The Dr. Demento Appreciation Thread

[Flick James]

I grew up listening to The Dr. Demento Show in the last 70's, and every time I think of that whimsical icon of the airwaves I am swept away by nostalgia.

For those that aren't familiar, Dr. Demento, the professional persona of Eugene Hansen, had his heyday in the late 70's and early 80's with a show dedicated to novelty music. His show was almost singlehandedly responsible for launching the career of Wierd Al Yankovic, who caught Demento's attention by sending tapes of songs like Another One Rides The Bus and Yoda (sung to the melody of The Kinks' Lola).

If it weren't for him, songs like Ogden Edsl's Dead Puppies or Barnes & Barnes' Fish Heads would likely never have been heard. In addition to spotlighting novelty music of the current day, Dr. Demento also focused on whimsical music parodies of days past, including songs and bits from such illustrious names as Spike Jones, Rowan and Martin, Smothers Brothers, P.D.Q. Bach, The Goons, Frank Zappa, and others.

The show had a magical mix of whimsical naivete and playful nods to the slightly off-color, without getting grotesque.

I'm sure my contemporaries on BMDO will remember the wonderful Dr. Demento. For you younger lads and lasses, I regret to inform you of a sublime piece of nostalgic Americana that you missed out on.

Dr. Demento, I salute you.

[HappyGilmore]

I love the Dr. Demento show.  In fact, I have collections of compilation cd's the man produced featuring a lot of the top notch novelty songs put out through history, dating back to the '50s or so.  The collection opened the doors to me hearing the likes of Spike Jones and Stan Freberg (both of whom my grandfather loved immensely, and brought us closer before he passed of cancer), as well as Tom Lehrer, Cheech and Chong, Allan Sherman, Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Frank Zappa and Homer and Jethro.

Not to mention, the newer groups he's been playing over the past few years like MC Lars, The Great Luke Ski, and Worm Quartet.

I love Demento, and the music he's made a staple of radio.  Sadly, to my knowledge, a decrease in ratings and revenue have positioned the show to be pretty much an only-Internet show.  Also, due to things going on in the music industry, it's fairly rare to see many novelty/comedic acts being signed to major labels.  "Weird Al" Yankovic is pretty much the last guy to have been given a big shot in the industry I can think of that's had huge crossover success.  Stephen Lynch and Cledus T. Judd both had deals, but Lynch does risque material that isn't played on the radio and Judd is primarily country, and neither have had the numbers Yankovic has.  In fact, it's 2011 and Al has a new album due out in a month.  30 years later and still kicking.

[Zapranoth]

The sixty second audio torture chamber was awesome, too, wasn't it?    Remember acts like "Sister Ugly and the Underwear-Less Girls?"    I thought you did.

[The Burgomaster]

My friends and I submitted a song to one of Dr. Demento's contests.  The song was called GOING CRAZY, AIEEEEEE!!!!  We recorded it on a portable cassette player with a cheap hand-held microphone, so we didn't have a prayer of winning.  All the finalists submitted studio-quality recordings.

[Hammock Rider]

  Years ago I spent many a late Sunday night listening to Dr. Demento, playing video games and eating frozen pizza. It's quite a Tri-fecta.

[HappyGilmore]

I liked seeing Dr. Demento get a nod on The Simpsons.

Lisa tells Bart something along the lines of: "Bart, your sworn enemy is on the radio."
Bart turns radio on.
Dr. Demento: "I'm the good doctor and it's time to get DEE-MENTED!"
Bart throws radio out window.

[HappyGilmore]

Anybody remember the couple of specials he had on MTV? They were like countdown specials, but I believe of comedy songs/videos on April Fools Day.

[Allhallowsday]

I love DR. DEMENTO - one of my heroes!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSAEownqddg
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[Flick James]

HAH! I just remembered another gem I heard alot from Dr. D. I'm Looking Over My Dead Dog Rover, the parody of I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover. Who the hell did that song?

[HappyGilmore]

The Dead Dog Rover song is by Hank, Stu, Dave and Hank.

[Flangepart]

I had a great double header of an intro to the Doc.
Catching his show on the T.V. (Audio only, of course), on cable in 1974, AFTER watching The Ghoul on ch43 from Cleveland.
Ah, those were the days that warped my widdle brain.

[HappyGilmore]

I love DR. DEMENTO - one of my heroes!! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSAEownqddg

Love Benny Bell.

It's because of Dr. Demento I love this guy as well:
Spike Jones and his City Slickers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvt4b_qwC_Q
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