Billy and the Boingers
Encyclopedia
Bloom County
Bloom County is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, where children often have adult personalities and vocabularies and where...
, originally known as Deathtöngue.
Most of the Deathtöngue saga is contained in the Bloom County collection Billy and the Boingers Bootleg
Billy and the Boingers Bootleg
Billy and the Boingers Bootleg is the fifth collection of the comic strip series Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed. It was published in 1987.It is preceded by Bloom County Babylon and followed by Tales Too Ticklish to Tell....
, which included a flexi-disc containing what were apparently two songs by the band: "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" and "I'm a Boinger".
- "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" is a song written by Bill the Cat. In reality, the song was performed by the band Mucky PupMucky PupMucky Pup began as an American hardcore and crossover thrash band formed in Bergenfield, New Jersey in 1985, when brothers John and Chris Milnes joined up with Dan Nastasi and former Hades member, Scott LePage . The band went through various incarnations and several musical style changes while...
.
- "I'm a Boinger", written by Dallas, is the apparent response of Billy and the Boingers after the name change. It was actually played by the Harry Pitts Band.
The "liner notes" on the inside cover of Billy and the Boingers Bootleg are a parody of the thank you section in the Master of Puppets
Master of Puppets
-Personnel:Metallica* James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar on track 1, first solo on tracks 2 and 7* Cliff Burton – bass, backing vocals* Lars Ulrich – drums* Kirk Hammett – lead guitarProduction...
liner notes. They are both punctuated similarly and both mention "xtra freakin' yahooz." (It was "xtra fucken yahooz" in Master of Puppets.) Billy and the Boingers thank the "Boingers Metalbashers" whereas Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
thank the "Bay Area Metallibashers."
Fictional history
The band was created by lawyerLawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
Steve Dallas
Steve Dallas
Steve Dallas is a fictional character in the American comic strips of Berke Breathed, most famously Bloom County in the 1980s.He was first introduced as an obnoxious frat boy in the college strip The Academia Waltz, which ran in the University of Texas's Daily Texan during 1978 and 1979...
during the peak of glam metal
Glam metal
Glam metal is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene...
's commercial popularity, and originally called Deathtöngue. He wanted "another career... something big money... no necktie
Necktie
A necktie is a long piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck or shoulders, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat. Variants include the ascot tie, bow tie, bolo tie, and the clip-on tie. The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie are descended from the cravat. Neck...
s... loose sex..." and was inspired by the newly freed Bill the Cat doing a Horned Hand while waiting at the door to his office. Auditions promptly occurred, during which Opus auditions for the Tuba slot ("Heavy metal?" "Weighty brass... C'mon, gimme a break!")
Their first single, "Demon Drooler of the Sewer" (which sold with "Leper
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
Lover") peaked at 1,012 on the Top 100
Top 100
Top 100 may refer to:*Billboard Hot 100, the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine...
list. Later, their record deal with CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
fell through because of explicit lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
on "Let's Run Over Lionel Ritchie
Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
[sic] with a Tank", which Steve Dallas read to Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...
, who was sitting right under a giant autographed picture of Richie. However, positive reaction was shown to the stunt of Bill biting off the head
Head
In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do....
of a live roadie onstage (a reference to Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
's Bat incident.)
They also engaged themselves socially as Christmas carolers and delighted Bloom County's front porches during Christmas time. Their apparently self-composed yet tradition-based repertoire included "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
so I blew him away" and "Rudolph the red-nosed headbanger".
During congressional hearings on "porn
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
rock," Dallas, under grilling by the wives of several congressmen
Parents Music Resource Center
The Parents Music Resource Center was an American committee formed in 1985 with the goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to be violent, have drug use or be sexual.The committee was founded by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice...
, completely caved into congressional pressure and announced the band had changed their name and image to the more wholesome "Billy and the Boingers," possibly a play on the name Billy Vera and the Beaters
Billy Vera
Billy Vera is an American singer, actor, writer and music historian.-Life and career:Vera was born in Riverside, California. He began his singing career in 1962 as a member of the Resolutions. He went on to write several songs throughout the early 1960s, writing for the likes of Barbara Lewis,...
, who had gained popularity in real life around that time.
Late in its career, the rechristened Billy and the Boingers embarked on their first world tour, sponsored by Dr. Scholl's
Dr. Scholl's
William Mathias Scholl was a podiatrist, pioneer of foot care and the founder of Dr. Scholl's, a brand of foot care products. Scholl went on to found the Illinois College of Chiropody and Orthopaedics. William M...
Odor Eaters, which consisted of a single gig: the Moose Lodge
Moose International
Moose International is a fraternal and service organization founded in 1888, consisting of the Loyal Order of Moose, with nearly 1 million men in roughly 2,400 Lodges, in all 50 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, plus Great Britain and Bermuda; and the Women of the Moose with more than...
Banquet in the Hiawatha Room at the Motel 6 in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, where they played such favorites as "Hari Kari
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
for Barry" (a reference to Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
) and "Pimples from Hell."
Bill got rich when "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" became a jingle for Wheat Thins
Wheat Thins
Wheat Thins are a popular baked snack cracker found in North America, distributed by Nabisco, a subsidiary of Kraft Foods Global Inc. in the US, Kraft Foods in Canada and in Australia through wholesaler USA Foods. Also Vegetable Thins, Pita Thins, and Rice Thins, which both are spun off from Wheat...
commercials, but he did not share the wealth with his bandmates. When he lost his metalhead credibility after staying up all night and reading the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
with a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
, the band informally disbanded and left him behind. He was born again as a televangelist named "Fundamentally Oral Bill" in the tradition of Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Lee Swaggart is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast...
, Jim Bakker
Jim Bakker
James Orsen "Jim" Bakker is an American televangelist, a former Assemblies of God minister, and a former host of The PTL Club, a popular evangelical Christian television program.A sex scandal led to his resignation from the ministry...
and Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts
Granville "Oral" Roberts was an American Pentecostal televangelist and a Christian charismatic. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University....
, and the nun got to star in a Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
endorsement.
The lyric-writing ability of the band is exemplified by the following chorus:
- "Run with the DevilSatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
! - Shout Satan's might!
- Deathtöngue!
- Deathtöngue!
- The Beast rises tonight!"
Sadly, the hoped-for Grammy was not to be.
Lineup
- "Wild" Bill CattBill the CatBill the Cat, or Bill D. Cat, according to the final Outland strip, is a fictional cat appearing in the works of cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, beginning with the comic strip Bloom County in the 1980s and continuing in Outland and Opus in the following decades...
- Singer/lead tongueTongueThe tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly... - Hodge-PodgeHodge-Podge (character)Hodge-Podge the rabbit is a fictitious character from Berke Breathed's comic strip Bloom County. His best friends are Portnoy and Cutter John. Hodge is extremely politically conservative and fanatical about most things, though often ignorant and naive about just what those things are...
- Drums - Opus CroakusOpus the PenguinOpus the Penguin is a character in the comic strips and children's books of Berkeley Breathed, most notably the popular 1980s strip Bloom County. Breathed has described him as an "existentialist penguin" and the favorite of his many characters...
- 'LectricElectricityElectricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the... - Steve DallasSteve DallasSteve Dallas is a fictional character in the American comic strips of Berke Breathed, most famously Bloom County in the 1980s.He was first introduced as an obnoxious frat boy in the college strip The Academia Waltz, which ran in the University of Texas's Daily Texan during 1978 and 1979...
- Songwriter/manager/guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
/vocals
Candidates for the band needed "to know 3 chords and be able to grimace musically."
Rosebud the Basselope was disqualified during the audition for singing a Simon and Garfunkel
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...
ballad The Sounds of Silence and had trouble removing the spandex
Spandex
Spandex or elastane is a synthetic fibre known for its exceptional elasticity. It is strong, but less durable than natural Latex, its major non-synthetic competitor. It is a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer that was co-invented in 1959 by chemists C. L. Sandquist and Joseph Shivers at DuPont's...
pants donned specifically for the audition.
Opus won the Tuba slot by singing 'Satan Love boogie' by Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
-
- "Lucifer, do yer duty!
- Slam my head, shake yer booty!
- Wham, bam, thank you Nell,
- I'm on the Amtrak to hell (Tuba solo)!
The Tuba solo got him in, threw him backwards, and made him wet his pants.
Milo, as a reporter for the Bloom County newspaper, would later try to find a story "about hidden Satanic messages in the songs," a poke at the efforts to find Satantic messages through backmasking
Backmasking
Backmasking is a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward on to a track that is meant to be played forward...
. What he found was the message, "Go to church. Say your prayers. Tithe! Tithe!" He then says, quote, "I don't have a story."
Other songs
- GuillotineGuillotineThe guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
Grandpa- referenced only by chorus - "Lets Guillotine Grandpa/Guillotine Grandpa/Guillotine Grandpa, and put Grandma in the soup." Opus is defensive of it, but the minister visiting apparently intends to "slip it into the hymns next Sunday."
- ClearasilClearasilClearasil is the top-selling brand of skin care and acne medication, whose products contain chiefly benzoyl peroxide, sulfur & resorcinol, triclosan, or salicylic acid as active ingredients...
Messiah- Referenced only by the fact that "Clearasil Messiah from the Shelf" didn't really rhyme with "zapping zits from here to hell".
- Let's Run Over Lionel RichieLionel RichieLionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
With a Tank- "Middle of the road, Man it stanks, lets run over Lionel Ritchie with a tank."
- Hell's Bells- possibly referencing the AC/DCAC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
song - if played backward, it says "Gooooooooo to Church, Saaaay yoouuurrr prayersPrayersis an anime set in the year 2014 where the young of Japan have rebelled against the government for segregating Shibuya and declared themselves to be independent of Japan...
, Tithe!TitheA tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
Tithe!
- Love RhinoRhinocerosRhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
- Lemme graze into your veldt/ lemme stomple your albino/ lemme nibble on your buds/ I'm your Love Rhino (tongue solo). This song causes 'Tippy GorpTipper GoreMary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore , née Aitcheson, is an author, photographer, former second lady of the United States, and the estranged wife of Al Gore...
' to declare 'off with his head.'
- Note - other songs were mentioned, including Pimples From Hell, SkateboardSkateboardA skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
ing to Satan, Guillotine Your Parents, and "Hara-kiri for BarryBarry ManilowBarry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
."