List Of Crap #76: Top 50 Novelty Songs Countdown

[Thrifty Version II]

Didn't get a lot of submissions on this one, just 6 lists.  I guess most folks don't think about novelty songs as much as I do.  And there was some dispute as to the precise definition of a novelty song.  But here goes nothin'.

#50 Yakety-Yak by The Coasters
17 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #9 by Johnny Unusual

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/PtTC3pGBjs4?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/PtTC3pGBjs4?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

"Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for The Coasters and released on Atlantic Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on the R&B charts and a week as number one on the Hot 100 pop list.  This song was one of a string of singles released by The Coasters between 1957 and 1959 that dominated the charts, one of the biggest performing acts of the rock and roll era.  The song is basically a teenager's interactions with his parents.  The parents give the teen a list of chores, the teen rebelliously retorts with "yakety-yak" and the parents tell him "don't talk back!"

The thing I remember most about this song was that, growing up in the 80s, my big sister was really into it.

[Thrifty Version II]

#49 Nature Trail to Hell by Weird Al Yankovic
17 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #9 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/LWME4d1BRCk?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/LWME4d1BRCk?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

Nature Trail to Hell is a track on Weird Al's second album, In 3D, from 1984 (almost 30 years ago!).  The song is ostensibly a musical promo for a fictional slasher film called "Nature Trail to Hell", roughly modeled after the Friday the 13th movie series that was so popular at the time.  It contains a lot of violent sound effects to evoke the slasher film theme, such as screams and revving chainsaws.  The song contains a backmasked line "Satan Eats Cheez Wiz", perhaps a sardonic response to accusations of backmasked hidden messages in heavy metal and rock music.

[Thrifty Version II]

#48 Kill Da Wabbit by Ozzy Fudd
17 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #9 by Compound

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/eoBRfu1pY0Y?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/eoBRfu1pY0Y?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

Kill Da Wabbit is a heavy metal ballad chronicling the rabbit hunting prowess of legendary guitarist/hunter Ozzy Fudd.  The character is, of course, based on the popular Looney Tunes character Elmer Fudd.  Unlike the hapless Elmer, who was constantly outsmarted by Bugs Bunny, Ozzy Fudd appears to be a rather ruthless and successful hunter.

I think I first heard this song on the Doctor Demento 30th Anniversary CD I got for Christmas in 2003.  It's an okay song, but outclassed by most of the other tracks on the CD set.

[Thrifty Version II]

#47 One More Minute by Weird Al yankovic
18 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #8 by Compound

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yWhpk-8QLFQ?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/yWhpk-8QLFQ?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

"One More Minute" is a stylistic Doo-Wop style parody on Weird Al's third album, Dare to Be Stupid, from 1985.  The song was inspired by a girlfriend of Yankovic, who broke up with him while he was trying to write the songs for Dare to Be Stupid.  In order to deal with the heartbreak, Yankovic recorded the biting, angry, humorous song.  During the video, Yankovic can be seen tearing up a picture of the girl who inspired the song.

[Darth Geek]

I love novelty songs, but have been busier than expected lately so couldn't submit.

[Quantum Vagina]

I tried to come up with a list, but couldn't really find a configuration that I was happy with. :/

I didn't know that about "One More Minute". It's actually been a long time since I've listened to anything by Weird Al, and I really loved that song. Doo-Wop can be really pleasant.

[Thrifty Version II]

#46 Gangnam Style by Psy
18 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #8 by Johnny Unusual

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9bZkp7q19f0?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/9bZkp7q19f0?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

Gangnam Style is a hit single by South Korean musician Psy.  It became an international viral hit, and as of this writing, it is the most watched video on all of Youtube with over 1.8 BILLION views.  It additionally holds the record for the Youtube video with the most "Likes", at close to 8 million likes.  The title refers to a Korean neologism referring to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam district of the South Korean capital of Seoul.   It subsequently won Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards held later that year. It became a source of parodies and reaction videos by many different individuals, groups and organizations while also inspiring dance mobs in Paris, Rome, and Milan, with tens of thousands of participants each. On New Year's Eve 2012, more than one million people witnessed a live "Gangnam Style" performance in Times Square, New York City, featuring Psy and rapper MC Hammer;[7] as well as in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.[8]

By the end of 2012, the song had topped the music charts of more than 30 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Although its reception in Japan remained lukewarm, "Gangnam Style" topped China's Baidu 500 download list and was labelled by state media as having a "divine melody."

As the song continued to rapidly gain popularity and ubiquity, its signature dance moves were attempted by many notable political leaders such as the British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. President Barack Obama, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who hailed it as a "force for world peace".  Its influence on political activism was exemplified by the short film Gangnam for Freedom, produced by the British sculptor Anish Kapoor to advocate the freedom of expression with the support of various human rights organisations such as Index on Censorship and Amnesty International. According to the United Nations' news division, Psy has become an "international sensation" through his song "Gangnam Style". On May 7, 2013, at a bilateral meeting with South Korea's President Park Geun-hye at the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama cited the success of "Gangnam Style" as an example of how people around the world are being "swept up" by the Korean Wave of culture.

Personally, I find the song horrid and grating, but 2 billion views and this kind of international influence has gotta mean there's SOMETHING to it.  Maybe Satan is involved.

[Quantum Vagina]

I LOVE Gangnam Style. Catchy, humorous, deeper meaning, and I genuinely like K-Pop as a genre.

[Thrifty Version II]

#45 Charlie Brown by The Coasters
18 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #8 by George Harrison

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/d2hoRQDXGVo?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/d2hoRQDXGVo?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

Charlie Brown is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and first recorded by The Coasters in 1959.  It went up to the #2 spot on the Billboard charts that year.  It is well known for its refrain line "Why is everybody always pickin' on me?"  The song tells the tale of a rebellious, troublemaking young man named Charlie Brown who, among other things "throws spitballs", "writes on the walls", "goofs in the halls", and "calls the English teacher 'Daddy-o'".  Despite the name, there is no connection to the popular star of the Peanuts comic strip.

Personally, I remember the "Why is everybody always pickin' on me?" from an obnoxious Domino's Pizza ad from 1991.  I hadn't realized it was from a real song back then.

[Thrifty Version II]

#44 Wet Dream by Kip Addotta
18 points on 2 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #16 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/UhdONBHWOUQ?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/UhdONBHWOUQ?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

Wet Dream is a song by comedian and actor Kip Addotta.  Kip wrote a number of novelty songs through his career, but Wet Dream is arguably his most successful.  I first heard it on the Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection CD pictured above.  The song uses a series of fish related puns to form a loose narrative about a man's life under the sea.  Kip speaks the words to a minimal musical backing, so it feels a lot more like speaking than singing.  But it has music, so it's close enough for me.  Cole has mentioned this song on his podcast several times, so I knew it'd be on his list.  I expected it to be a lot higher though.

[Thrifty Version II]

#43 The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun by Julie Brown
19 points on 1 of 6 lists.  Top Vote: #7 by Cole Stratton

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/xG3yGdQYwqg?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/xG3yGdQYwqg?hl=en_US&amp;amp;version=3</a>

The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun is a 1984 song by Julie Brown.  It is a parody of the "teen tragedy" style of songs that were popular in the 1950s.  The song and music video—both released more than a decade before school shootings became well known events— revolve around a teenaged Valley girl's oblivious recounting of how her best friend, Debi, who upon being crowned homecoming queen unexpectedly pulled out a weapon and began indiscriminately killing classmates and teachers at the parade.   In the end, Debi is shot by police and confesses before she dies that she murdered for a mysterious person named "Johnny", leaving her friend to ponder whether she means a nerdy classmate that always had food stuck in his braces; the queen's bouquet in the music video has the words 'Debi, I love you, Johnny' written on a label. The narrator compares the unrevealed identity of "Johnny" to "Rosebud" in Citizen Kane, observing, "It's like that movie Citizen Kane, you know, where you later find out that 'Rosebud' is his sled? / But we'll never know who Johnny was, 'cause, like, she's dead!"

I heard this song on one of the Dr. Demento anniversary CDs.  It's an okay song.  But it feels so out of place these days.  You could probably never get away with recording a humorous song about school shootings in this day and age.

[Thrifty Version II]

Okay that's all for now.

[Johnny Unusual]

I LOVE Gangnam Style. Catchy, humorous, deeper meaning, and I genuinely like K-Pop as a genre.

Well, deeper might be a bit much but it is satirical, poking fun at the poser attitudes of Gangnam (though it has clearly been embraced by them).  The song is still everywhere here, as is PSY.  I think people love the song more because of the international attention it gave Korea.  But it is actually a catchy song and while I do get sick of hearing it, when I go a long time without hearing it and I hear it again, it's pretty alright.

One More Minute is a great song, but I always think of Al no longer being just a novelty act by that point in his career.

Garfunkel and Oates did a pretty great cover for Al on Comedy Bang Bang
 
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/1MG0-tSKhZY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/1MG0-tSKhZY</a>

[Compound]

#43 The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun by Julie Brown

Oooh. That was the song where my cut and paste forgot to actually cut and I just pasted in the prior entry instead. Whoops. Oh well. It'll join the two other songs that I remembered about after sending the list in.

[Pak-Man]

Kicking myself for forgetting Gangnam Style and Kill Da Wabbit. One More Minute is one of Weird Al's greats, but wasn't one of the ones that made my list.