Chipmunk Punk
Encyclopedia
Chipmunk Punk is a New Wave music
album by The Chipmunks
, as well as being the first album released by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
, after he took over due to his father's passing. Despite the title of the CD, none of the songs listed were considered to be in the age of real punk rock
music. It was released on June 15, 1980 (see 1980 in music
). The album peaked at #34 on the Billboard 200
. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on October 14, 1980, becoming the Chipmunks' first gold record. In 2005, it was re-released on CD
, although the CD was only available through the official Chipmunks website.
song "Call Me
" at double speed and announced, in jest, that it was the Chipmunks' latest single. So many requests came for this "new" Chipmunks release, that Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
and his collaborator Steve Vining
rushed to record this album.
Chipmunk Punk essentially marked the rebirth of the Chipmunk franchise. It was the first new Chipmunk release since 1969's The Chipmunks Go To The Movies
. Chipmunk creator/producer Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who also provided the voices for the characters, died of a heart attack
in 1972, bringing all Chipmunk activity to an abrupt halt.
Though this release followed a long dormancy record-wise, the characters had returned to public view via Saturday morning repeats of the cartoon series The Alvin Show
on NBC in 1979. The album sparked a second run of the characters and led to another Saturday morning cartoon series, Alvin and the Chipmunks
, which began in 1983 and also aired on NBC.
roundly panned it, describing the album as a symptom of corporate greed in the world of television animation
.
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
album by The Chipmunks
The Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
, as well as being the first album released by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. is an Armenian-American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist and the son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.-Life and career:...
, after he took over due to his father's passing. Despite the title of the CD, none of the songs listed were considered to be in the age of real punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
music. It was released on June 15, 1980 (see 1980 in music
1980 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1980.-January–March:*January 1**Cliff Richard is appointed an MBE by Elizabeth II.**The Zorros audition drummer Greg Pedley....
). The album peaked at #34 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on October 14, 1980, becoming the Chipmunks' first gold record. In 2005, it was re-released on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, although the CD was only available through the official Chipmunks website.
History
The inspiration for the album came when KMET DJ Chuck Taylor played the 12" version of the BlondieBlondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
song "Call Me
Call Me (Blondie song)
"Call Me" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie. Released in 1980, "Call Me" topped the singles charts in both the US and the UK ....
" at double speed and announced, in jest, that it was the Chipmunks' latest single. So many requests came for this "new" Chipmunks release, that Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.
Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. is an Armenian-American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist and the son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.-Life and career:...
and his collaborator Steve Vining
Steve Vining
Steve Vining is an American drummer, producer and engineer. He started out as a staff producer at Pickwick Records before rising to power as the head of Windham Hill Records...
rushed to record this album.
Chipmunk Punk essentially marked the rebirth of the Chipmunk franchise. It was the first new Chipmunk release since 1969's The Chipmunks Go To The Movies
The Chipmunks Go to the Movies (album)
The Chipmunks Go to the Movies is a 1969 music album by David Seville and The Chipmunks, released by Sunset Records, the budget-line subsidiary of Liberty Records....
. Chipmunk creator/producer Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who also provided the voices for the characters, died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in 1972, bringing all Chipmunk activity to an abrupt halt.
Though this release followed a long dormancy record-wise, the characters had returned to public view via Saturday morning repeats of the cartoon series The Alvin Show
The Alvin Show
The Alvin Show is an American animated television series. It was the first to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks, although a series with a similar concept The Nutty Squirrels Present had aired a year earlier...
on NBC in 1979. The album sparked a second run of the characters and led to another Saturday morning cartoon series, Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....
, which began in 1983 and also aired on NBC.
Critical reception
Upon this release, the album met mixed critical reviews. Allmusic gives it three out of five stars, calling it "good clean fun" which "If nothing else...provides a portrait of a prime period in radio," but Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
roundly panned it, describing the album as a symptom of corporate greed in the world of television animation
Saturday morning cartoon
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...
.
Side one
- "Let's GoLet's Go (The Cars song)"Let's Go" was the first single from The Cars' album Candy-O released in 1979. It was written by Ric Ocasek and features lead vocals by Cars bassist Ben Orr. The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S., but the song was an even bigger success elsewhere...
" (R. OcasekRic OcasekRic Ocasek is an American musician and music producer. He is best known as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band, The Cars....
) – 3:35 - "Good Girls Don'tGood Girls Don't (song)"Good Girls Don't" is a 1979 hit single written by Doug Fieger and released by the rock band The Knack, off their album Get the Knack. It was the follow-up to the group's No. 1 single, "My Sharona." It reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #66 on the British charts. It also reached #20...
" (D. FeigerDoug FiegerDouglas Lars "Doug" Fieger was an American singer-songwriter-musician. He was the lead singer of the power pop band The Knack, and co-wrote "My Sharona", the biggest hit song of 1979 in the USA, with lead guitarist, Berton Averre.-Life and career:Fieger's father was Jewish, and his mother of...
) – 3:13 - "How Do I Make You...?Mad Love (Linda Ronstadt album)Mad Love is a Platinum certified, Grammy-nominated 1980 New Wave album by singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard album chart — a record at the time and a first for any female artist — and quickly became Ronstadt's seventh consecutive million-selling...
" (B. SteinbergBilly SteinbergWilliam Endfield "Billy" Steinberg is an American songwriter. He has achieved most of his success as part of a song writing team, most notably with Tom Kelly. He has also co-written several hit songs with Rick Nowels.-Biography:...
) – 2:23 - "Refugee" (T. PettyTom PettyThomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
/M. Campbell) – 3:07 - "FrustratedGet the KnackGet Knack is the debut album by The Knack, released in June 1979. The album was the fasting-selling debut album on Capitol Records since Meet the Beatles in 1964. It went platinum in just two months and spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
" (D. Fieger/B. AverreBerton AverreBerton Averre is the guitarist with the Los Angeles rock band The Knack. They had a #6 UK/#1 US hit with "My Sharona", which sold 10 million copies in the US...
) – 2:54- contains an unlisted excerptExcerptAn excerpt is a relatively small sample passage from a longer work, such as a book or article....
from "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song...
" (M. JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
/K. RichardsKeith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
).
- contains an unlisted excerpt
Side two
- "Call MeCall Me (Blondie song)"Call Me" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie. Released in 1980, "Call Me" topped the singles charts in both the US and the UK ....
" (D. HarryDebbie HarryDeborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...
/G. MoroderGiorgio MoroderHansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
) – 3:11 - "You May Be RightYou May Be Right (song)"You May Be Right" is a single written and performed by rock singer Billy Joel from his 1980 album Glass Houses. The song reached #7 on the US charts, but failed to chart in the UK unlike his preceding and succeeding singles "All for Leyna" and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"...
" (W. M. JoelBilly JoelWilliam Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
) – 4:03 - "Crazy Little Thing Called LoveCrazy Little Thing Called Love"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track featured on their 1980 album The Game, and also appears on the band's compilation album, Greatest Hits...
" (F. BulsaraFreddie MercuryFreddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
) – 2:39 - "My SharonaMy Sharona"My Sharona" is the debut single by The Knack, released in 1979 from their album Get the Knack. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart where it remained for six weeks and was #1 on Billboards Top Pop Singles of 1979 year-end chart. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry...
" (D. Fieger/B. Averre) – 4:03
CD
- "Call Me" (D. Harry/G. Moroder) – 3:11
- "Refugee" (T. Petty/M. Campbell) – 3:07
- "Frustrated" (D. Fieger/B. Averre) – 2:54
- "You May Be Right" (W. M. Joel) – 4:03
- "Crazy Little Thing Called LoveCrazy Little Thing Called Love"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track featured on their 1980 album The Game, and also appears on the band's compilation album, Greatest Hits...
" (F. Bulsara) – 2:47 - "My Sharona" (D. Fieger/B. Averre) – 4:03
- "How Do I Make You...?" (B. Steinberg) – 2:23
- "Good Girls Don't" (D. Fieger) – 3:13
- "Let's Go" (R. Ocasek) – 3:35
Musicians
- Alvin ChipmunkRoss Bagdasarian, Jr.Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. is an Armenian-American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist and the son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.-Life and career:...
: lead guitar and vocals - Simon ChipmunkTommy RamoneTommy Ramone, also known as Thomas Erdelyi , is a Hungarian American record producer and musician...
: bass and vocals - Theodore ChipmunkSteve ViningSteve Vining is an American drummer, producer and engineer. He started out as a staff producer at Pickwick Records before rising to power as the head of Windham Hill Records...
: drums and vocals
Production
- Steve ViningSteve ViningSteve Vining is an American drummer, producer and engineer. He started out as a staff producer at Pickwick Records before rising to power as the head of Windham Hill Records...
: Producer - Bob McNabb: Engineer
- Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. is an Armenian-American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist and the son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.-Life and career:...
: Production Consultant - Doug Oudekerk: Cover Art
2005 CD Edition credits
- Janice KarmanJanice KarmanJanice Felice Karman is an American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist. She is the co-owner of Bagdasarian Productions with her husband Ross Bagdasarian, Jr....
: Reissue producer - Spencer Chrislu: Digital remastering