55-463: Neill Kirby McMillan Jr. (August 2, 1957 – February 7, 2024), known professionally as Mojo Nixon , was an American musician and actor best known for his novelty song "Elvis Is Everywhere", which was an alternative staple on MTV . His style could generally be defined as psychobilly , a musical genre which blends rockabilly with punk rock . Nixon hosted The Loon in the Afternoon radio show on
110-694: A #1 single on July 21, 1958 , and is the only novelty song (#346) included in the Songs of the Century . "Lucky Ladybug" by Billy and Lillie was popular in December 1958. Lonnie Donegan 's 1959 cover of the 1924 novelty song " Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?) " was a transatlantic hit, reaching #5 on the Billboard charts two years after its release; it was one of
165-625: A B-side collection due to pressure from album distributors. Also among his later work was " Tie My Pecker to My Leg ", which featured lyrics about bestiality , incest , and coprophilia . In the mid-1990s, Nixon collaborated on albums with Jello Biafra ( Prairie Home Invasion ), Dave Alvin , and members of the Beat Farmers , including Buddy "Blue" Seigal ( Live in Las Vegas by the Pleasure Barons). Country Dick Montana of
220-1049: A Beat Farmers show at the Longhorn Saloon in Whistler, British Columbia , Canada. The cause of death has been otherwise reported by the San Diego Reader (a publication local to the home of the Beat Farmers) as having been ruled as an aneurysm . The band disbanded shortly thereafter. In the 1970s, Montana owned a record store called Monty Rockers and was a member of two seminal San Diego bands. He drummed for both punk rock pioneers The Penetrators and roots rock band The Crawdaddys. From 1983 to 1995, Montana played drums, percussion, guitar and accordion for The Beat Farmers with founding member Buddy Blue Siegal . Montana also performed lead vocals on at least one song on every Beat Farmers album, singing humorous songs frequently related to drinking. The song "Happy Boy"
275-615: A band called Country Dick & the Snuggle Bunnies, which included an array of San Diego talent, most of whom would play major roles in the Beat Farmers legacy. The band included: Montana, drums/vocals; Richard Banke (aka Skid Roper ), mandolin/washboard/vocals; Robin Jackson, guitar/vocals; Paul Kamanski, guitar/vocals; Joey Harris, guitar/vocals; and Nino Del Pesco , bass/vocals. "The Ballad of Country Dick" by Mojo Nixon
330-556: A documentary film, The Mojo Manifesto , to be released in 2014. The film premiered at the 2022 South By Southwest festival. On February 21, 2023, Freestyle Digital Media announced that it had acquired worldwide rights to the film, slating it for a March 17 release across VOD platforms. Nixon and his wife, Adaire, have two sons. Nixon was an outspoken supporter of free file sharing of recordings in MP3 and other formats. In July 2000, he publicly declared his support because he said that he
385-433: A holiday or a fad such as a dance or TV program. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may not even be musical. For example, the 1966 novelty song " They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! ", by Napoleon XIV , has little music and is set to a rhythm tapped out on a snare drum , a tambourine , and the bare sides of the musicians' legs. A book on achieving an attention-grabbing novelty single
440-462: A major staple of Tin Pan Alley from its start in the late 19th century. They continued to proliferate in the early years of the 20th century, some rising to be among the biggest hits of the era. Varieties included songs with an unusual gimmick, such as the stuttering in " K-K-K-Katy " or the playful boop-boop-a-doops of " I Wanna Be Loved By You ", which made a star out of Helen Kane and inspired
495-585: A man having to share the doghouse when his lover kicks him out of the house), but contemporaries (among them Jerry Rivers ) disputed this and noted that many men had been faced with eviction under similar circumstances. The 1953 #1 single " (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window? " became notable both for its extensive airplay and the backlash from listeners who found it increasingly annoying. Satirists such as Stan Freberg , Allan Sherman , and Tom Lehrer used novelty songs to poke fun at contemporary pop culture in
550-457: A new audience online; the hit song " The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) " by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis was featured on the kids compilation album So Fresh Pop Party 13 in 2014. Likewise, rapper Big Shaq 's 2017 hit " Man's Not Hot ", which depicts a man who refuses to take off his jacket, received widespread attention and inspired countless memes as a result of its success, with the man behind
605-472: A number of other knockoffs, including The Nutty Squirrels and Russ Regan 's one-off group Dancer, Prancer and Nervous. In 1960, 16-year-old Brian Hyland had a novelty hit with the song " Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini ", by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss , which topped the Billboard single chart. The Trashmen reached the top 5 with " Surfin' Bird ", a surf rock medley of two novelty songs originally recorded by The Rivingtons . In 1964,
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#1732794612900660-424: A weekday program on Steven Van Zandt ’s Outlaw Country channel on SiriusXM. Nixon's first comeback was in 2006 when he came out of retirement in support of Kinky Friedman 's bid to become Governor of Texas . As Nixon said at the time, "If supporting Kinky for governor is what it takes to drag my ass out of retirement, consider my ass dragged." In October 2009, he announced his "unretirement" on his website with
715-521: A year later with a cover of Lou Bega 's " Mambo No.5 ", and also had another less successful single in 2008 with " Big Fish Little Fish ". Some novelty music draws its appeal from its unintentional novelty; so-called " outsider musicians " with little or no formal musical training often will produce comical results (see for instance, Florence Foster Jenkins , Mrs. Miller , the Portsmouth Sinfonia , The Shaggs , and William Hung ). After
770-674: A year), with novelty act LadBaby reaching Number One five times in a row, with all five songs being parodies of other popular songs reworked to incorporate a running gag that revolves around sausage rolls . More often than not, the UK Christmas novelty records were recorded for charity, with LadBaby's Christmas chart rivals in 2020 also including The Dancing Binmen (Jack Johnson, Henry Wright and Adrian Breakwell) with their song "Boogie Round The Bins At Christmas Time", and "Merry Christmas, Baked Potato" from comedian Matt Lucas, with fellow chart contender "Raise The Woof!" being promoted as
825-664: Is The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way) , written by The KLF . It is based on their achievement of a UK number-one single with " Doctorin' the Tardis ", a 1988 dance remix mashup of the Doctor Who theme music released under the name of 'The Timelords'. It argued that (at the time) achieving a number one single could be achieved less by musical talent than through market research , sampling and gimmicks matched to an underlying danceable groove. Novelty songs were
880-497: Is run over by Santa Claus' entourage, and found trampled at the scene the next morning. It has become a staple of Christmas music playlists on American radio since its original release. An underground novelty music scene began to emerge in the 1960s, beginning with the homosexually themed songs of Camp Records and the racist humor of Johnny Rebel , then in the 1970s and 1980s with X-rated albums by David Allan Coe and Clarence "Blowfly" Reid . Novelty songs have been popular in
935-614: The Grammy for Best Country and Western Album was awarded to Roger Miller . Miller was known to sing novelty songs. In 1965, " A Windmill in Old Amsterdam ", a song written by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge , became a UK hit for Ronnie Hilton . The song spent a total of 13 weeks on the UK Singles Chart peaking at No. 23 in the chart of 17 February 1965. The song's composers were granted an Ivor Novello Award in 1966 for
990-486: The Rat Music For Rat People compilation album. Throughout the late 1980s, Nixon and Roper produced several satirical pieces lampooning contemporary celebrities, such as MTV VJ Martha Quinn , in "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin", and Rick Astley and Debbie Gibson , in " Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child ". Nixon appeared in several promotional spots for MTV during this period, but
1045-555: The Teletubbies who reached number one the previous week failed to gain it with their single " Say Eh-oh! ". They came second in the charts to The Spice Girls second of three consecutive Christmas number ones, with " Too Much ". Later on at the turn of the millennium , Bob the Builder was successful in achieving a Christmas number one in 2000, with " Can We Fix It? ". However, Bob the Builder did have another number one single
1100-505: The top 40 . Freeform and album-oriented rock stations made use of novelty songs; some of the best-known work from progressive rocker Frank Zappa , for instance, is his extensive body of mostly adult-oriented novelty music. Zappa's " Bobby Brown (Goes Down) " was a smash hit in Europe despite its sexually explicit storyline, and " Valley Girl " was a Top 40 hit in the US, while his " Don't Eat
1155-478: The 1920s and 1930s. They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music ; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music . Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. Novelty songs are often a parody or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as
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#17327946129001210-495: The 1950s and early 1960s. In 1951, Frank Sinatra was paired in a CBS television special with TV personality Dagmar . Mitch Miller at Columbia Records became intrigued with the pairing and compelled songwriter Dick Manning to compose a song for the two of them. The result was " Mama Will Bark ", a novelty song performed by Sinatra with interspersed spoken statements by Dagmar, saying things like "mama will bark", "mama will spank", and "papa will spank". The recording even includes
1265-484: The 1989 Jerry Lee Lewis biographical film Great Balls of Fire! . The film starred Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder , the latter of whom appeared in Nixon's video for " Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child ". The B-side to the "Debbie Gibson" song, which was also the subject of a video, was "(619) 239-KING", a follow-up to "Elvis is Everywhere" in which Nixon, responding to then-active rumors that Presley
1320-594: The Afternoon on Outlaw Country (channel 60), the NASCAR -themed Mojo Nixon's Manifold Destiny on SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90) and the politically themed Lyin' Cocksuckers on Raw Dog Comedy (channel 99). In October 2005, Nixon began appearing on the Sirius Howard 100 channel as the "General Manager". On November 8, 2016, Nixon did his final "Lying Cocksuckers" show, saying he would be back next year with another show on RawDog Comedy on Sirius/XM. Nixon hosted
1375-638: The Beat Farmers, who was a close friend of Nixon's, was eulogized on Nixon's 1999 album, The Real Sock Ray Blue , after his 1995 death onstage of a heart attack. Nixon retired from the music business in 2004, playing his last live show on March 20 of that year at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas . In later years, he occasionally performed at special events, as he did to support fellow musician Kinky Friedman 's candidacy for Texas governor. Nixon made his acting debut as drummer James Van Eaton in
1430-704: The Outlaw Country Cruise (docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico ), which he attended as a performer and host; he was 66 years old. Two days later, James Van Eaton , who he portrayed in Great Balls of Fire! , also died. Among the memorial events held in honor of Nixon was an all-day concert in Austin, Texas in March 2024 during the South by Southwest festival. With Skid Roper Solo Mojo Nixon and
1485-583: The Outlaw Country channel of Sirius XM . Neill Kirby McMillan Jr. was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina , on August 2, 1957. He paired with Skid Roper in the early 1980s in San Diego. Roper mostly provided instrumental backup to Nixon's lyrics. Nixon and Roper released their first album in 1985 on Enigma Records , Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper . The song "Jesus at McDonald's" from that album
1540-505: The Toadliquors Other Novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick , a piece of humor , or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs , which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody , especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during
1595-563: The U.S. in four consecutive decades (1950s through the 1980s for Richard, 1980s to 2010s for Yankovic). Randy Brooks wrote a Christmas novelty song and it was originally recorded by the duo Elmo Shropshire and his then-wife Patsy in 1979, called " Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer ". It tells the tragic-comic story of a family grandmother (loosely based on Brooks's uncle Foster Brooks ) who meets her end on Christmas Eve. After having drunk too much eggnog and forgetting to take her medicine, she staggers out of her family's house late Christmas Eve,
1650-631: The UK as well. In 1991, " The Stonk " novelty song raised over £100,000 for the Comic Relief charity. In 1993, " Mr Blobby " became the second novelty song to reach the coveted Christmas number one slot in the UK, following Benny Hill 's 1971 chart-topper " Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) ". Many popular children's TV characters would try to claim the Christmas number one spot after this. In 1997,
1705-666: The Year's Outstanding Novelty Composition . Chuck Berry 's " My Ding-a-Ling " reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972, and Ray Stevens , known for such novelty hits as " Ahab the Arab ", " Gitarzan ", and " Mississippi Squirrel Revival ", had a #1 hit with " The Streak " in 1974. Comedy act Cheech & Chong recorded a number of musical bits that can be classified as novelty songs, including " Basketball Jones "(1973) and " Earache My Eye " (1974). Warren Zevon 's lone chart hit
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1760-519: The Yellow Snow " and " Dancin' Fool " also reached the top 100 in his native United States. Beginning in 1970, Dr. Demento 's nationally syndicated radio show gave novelty songs an outlet for much of the country; this lasted through the mid-2000s, when the show (mirroring trends in the genre) faded in popularity until its terrestrial cancellation in June 2010. In the 21st century, novelty songs found
1815-476: The creation of Betty Boop ; silly lyrics like " Yes! We Have No Bananas "; playful songs with a bit of double entendre, such as "Don't Put a Tax on All the Beautiful Girls"; and invocations of foreign lands with emphasis on general feel of exoticism rather than geographic or anthropological accuracy, such as " Oh By Jingo! ", " The Sheik of Araby ", and "The Yodeling Chinaman". These songs were perfect for
1870-736: The earliest top-5 hits to come from the United Kingdom in the rock era, preceding the British Invasion . Three songs using a sped-up recording technique became #1 hits in the United States in 1958–59: David Seville 's " Witch Doctor " and Ragtime Cowboy Joe, Sheb Wooley 's " The Purple People Eater ", and David Seville's " The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) ", which used a speeded-up voice technique to simulate three chipmunks' voices. The technique (which Dickie Goodman had also used on "The Flying Saucer") would inspire
1925-546: The economy. We must take bold action now. If I make the new album free and my entire catalog free it will stimulate the economy. It might even over-stimulate the economy. History has shown than when people listen to my music, money tends to flow to bartenders, race tracks, late night greasy spoons, bail bondsman, go kart tracks, tractor pulls, football games, peep shows and several black market vices. My music causes itches that it usually takes some money to scratch. In 2013, Freedom Records & Films announced that they were producing
1980-405: The fictitious composer P.D.Q. Bach repeatedly won the " Best Comedy Album " Grammy from 1990 to 1993, the category was changed to "Best Spoken Comedy Album". When "Best Comedy Album" was reinstated in 2004, "Weird Al" Yankovic won for Poodle Hat . Novelty songs were popular on U.S. radio throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where it was not uncommon for novelty songs to break into
2035-461: The first ever Christmas record for dogs. Country Dick Montana Daniel Monte McLain (May 11, 1955 – November 8, 1995), known by the stage name Country Dick Montana , was an American musician best known as a member of The Beat Farmers . He was born in Carmel , California . In 1995, It was reported that Montana suffered a heart attack and died while playing "The Girl I Almost Married" during
2090-454: The increasing availability of audio recordings by way of the player piano and the phonograph; whereas much of Tin Pan Alley's repertoire was sold in the form of sheet music and thus had to be simple enough for an amateur pianist to play, novelty piano brought virtuoso -level performance to the home and to those who would not normally attend classical concerts. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, " Hitler Has Only Got One Ball " (set to
2145-455: The medium of Vaudeville , and performers such as Eddie Cantor and Sophie Tucker became well known for such songs. Zez Confrey 's 1920s instrumental compositions, which involved gimmicky approaches (such as "Kitten on the Keys") or maniacally rapid tempos ("Dizzy Fingers"), were popular enough to start a fad of novelty piano pieces that lasted through the decade. The fad was brought about by
2200-549: The network's decision not to air the video for "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant ..." prompted him to sever ties with the network. Meanwhile, Nixon and Roper also lampooned contemporary American culture and social issues in songs such as "I Hate Banks", "Burn Down the Malls", and "The Amazing Bigfoot Diet". Nixon and Roper parted ways late in 1989. The following year Nixon recorded a solo album on Enigma Records called Otis . On this album, Nixon continued his assault on pop culture , as in
2255-496: The release of his album Whiskey Rebellion , a collection of previously unreleased tracks he claimed he had found in "an old shoe box full of cassette tapes" under his front porch. To promote the CD, he announced the temporary free downloads of the CD tracks and several of his solo albums (and albums with Skid Roper) on Amazon.com , along with a tour of several Texas locations. In a press release, he stated, Can't wait for Washington to fix
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2310-471: The same vein for the next two decades including his gold record RIAA certified hit " Mr. Jaws " in 1975, which charted #1 in Cash Box and Record World and was based on the movie Jaws . Among the more far out songs of this genre were the two released in 1956 by Nervous Norvus , "Transfusion" and "Ape Call". The Coasters had novelty songs such as "Charlie Brown" and " Yakety Yak ". "Yakety Yak" became
2365-516: The song " Don Henley Must Die", which caused a fresh round of controversy, even to the point of Nixon's record company begging radio stations not to play it. (Henley himself was unfazed; on July 31, 1992, at The Hole in the Wall in Austin, Texas , the former Eagle jumped onstage and performed the song with Nixon, causing Nixon to praise Henley as having "balls as big as church bells", as well as to ask, "Is Debbie Gibson here too?") Shortly after Otis
2420-418: The song being British comedian Michael Dapaah . The children's novelty song " Baby Shark " received widespread attention when Korean education brand Pinkfong 's cover version from an online viral video reached the top 40 in the U.S. and several other countries. In the United Kingdom, the novelty hit has mainly become a feature of the " Christmas chart battle " (apart from a few viral hits found earlier in
2475-491: The sound of a dog yowling. It is regarded by both music scholars and Sinatra enthusiasts to be perhaps the worst song he ever recorded. Sinatra would record few others before he left Columbia and joined Capitol Records in 1952. Dickie Goodman faced a lawsuit for his 1956 novelty song " The Flying Saucer ", which sampled snippets of contemporary hits without permission and arranged them to resemble interviews with an alien landing on Earth. Goodman released more hit singles in
2530-529: The tune of British Army bandmaster F. J. Ricketts 's popular World War I–era " Colonel Bogey March ") was sung by British troops. A 1940s novelty song was Spike Jones' 1942 " Der Fuehrer's Face ", which included raspberries in its chorus. Tex Williams 's " Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) " topped the Billboard best-sellers chart for six weeks and the country music chart for 16 weeks in 1947 and 1948. Hank Williams Sr. 's " Move It On Over ", his first hit song, has some humor and novelty elements (about
2585-586: Was "not an asshole like Metallica ." In October 2009, several of his albums were available free on Amazon.com in MP3 format for a limited time as part of a promotion for his CD Whiskey Rebellion . Nixon was a self-described " libertarian cynicalist anarchist" and supported Barack Obama in 2012. He was also a member of the Church of the SubGenius . Nixon died from a "cardiac event" on February 7, 2024, while aboard
2640-503: Was also the honorary captain of the United States luge team at the 1998 Winter Olympics . In response to this, Nixon invited members of the men's doubles squad to work on a song for the Games: "Luge Team U.S.A.". The song was recorded by Nixon along with members of the Beat Farmers and luger Gordon Sheer playing drums under the band name The Arctic Evel Knievels. In 2008, he was hosting three shows on Sirius Satellite Radio : The Loon in
2695-489: Was even a promotional music video filmed for the game featuring the song. In the late 1990s, Nixon worked as a radio disc jockey in San Diego (on KGB-FM ) and Cincinnati starting his career in 1998 on WLW before moving to WEBN . In 1998, he had a short run as an advice columnist with "Life Fixin' with Mojo Nixon". Only two columns were authored, and both ran in the short-lived Peterbelly Magazine . That year he
2750-480: Was popular on The Dr. Demento Radio Show and featured in several feature films. Montana was also famous for his onstage antics, frequently related to drinking. During this time, he was also in the short-lived trio the Pleasure Barons with Mojo Nixon and Dave Alvin , The Incredible Hayseeds, Country Dick's Petting Zoo, and Country Dick's Garage. Prior to co-founding the Beat Farmers, Montana put together
2805-523: Was released, Enigma Records went bankrupt, which left much of Nixon's early catalog in legal limbo. In the 1990s, Nixon released a handful of albums on several labels with a backup band known as the Toadliquors. These later albums included songs such as "You Can't Kill Me", " Orenthal James (Was a Mighty Bad Man)", and the controversial "Bring Me the Head of David Geffen ", which was ultimately released on
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#17327946129002860-478: Was still alive, invited the singer to call and leave a message on what was, at the time of release, a legitimate telephone number. The 1990s also saw Nixon appear in a further five films, including Super Mario Bros. (1993) and Car 54, Where Are You? (1994). In 1997, Nixon voiced the character of Sheriff Lester T. Hobbes, a recurring enemy in the computer game Redneck Rampage . The game's licensed psychobilly soundtrack also features two of his songs. There
2915-500: Was the duo's first single. Nixon and Roper's third album, 1987's Bo-Day-Shus!!! , featured the song "Elvis Is Everywhere", a deification of Elvis Presley , which is his best known song (Nixon later declared his personal religious trinity was Presley, Foghorn Leghorn , and Otis Campbell ). Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper were also recorded in San Francisco during these early years by producer Sylvia Massy at CD Presents for
2970-502: Was the novelty number " Werewolves of London ". Other novelty songs in the '70s are Jimmy Castor Bunch "King Kong"(1975), Rick Dees ' " Disco Duck " (1976) and The Fools ' "Psycho Chicken" (1978). "Weird Al" Yankovic would emerge as one of the most prolific parody acts of all time in the 1980s, with a career that would span four decades; he would join Cliff Richard in being one of the few acts to have at least one top-40 hit in
3025-483: Was written after his death. The song "Happy Boy" was written by Dane Conover, formerly of the Puppies—the band in which Del Pesco played bass prior to joining Country Dick & the Snuggle Bunnies. Conover would later go on to form Trees. In 1996, the posthumous solo album The Devil Lied to Me was released. A reference to Montana can be found in the 1997 first-person shooter video game Redneck Rampage . In
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