
posted by themanwho at 10:51 PM on April 4, 2018
I like their self-titled album. One valentine's day, I convinced two coworkers to recite "Love Is..." with me in front of our department. I consider "Bloodletting" my favorite poem.
posted by Tool of the Conspiracy at 11:18 PM on April 4, 2018
posted by Tool of the Conspiracy at 11:18 PM on April 4, 2018
I remember very clearly hearing this in the summer of 1990, from a person I knew only that summer - but it was released in 1992. Does anyone know if it's at all possible that it was written and performed earlier and only released in 1992?
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:59 AM on April 5, 2018
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:59 AM on April 5, 2018
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If all you know of King Missile is "Detachable," though, I really suggest checking out the rest of their work. And the work of all the various King Missile iterations.
posted by SansPoint at 8:11 AM on April 4, 2018 [5 favorites]