Sludgey and the Chipmunks
June 6, 2024 4:14 PM Subscribe
In 1980 what appeared to be a formulaic, phoning-it-in album of contemporary radio punk and new wave music done in the style of Alvin in the Chipmunks was released, named Chipmunk Punk. The album garnered no particular critical or commercial success, and was quickly forgotten as merely one in a long line of kitchy, vaguely topical music under the Alvin and the Chipmunks brand.
It turns out that it was instead a hidden monument of sludge rock.
That is an incredibly detailed Wikipedia article for something so...I don't even know what the right word is to describe it. It reached 34 on the Billboard 200? WTF? I feel like this whole thing is just pulling my leg.
Second link is amazing tho.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:55 PM on June 6, 2024
Second link is amazing tho.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:55 PM on June 6, 2024
I own a copy of Chipmunk Punk on vinyl because if you know me, of course I do. I think I only paid $1 for it.
I have plenty of awesome albums but I do have a soft spot for random novelty records.
posted by edencosmic at 4:57 PM on June 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
I have plenty of awesome albums but I do have a soft spot for random novelty records.
posted by edencosmic at 4:57 PM on June 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
Literaryhero I'd pick "ephemeral" as the polite adjective of choice, but that's just me.
posted by 1adam12 at 5:00 PM on June 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by 1adam12 at 5:00 PM on June 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
We had this on cassette when we were kids.
We played it to death.
posted by jjderooy at 5:02 PM on June 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
We played it to death.
posted by jjderooy at 5:02 PM on June 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
My cousin and I had hours of fun once we discovered we could manipulate the speed of a tape recorder. My grandfather didn't appreciate it much, since it was his tape recorder we were abusing.
FOR YOU MILLENIALS, A TAPE RECORDER USED A TAPE CASSETTE TO RECORD THINGS.
*wave onion, exeunt right*
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:14 PM on June 6, 2024 [4 favorites]
FOR YOU MILLENIALS, A TAPE RECORDER USED A TAPE CASSETTE TO RECORD THINGS.
*wave onion, exeunt right*
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:14 PM on June 6, 2024 [4 favorites]
With the current trend of "slowed down popular song", these would be right at home in a blockbuster movie trailer.
posted by jozxyqk at 5:25 PM on June 6, 2024 [5 favorites]
posted by jozxyqk at 5:25 PM on June 6, 2024 [5 favorites]
Like jjderooy, Chipmunk Punk was an absolute classic of our childhood rotation.
Until yesterday, though, I was unaware of this knockoff from the following year, which makes Chipmunk Punk sound like Marquee Moon.
posted by mykescipark at 5:35 PM on June 6, 2024 [3 favorites]
Until yesterday, though, I was unaware of this knockoff from the following year, which makes Chipmunk Punk sound like Marquee Moon.
posted by mykescipark at 5:35 PM on June 6, 2024 [3 favorites]
My copy was a bootleg cassette from the music market in Jakarta.
posted by funkaspuck at 5:37 PM on June 6, 2024 [6 favorites]
posted by funkaspuck at 5:37 PM on June 6, 2024 [6 favorites]
I had it on vinyl as a teenager and loved it.
posted by Well I never at 5:54 PM on June 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by Well I never at 5:54 PM on June 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
Yes I had this on cassette! I actually heard the chipmunk versions of some of these first …
posted by caviar2d2 at 6:05 PM on June 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by caviar2d2 at 6:05 PM on June 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
Giving me big Perry Como: Still Alive energy.
posted by chococat at 6:14 PM on June 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by chococat at 6:14 PM on June 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
There's a Volume 2z and it has Jessie's Girl with the line "Jessie's got a squirrel and I want to make her mine." I'm going to sing it this way from now on. Brilliant.
posted by ashbury at 6:23 PM on June 6, 2024 [12 favorites]
posted by ashbury at 6:23 PM on June 6, 2024 [12 favorites]
9 years previously. (Thanks for reminding me of this!)
posted by Navelgazer at 6:31 PM on June 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by Navelgazer at 6:31 PM on June 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
chipmunkz with attitude - cw - language, graphic violence, drugs, and sex
posted by pyramid termite at 6:40 PM on June 6, 2024
posted by pyramid termite at 6:40 PM on June 6, 2024
FOR YOU MILLENIALS, A TAPE RECORDER USED A TAPE CASSETTE TO RECORD THINGS.
WE KNOW.
WE USED TO GET OUR PARENTS TO TAPE SONGS OFF THE RADIO AND WE ALL GREW UP IN CARS THAT HAD QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS AND/OR GRACELAND IN THE TAPE DECK AT ALL TIMES.
YOU WANT GEN Z DOWN THE HALL.
posted by saturday_morning at 6:46 PM on June 6, 2024 [40 favorites]
WE KNOW.
WE USED TO GET OUR PARENTS TO TAPE SONGS OFF THE RADIO AND WE ALL GREW UP IN CARS THAT HAD QUEEN’S GREATEST HITS AND/OR GRACELAND IN THE TAPE DECK AT ALL TIMES.
YOU WANT GEN Z DOWN THE HALL.
posted by saturday_morning at 6:46 PM on June 6, 2024 [40 favorites]
MILLENIALS HAD IT EASY
WE BOOMERS HAD TO RECORD OUR MIXTAPES ON SPOOLS OF BARBED WIRE AND HAD TO USE THICK LEATHER GLOVES TO REWIND IF WE WANTED TO HEAR A SONG AGAIN - AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON WHAT HAPPENED IF IT ALL JAMMED UP
posted by pyramid termite at 6:52 PM on June 6, 2024 [17 favorites]
WE BOOMERS HAD TO RECORD OUR MIXTAPES ON SPOOLS OF BARBED WIRE AND HAD TO USE THICK LEATHER GLOVES TO REWIND IF WE WANTED TO HEAR A SONG AGAIN - AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON WHAT HAPPENED IF IT ALL JAMMED UP
posted by pyramid termite at 6:52 PM on June 6, 2024 [17 favorites]
Back in the vinyl era, a typical college radio DJ such as myself would often spin a platter at the wrong speed. Whenever I was caught out playing a 33rpm recording at 45, I wouldn't change the speed but rather back announce it as a cover by the Thrash Elves. (45 at 33 was the Sludge Trolls, natch, or maybe just lie and say it was Killdozer.)
posted by whuppy at 7:48 PM on June 6, 2024 [9 favorites]
posted by whuppy at 7:48 PM on June 6, 2024 [9 favorites]
Now I need to know what speed it was originally recorded at.
posted by whuppy at 7:49 PM on June 6, 2024
posted by whuppy at 7:49 PM on June 6, 2024
Heh, Killdozer. snerk!
posted by evilDoug at 7:53 PM on June 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by evilDoug at 7:53 PM on June 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
Yeah, like, was the music recorded at regular speed and then slowed down to record the long, drawn out vocals on top then the whole thing sped up again?
posted by ashbury at 8:03 PM on June 6, 2024
posted by ashbury at 8:03 PM on June 6, 2024
In loosely related (re: way slowed down music) a MetaFilter comment got me interested in Bohren & der Club of Gore.
(how often did we play 45's at 33? A fucking lot, that's how often. I can never listen to Coelocanth by Shriekback at the correct speed ever again.)
posted by ovvl at 10:40 PM on June 6, 2024 [4 favorites]
(how often did we play 45's at 33? A fucking lot, that's how often. I can never listen to Coelocanth by Shriekback at the correct speed ever again.)
posted by ovvl at 10:40 PM on June 6, 2024 [4 favorites]
MetaFilter: makes Chipmunk Punk sound like Marquee Moon.
posted by chavenet at 1:57 AM on June 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 1:57 AM on June 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
FOR YOU MILLENIALS, A TAPE RECORDER USED A TAPE CASSETTE TO RECORD THINGS.
We had a cassette player like everyone else, but the true early millennial hotness was recording yourself singing into the cheapest Radio Shack microphone using Sound Recorder in Windows 3.1 and then playing it back at double speed. Of course, you could only record about 30 seconds at a time due to RAM limitations and saving the file to the hard drive was out of the question, but the long meditative pauses set to the sound of frantic hard drive chugging every time you pressed a button really built character.
posted by nanny's striped stocking at 3:57 AM on June 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
We had a cassette player like everyone else, but the true early millennial hotness was recording yourself singing into the cheapest Radio Shack microphone using Sound Recorder in Windows 3.1 and then playing it back at double speed. Of course, you could only record about 30 seconds at a time due to RAM limitations and saving the file to the hard drive was out of the question, but the long meditative pauses set to the sound of frantic hard drive chugging every time you pressed a button really built character.
posted by nanny's striped stocking at 3:57 AM on June 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
$7 for someone else's album, but slowed down? Sort of ballsy.
Maybe Holy Fuck isn't selling enough albums?
Internet Archive has it though.
posted by Ayn Marx at 4:22 AM on June 7, 2024 [4 favorites]
Maybe Holy Fuck isn't selling enough albums?
Internet Archive has it though.
posted by Ayn Marx at 4:22 AM on June 7, 2024 [4 favorites]
Maybe it's so great because of the core (well, three-quarters of it) of all-star studio musicians?
posted by Rat Spatula at 5:52 AM on June 7, 2024
posted by Rat Spatula at 5:52 AM on June 7, 2024
I would have turned out so much cooler if this had been my first LP, rather than Urban Chipmunk.
posted by unknowncommand at 7:15 AM on June 7, 2024
posted by unknowncommand at 7:15 AM on June 7, 2024
p sure i saw these guys open for buzzov•en in '96
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 7:29 AM on June 7, 2024
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 7:29 AM on June 7, 2024
Patton Oswalt has a great routine about playing with the speeds on Chipmunks, specifically how playing the Chipmunks' Christmas album sounds like, "four boring normal monotone guys just singing Christmas songs and then this demon from the ninth level of traitors and murders" emanates from the belly of David Seville.
posted by jonp72 at 8:31 AM on June 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by jonp72 at 8:31 AM on June 7, 2024 [2 favorites]
It sounds like bad versions of the slow Joy Division songs.
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:58 AM on June 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:58 AM on June 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
alvin & the chipmunks at half speed: un nouveau frisson
posted by graywyvern at 11:23 AM on June 7, 2024
posted by graywyvern at 11:23 AM on June 7, 2024
Adding on to Volume 2, it features a version of Whip It which I can only imagine was a collaboration between Joy Division and the B-52s.
posted by evadery at 11:59 AM on June 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by evadery at 11:59 AM on June 7, 2024 [1 favorite]
Also two tracks from The Knack? Who on the project team was a huge fan? I bet it was Simon.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:19 PM on June 7, 2024
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:19 PM on June 7, 2024
I believe the "16 speed" is a reference to how they slowed it down -- old record players had a 16rpm setting, around half the 33rpm speed, which was usually used for long spoken word things, or there were 16 inch "transcription" records that could hold an hour or so per side that were how radio shows were shipped to stations (hence the big record players on WKRP).
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:47 PM on June 12, 2024
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:47 PM on June 12, 2024
Last year we saw a very interesting film, I'm No Longer here.
The soundtrack is slowed down Cumbia hits: Cumbia Rebajada.
posted by ovvl at 8:00 PM on June 17, 2024
The soundtrack is slowed down Cumbia hits: Cumbia Rebajada.
posted by ovvl at 8:00 PM on June 17, 2024
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