Jerome T. Youngman
Encyclopedia
Jerome T. Youngman is an American
rock
singer, songwriter
, and record producer
, best known for his hits "Creeps at my Door" and "Blood for Oil", and TV host of the Talk show
Bring it to Jerome.
, John Lee Hooker
, Rolling Stones, Bo Diddley
, The Fugs
, Phillip Glass, The Velvet Underground
, and Brian Eno
.
As a Social Worker, Youngman has worked with runaway teenagers, abused children, mentally ill, gangs, drug addicts, and homeless families. In Hollywood, California, Youngman worked for the Travelers Aid Society at the Teen Canteen drop-in center as a counselor and outreach worker with runaway homeless teenagers. In Detroit, he worked for the Family First Program. His job was to walk the streets and visit homeless shelters to counsel and recruit homeless families to the Target Home program. Youngman has also worked for several Assertive Community Treatment
(ACT) programs that provided supportive services to the mentally ill community. Youngman also worked for the LAUSD as a long term elementary school substitute teacher in East LA
and Watts for 10 years. In 1992 after completing the TCI TV production class in Royal Oak
Michigan
, Youngman and wife Rocio created the cable TV show Bring it to Jerome. The program ran on various networks nationally from 1992 to 2004 until Youngman returned to Los Angeles
. Reviews referred to the show as "a counterculture
music/art talk show
. Romper Room
on drugs
." Metro Times
wrote "local band Mutant Press
now has their own TV program. YIKES!!!!!! Metro Times
voters also voted Bring it to Jerome as "the best new cable TV show" in their "Best of Detroit" issue in 1995.
where he attended Loy Norrix High School
. In 1967, at the early age of 16 years old, he started a band with school mates called Super Jerome's Magic Band. This eclectic punk blues
band consisted of two saxophones,a trumpet, guitar, harp, bass guitar, and drums. Super Jerome’s Magic Band performed and rehearsed at Kalamazoo College
Blackspot and performed many times at the Crazy Horse club in Kalamazoo. At their appearance on May 5, 1968, "they completely destroyed two guitars, a television set, and a washing machine as m-80 fireworks exploded and the drum section from the Loy Norrix marching band marched back and forth across the stage dodging the bits of glass and other flying debris. Youngman explained that the band was more out for the personal satisfaction of assaulting the culture rather than making money."
to recuperate and conceptualize his next musical project.
What emerged in the Summer of 197
0 was the Motor City Mutants, a high-energy urban
punk blues
band. The band debuted on January 1971 at Ann Arbor Union Ballroom. This performance featured the dissection of several dead animals the band found along I-94 on the way to the performance. Motor City Mutants original band members were Mutant Bob Tremain on electric piano, Julius Rodgers on drums, James Graves on vocals, Don Klos on bass guitar, Tom Morwatts and Youngman on guitars. The Motor City Mutants performed at many michigan
venues including the Grande Ballroom
and quickly gained a hardcore following. The band lasted for over ten years. In January 1974, Youngman left the band and moved to Hollywood, California.
where the band shared rehearsal space with Van Halen
and pre Wall of Voodoo
band Sky People. Band members were Youngman on guitar, Steve (Liberty) Loria on bass, and Lee Jenkins on drums. In October 1974, Punk performed at Rodney Bingenheimer
's English
Disco
on the Sunset Strip
. Punk broke up a year later after Youngman's unsuccessful suicide
attempt that injured his left hand.
His suicide
attempt caused permanent neural damage to his left hand and he was unable to play guitar for over a year. During his[recovery, best friend and drummer Phil Cohen suggested they form a new band with Youngman playing keyboards. Youngman and Cohen created several new songs including "Photo Dating Queen", and The Flys were born. Youngman gradually began playing guitar again, but could only play two string bar chords due to his inability to feel his left hand. In 1976, The Flys opened for The Ramones at Svens Smoke House in Redondo Beach, California
. The Ramones
inspired Youngman and his confidence soon returned. A leaner, more minimal guitar
style began to emerge.
His next Hollywood project was called Ripper. Ripper played most of the Hollywood clubs, including The Troubadour, Starwood
, and The Masque
. The band soon disintegrated because of major personality problems and the lack of quality vocals. Ripper recorded three songs at Ratz studio. Youngman's "Creeps at my Door", "Trapped like a Rat", and "Unter der Faust", a German version of The Rolling Stones
"Under my Thumb". This German version puts a fascist twist to the original sexist version, since "Unter der Faust" means under my fist. The original Ripper recording of "Unter der Faust" featured Youngman's piano playing, lead guitar and heavy duty style rhythm guitar, and the recording was also to feature "Creeps at my Door". After moving to New York City
, with drummer Quito Ecuador to form Hooks, Youngman's rhythm guitar tracks were deleted. This deletion turned the heavy punk
version into a light new wave
pop
recording. The songs were released on Bomp! Records
and "Creeps at my Door" was omitted from this record.
. Hooks began its musical odyssey in Hollywood in December 1978 when singer Sharon 7 teamed up with Youngman and drummer Quito Ecuador to record a demo of the Exciters' 1960s hit, "Tell Him". The results were a tremendous updating that featured the embryo of the sound that was to become the trademark of Hooks. Seeing that there was chemistry between the players, Sharon 7 suggested that Youngman and Ecuador move to New York
. Keyboardist J. Elliot joined them and after months of searching for a bass guitarist, Hooks found Lew Mazzeo.
Hooks single "Lipstick on Your Collar
" and "Young and Boring" was produced
by Roy Cicala
and Sam Ginsberg of the Record Plant. Hooks were regulars on the N.Y.C. club scene playing clubs like CBGB's, Max's Kansas City
and the Ritz
. Hooks appeared live with Duran Duran
, the Ramones
, Iggy Pop
, Adam & the Ants, Heartbreakers
, David Johansen
, King Crimson
, The Beat
, Sylvain Sylvain
, Klaus Nomi
, and others. Hooks was featured on a NBC
nightly news segment in 1982 that explored the phenomena of the Music Building on 8th avenue', in the heart of NYC Garment District
. Madonna (entertainer)
lived in the Music Building with her girlfriend
, Camille from 1980 to 1982. In 1982, she recruited Youngman, Quito and Lou to create two original songs for her and back her up for a live performance on the Uncle Floyd Show. Youngman left Hooks in 1983 after disagreements with the record producers and returned to Detroit to complete his academic studies. In April 1983, he obtained a B.A.
in Psychology
from Wayne State University
. A week after graduation,Youngman quickly returned to Hollywood and formed Too Many Gods.
. In 1985, he released his first solo effort, a gold 45 record I Need More as Reverend Jerome T. Youngman. He then created a band of machines called Too Many Gods, the first one person techno
punk blues
band. For the first time, with the invention of MIDI in 1983, a one person pre-programmed live performance band became possible. With the assistance of Shelly, a dancer, Too Many Gods became regulars at the Limbo Lounge in the West Hollywood underground
punk
disco
drag queen
scene. Too Many Gods evolved into Mutant Press
.
, a political hard rock techno
/punk blues
band
in Hollywood, California
. Mutant Press's first job was headlining international
act at the LUC club in Mexico City
in 1990.
In 1992, the Mutant Press project moved to Michigan
. He obtained a Social worker license and worked for many Detroit social service agencies with homeless and mentally ill populations. From 1996 to 2004, he managed 500 Pound Weasel Records, his recording studio
in Southfield, Michigan
. He released fourteen Mutant Press albums, and produced
over 200 CDs for local rap
, hip hop
, and punk rock
artists.
Frank Moore & Mikee Labash (Love Underground Visionary Revolution) from San Francisco joined the creative team after the 2004 Mothers’ Day performance at Kimos. The same year, artist Mikee Labash created the art for the album Evil. In 2004 after the death of his parents, Youngman returned to Long Beach
California
and produced the Mutant Press album Idiots Rule with Steve Loria (Spirit
) on bass guitar and Phil Cohen (The Heaters) on drums. Josie Cotton
performed a cover of the Mutant Press song "Creeps at my Door" on her 2006 release entitled Movie Disaster Music.
Mutant Press has received outstanding reviews. In 2003, Blood for Oil appeared in Robert Christgau
's Choice Cuts in The Village Voice
. Amy Goodman
opened her show Democracy Now!
with this song. Blood for Oil was first recorded for the 2003 album of the same name that was a Mutant Press
tribute to the Fugs
.
In 2007, Robert Christgau
wrote about Mutant Press “if the MC5
hadn't kicked the bucket, they'd be older and greyer than these guys, but not louder, or more revolutionary
".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, best known for his hits "Creeps at my Door" and "Blood for Oil", and TV host of the Talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
Bring it to Jerome.
Career
Youngman's musical influences are Igor StravinskyIgor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
, Rolling Stones, Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
, The Fugs
The Fugs
The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...
, Phillip Glass, The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, and Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
.
As a Social Worker, Youngman has worked with runaway teenagers, abused children, mentally ill, gangs, drug addicts, and homeless families. In Hollywood, California, Youngman worked for the Travelers Aid Society at the Teen Canteen drop-in center as a counselor and outreach worker with runaway homeless teenagers. In Detroit, he worked for the Family First Program. His job was to walk the streets and visit homeless shelters to counsel and recruit homeless families to the Target Home program. Youngman has also worked for several Assertive Community Treatment
Assertive Community Treatment
Assertive community treatment, or ACT, is an intensive and highly integrated approach for community mental health service delivery. ACT programs serve people whose symptoms of mental illness result in severe functional difficulties that interfere with their ability to achieve personally meaningful...
(ACT) programs that provided supportive services to the mentally ill community. Youngman also worked for the LAUSD as a long term elementary school substitute teacher in East LA
East Los Angeles, California
East Los Angeles is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States...
and Watts for 10 years. In 1992 after completing the TCI TV production class in Royal Oak
Royal Oak
The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was located in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. Charles confirmed to Samuel Pepys in 1680 that while he was...
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Youngman and wife Rocio created the cable TV show Bring it to Jerome. The program ran on various networks nationally from 1992 to 2004 until Youngman returned to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Reviews referred to the show as "a counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
music/art talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
. Romper Room
Romper Room
Romper Room is a children's television series that ran in the United States from 1953 to 1994 as well as at various times in Australia, Canada, Japan, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and the United Kingdom...
on drugs
DRUGS
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...
." Metro Times
Metro Times
The Metro Times is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands in businesses and libraries around the city and suburbs...
wrote "local band Mutant Press
Mutant Press
Mutant Press is an American political rock band created by Jerome T. Youngman in Hollywood, California in 1990.-History:In 1990, Jerome T. Youngman started Mutant Press a political hard rock band in Hollywood, California. Mutant Press first job was headlining international act at the LUC club in...
now has their own TV program. YIKES!!!!!! Metro Times
Metro Times
The Metro Times is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands in businesses and libraries around the city and suburbs...
voters also voted Bring it to Jerome as "the best new cable TV show" in their "Best of Detroit" issue in 1995.
Super Jerome's Magic Band
In 1965, Youngman's family moved to Kalamazoo, MichiganKalamazoo, Michigan
The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...
where he attended Loy Norrix High School
Loy Norrix High School
Loy Norrix High School is a high school located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serving students from grades nine through twelve. It is one of two high schools in the Kalamazoo Public Schools district. The student body totals at approximately 1,400. The school is named for a former superintendent of...
. In 1967, at the early age of 16 years old, he started a band with school mates called Super Jerome's Magic Band. This eclectic punk blues
Punk blues
Punk blues denotes a fusion genre of punk rock and blues. Punk blues musicians and bands usually incorporate elements of related styles, such as protopunk and blues rock. Its origins lie strongly within the garage rock sound of the 1960s and 1970s.Punk blues can be said to favor the common...
band consisted of two saxophones,a trumpet, guitar, harp, bass guitar, and drums. Super Jerome’s Magic Band performed and rehearsed at Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo College, also known as K College or simply K, is a private liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1833, the college is among the 100 oldest in the country. Today, it produces more Peace Corps volunteers per capita than any other U.S...
Blackspot and performed many times at the Crazy Horse club in Kalamazoo. At their appearance on May 5, 1968, "they completely destroyed two guitars, a television set, and a washing machine as m-80 fireworks exploded and the drum section from the Loy Norrix marching band marched back and forth across the stage dodging the bits of glass and other flying debris. Youngman explained that the band was more out for the personal satisfaction of assaulting the culture rather than making money."
Motor City Mutants
After a near fatal car accident in September 1969, Youngman retreated to AmsterdamAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
to recuperate and conceptualize his next musical project.
What emerged in the Summer of 197
197
Year 197 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus...
0 was the Motor City Mutants, a high-energy urban
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
punk blues
Punk blues
Punk blues denotes a fusion genre of punk rock and blues. Punk blues musicians and bands usually incorporate elements of related styles, such as protopunk and blues rock. Its origins lie strongly within the garage rock sound of the 1960s and 1970s.Punk blues can be said to favor the common...
band. The band debuted on January 1971 at Ann Arbor Union Ballroom. This performance featured the dissection of several dead animals the band found along I-94 on the way to the performance. Motor City Mutants original band members were Mutant Bob Tremain on electric piano, Julius Rodgers on drums, James Graves on vocals, Don Klos on bass guitar, Tom Morwatts and Youngman on guitars. The Motor City Mutants performed at many michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
venues including the Grande Ballroom
Grande Ballroom
The Grande Ballroom is a historic live music venue located at 8952 Grand River Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. The building was designed by Detroit engineer and architect Charles N. Agree in 1928 and originally served as a multi-purpose building, hosting retail business on the first floor and a large...
and quickly gained a hardcore following. The band lasted for over ten years. In January 1974, Youngman left the band and moved to Hollywood, California.
Punk
Punk was Youngman's first Hollywood band in 1974. Punk was managed by Roy MacMillan from Dynamic Recording in West Covina, CaliforniaWest Covina, California
West Covina is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. Located some east of Downtown Los Angeles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, it is a mostly middle class suburb of Los Angeles...
where the band shared rehearsal space with Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
and pre Wall of Voodoo
Wall of Voodoo
Wall of Voodoo was an American New Wave group from Los Angeles best known for the 1983 hit "Mexican Radio". The band had a sound that was a fusion of synthesizer-based New Wave music with the spaghetti western soundtrack style of Ennio Morricone.-Formation:...
band Sky People. Band members were Youngman on guitar, Steve (Liberty) Loria on bass, and Lee Jenkins on drums. In October 1974, Punk performed at Rodney Bingenheimer
Rodney Bingenheimer
Rodney Bingenheimer, born December 15, 1947, is a radio disc jockey on the long-running Los Angeles rock station KROQ who is notable for helping numerous iconic bands become successful in the American market. His contribution to the music business has been described as important...
's English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
on the Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...
. Punk broke up a year later after Youngman's unsuccessful suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
attempt that injured his left hand.
His suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
attempt caused permanent neural damage to his left hand and he was unable to play guitar for over a year. During his[recovery, best friend and drummer Phil Cohen suggested they form a new band with Youngman playing keyboards. Youngman and Cohen created several new songs including "Photo Dating Queen", and The Flys were born. Youngman gradually began playing guitar again, but could only play two string bar chords due to his inability to feel his left hand. In 1976, The Flys opened for The Ramones at Svens Smoke House in Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach is one of the three Beach Cities located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 66,748 at the 2010 census, up from 63,261 at the 2000 census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area.Redondo Beach was originally part of...
. The Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
inspired Youngman and his confidence soon returned. A leaner, more minimal guitar
Guitar
The 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...
style began to emerge.
His next Hollywood project was called Ripper. Ripper played most of the Hollywood clubs, including The Troubadour, Starwood
Starwood
Starwood may refer to:* Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide* Starwood Amphitheatre* Starwood Club of Los Angeles, California* Starwood Festival...
, and The Masque
The Masque
The Masque was a small punk rock club in central Hollywood, California which existed intermittently from 1977 to 1979. It is remembered as a key part of the early L.A. punk scene.-History:...
. The band soon disintegrated because of major personality problems and the lack of quality vocals. Ripper recorded three songs at Ratz studio. Youngman's "Creeps at my Door", "Trapped like a Rat", and "Unter der Faust", a German version of The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
"Under my Thumb". This German version puts a fascist twist to the original sexist version, since "Unter der Faust" means under my fist. The original Ripper recording of "Unter der Faust" featured Youngman's piano playing, lead guitar and heavy duty style rhythm guitar, and the recording was also to feature "Creeps at my Door". After moving to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, with drummer Quito Ecuador to form Hooks, Youngman's rhythm guitar tracks were deleted. This deletion turned the heavy punk
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...
version into a light new wave
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...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
recording. The songs were released on Bomp! Records
Bomp! Records
Bomp! Records is an Los Angeles-based indie label formed in 1974 by fanzine publisher and music historian Greg Shaw.-History:The label has featured punk, pop, powerpop, garage rock, new wave, old school rock, neo-psychedelia among other genres, and its roster has included artists such as The Modern...
and "Creeps at my Door" was omitted from this record.
Hooks
Hooks was a five-piece band that was dedicated to the simplicity that is the heart of Rock and rollRock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. Hooks began its musical odyssey in Hollywood in December 1978 when singer Sharon 7 teamed up with Youngman and drummer Quito Ecuador to record a demo of the Exciters' 1960s hit, "Tell Him". The results were a tremendous updating that featured the embryo of the sound that was to become the trademark of Hooks. Seeing that there was chemistry between the players, Sharon 7 suggested that Youngman and Ecuador move to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Keyboardist J. Elliot joined them and after months of searching for a bass guitarist, Hooks found Lew Mazzeo.
Hooks single "Lipstick on Your Collar
Lipstick on Your Collar
Lipstick on Your Collar is a 1993 British television serial written by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on Channel 4 expanded from Potter's earlier play Lay Down Your Arms...
" and "Young and Boring" was produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Roy Cicala
Roy Cicala
Roy Cicala is an American producer, engineer, song-writer and musician. His body of work includes over 10 Platinum Records for producing, writing, engineering and management for talent from the 70’s through today...
and Sam Ginsberg of the Record Plant. Hooks were regulars on the N.Y.C. club scene playing clubs like CBGB's, Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
and the Ritz
Ritz (rock club)
-History:The Ritz was founded in 1980 by Jerry Brandt on 11th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. Formerly a ballroom known as Webster Hall, The Ritz still retained some of its previous incarnation's Art Deco style. As a venue, it focused...
. Hooks appeared live with Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
, Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
, Adam & the Ants, Heartbreakers
The Heartbreakers
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, also known as The Heartbreakers, were an American rock & roll band formed in New York in May 1975. The band was part of the first wave of punk rock.-History:...
, David Johansen
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen is an American rock, protopunk, blues, and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.-Early life:Johansen was born in...
, King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
, The Beat
The Beat (band)
The Beat are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics....
, Sylvain Sylvain
Sylvain Sylvain
Sylvain Sylvain is an American rock guitarist, most notable for being a member of the New York Dolls.-Early years:...
, Klaus Nomi
Klaus Nomi
Klaus Sperber , better known as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona....
, and others. Hooks was featured on a NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
nightly news segment in 1982 that explored the phenomena of the Music Building on 8th avenue', in the heart of NYC Garment District
Garment District, Manhattan
The Garment District, also known as the Garment Center, the Fashion District, or the Fashion Center, is a neighborhood located in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The dense concentration of fashion-related uses give the neighborhood, which is generally considered to span between Fifth Avenue...
. Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
lived in the Music Building with her girlfriend
Girlfriend
Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-romantic friend that is closer than other friends....
, Camille from 1980 to 1982. In 1982, she recruited Youngman, Quito and Lou to create two original songs for her and back her up for a live performance on the Uncle Floyd Show. Youngman left Hooks in 1983 after disagreements with the record producers and returned to Detroit to complete his academic studies. In April 1983, he obtained a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
from Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
. A week after graduation,Youngman quickly returned to Hollywood and formed Too Many Gods.
Too Many Gods
In 1983 Youngman moved back to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. In 1985, he released his first solo effort, a gold 45 record I Need More as Reverend Jerome T. Youngman. He then created a band of machines called Too Many Gods, the first one person techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
punk blues
Punk blues
Punk blues denotes a fusion genre of punk rock and blues. Punk blues musicians and bands usually incorporate elements of related styles, such as protopunk and blues rock. Its origins lie strongly within the garage rock sound of the 1960s and 1970s.Punk blues can be said to favor the common...
band. For the first time, with the invention of MIDI in 1983, a one person pre-programmed live performance band became possible. With the assistance of Shelly, a dancer, Too Many Gods became regulars at the Limbo Lounge in the West Hollywood underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
punk
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...
disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
drag queen
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
scene. Too Many Gods evolved into Mutant Press
Mutant Press
Mutant Press is an American political rock band created by Jerome T. Youngman in Hollywood, California in 1990.-History:In 1990, Jerome T. Youngman started Mutant Press a political hard rock band in Hollywood, California. Mutant Press first job was headlining international act at the LUC club in...
.
Mutant Press
In 1990, Youngman started Mutant PressMutant Press
Mutant Press is an American political rock band created by Jerome T. Youngman in Hollywood, California in 1990.-History:In 1990, Jerome T. Youngman started Mutant Press a political hard rock band in Hollywood, California. Mutant Press first job was headlining international act at the LUC club in...
, a political hard rock techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
/punk blues
Punk blues
Punk blues denotes a fusion genre of punk rock and blues. Punk blues musicians and bands usually incorporate elements of related styles, such as protopunk and blues rock. Its origins lie strongly within the garage rock sound of the 1960s and 1970s.Punk blues can be said to favor the common...
band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
in Hollywood, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Mutant Press's first job was headlining international
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
act at the LUC club in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
in 1990.
In 1992, the Mutant Press project moved to Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. He obtained a Social worker license and worked for many Detroit social service agencies with homeless and mentally ill populations. From 1996 to 2004, he managed 500 Pound Weasel Records, his recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
in Southfield, Michigan
Southfield, Michigan
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which 0.04% is water. The main branch of the River Rouge runs through Southfield. The city is bounded to the south by Eight Mile Road, its western border is Inkster Road, and to the east it is bounded by Greenfield Road...
. He released fourteen Mutant Press albums, and produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
over 200 CDs for local rap
Rap
Rap may refer to:*Rapping, performance in which rhyming lyrics are used, with or without musical accompaniment ; while an MC performs spoken verses in time to a beat/ melody**Hip hop subculture**Hip hop music...
, hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, and 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...
artists.
Frank Moore & Mikee Labash (Love Underground Visionary Revolution) from San Francisco joined the creative team after the 2004 Mothers’ Day performance at Kimos. The same year, artist Mikee Labash created the art for the album Evil. In 2004 after the death of his parents, Youngman returned to Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and produced the Mutant Press album Idiots Rule with Steve Loria (Spirit
Spirit (band)
Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California.- The original lineup :...
) on bass guitar and Phil Cohen (The Heaters) on drums. Josie Cotton
Josie Cotton
Josie Cotton is an American singer/songwriter, best known for her minor hits "Johnny Are You Queer" and "He Could Be the One" from 1982...
performed a cover of the Mutant Press song "Creeps at my Door" on her 2006 release entitled Movie Disaster Music.
Mutant Press has received outstanding reviews. In 2003, Blood for Oil appeared in Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
's Choice Cuts in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
. Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman is an American progressive broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet.-Early life:Goodman was born in Bay Shore, New York...
opened her show Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
with this song. Blood for Oil was first recorded for the 2003 album of the same name that was a Mutant Press
Mutant Press
Mutant Press is an American political rock band created by Jerome T. Youngman in Hollywood, California in 1990.-History:In 1990, Jerome T. Youngman started Mutant Press a political hard rock band in Hollywood, California. Mutant Press first job was headlining international act at the LUC club in...
tribute to the Fugs
The Fugs
The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...
.
In 2007, Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
wrote about Mutant Press “if the MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
hadn't kicked the bucket, they'd be older and greyer than these guys, but not louder, or more revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
".
Albums
- No Deposit No Return (Hooks) (1981)
- Safe Sex Sucks (mutant press) (1990)
- Bob had a Gerbil (mutant press) (1992)
- I'm Ultra Black (mutant press) (1993)
- Damage Guy (mutant press) (1995)
- Bring it to Jerome (mutant press) (2000)
- Strung Out On You (mutant press) (2001)
- World of Fuzz (mutant press) (2002)
- Mutant Press (mutant press) (2003)
- Blood for Oil (mutant press and Friends) (2003)
- Hole in my Heart (mutant press) (mutant press) (2003)
- Evil (mutant press) (2004)
- Slave to Fashion (mutant press) (2005)
- Idiots Rule (mutant press) (2006)
- Music for Elevators (mutant press) (2007)
- Don't Mess with Mutant Press (mutant press) (2008)
- How y'all Doin'...? (mutant press) (2010)
- "Kill for Peace" (mutant press) (2011)
Singles
- "Unter der Faust" (Ripper) (1977)
- "Lipstick on Your Collar" (Hooks)(1980)
- "Young and Boring" (Hooks)(1980)
- "Creeps at my Door" (Hooks) (1981)
- "I Need More" (Reverend Jerome T. Youngman) (1985)
Soundtracks
- Dead Leaves (film) (2004) Film DirectorFilm directorA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
: Constantin Werner - Rob and Big MTV television show (2006)
Awards
- Bring It To Jerome (Best Cable TV Show) Metro TimesMetro TimesThe Metro Times is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands in businesses and libraries around the city and suburbs...
Best of Detroit Reader's Poll (1995)