The Squirrels
Encyclopedia
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
band based in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. Founded in 1984
1984 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1984.-Janury-March:*January 21 – "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart, despite being banned by the BBC; it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40.*January 27 – Michael Jackson's...
by lead vocalist Rob Morgan (founder, as well, of the Poplust zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
), the band has been through numerous lineups, but has stuck to the aesthetic that Peter Blecha describes as "cross-pollinat[ing] bubblegum
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
sensibilities with 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...
attitudes."
Although most of the Squirrels material has been, technically speaking, cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s, they are by no means a typical cover band. They have a theatrical stage sense derived from Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
and The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
(for a while in the mid-1990s, their stage paraphernalia included a working guillotine
Guillotine
The 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...
), and an approach to arrangements that Morgan has described as "… the Frankenstein
Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
method of song arrangement… 'Well, we like these verses, but the chorus on that song is way better. So we'll just graft it right on there, make a whole new beast.' We just start fooling around, and then we go 'Hey, this Alice Cooper song fits right on there, and to hell with the chorus. Let's put the chorus of "Runaway
Runaway (Del Shannon song)
"Runaway" was a number-one Billboard Hot 100 song made famous by Del Shannon in 1961. It was written by Shannon and keyboardist Max Crook, and became a major international hit...
" by Del Shannon
Del Shannon
Del Shannon was an American rock and roll singer-songwriter who had a No. 1 hit, "Runaway", in 1961.- Biography :...
in there because it's better!'" (Krugman, 2000).
The Squirrels announced a year ahead of time that they would be breaking up the band and referred to their last year's gigs as the "Death With Dignity Tour"; their last show was the December 12, 2009 20th Annual XXXmas show (http://www.thesquirrels.com/poplust/gigdates.htm, accessed 2009-07-26).
History
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Rob Morgan arrived in Seattle in 1977 from Edmonds, Washington
Edmonds, Washington
Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Edmonds has a view of Puget Sound and both the Olympic Mountains and Cascade Range. The third most populous city in Snohomish County after Everett and Marysville, the population was 39,709 according to the 2010 census...
, and lived initially in the same University District
University District, Seattle, Washington
The University District is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because the main campus of the University of Washington is located there. The UW moved in two years after the area was annexed to Seattle, while much of the area was still clear cut forest or stump farmland...
party house that spawned The U-Men
The U-Men
The U-Men were a Seattle-based post-punk band active in the early to late 1980s. They toured extensively across America and even had a song by the Butthole Surfers named in their honor...
and The Look. His first band, The Fishsticks (1979), was a rather chaotic and amateurish affair, but its successor, The Pudz (1980–1982), became a Seattle legend: in an exhibit at the Experience Music Project
Experience Music Project
The EMP Museum is a museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction located in Seattle, Washington...
, Mark Arm
Mark Arm
Mark Arm is the vocalist for the grunge band Mudhoney. He is also credited with coining the term "grunge" to describe his style of rock music...
narrates the story of The Pudz warming up at Seattle's Showbox for a gig by UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
punk band 999
999 (band)
999 are an English rock band who formed in London in 1977. They are often cited as one of the first punk rock bands. Between 1978 and 1981, they had five Top 75 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and one Top 40 single. After extensive touring across the Atlantic Ocean, the band's third and fourth...
. As The Pudz played their set, performing the likes of The Ohio Express
The Ohio Express
Ohio Express was a musical recording unit, mainly active from 1967 through 1970, and occasionally since that time.Though marketed as a band, it would be more accurate to say that the name "Ohio Express" served as a brand name used by Jerry Kasenetz's and Jeffrey Katz's Super K Productions to...
' "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" and the R. B. Greaves
R. B. Greaves
Ronald Bertram Aloysius "R. B." Greaves III is a singer who had chart success in 1969 with the pop single "Take a Letter Maria". A #2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, this single sold one million copies and earned a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America...
hit "Take a Letter, Maria", a group of people in front of the stage jeered and pelted them. Arm's version of the story suggests a large group of hecklers, but according to Morgan it was "a small group… trying desperately to out 'punk rock' each other, while the rest of the audience… smart enough to realize that punk was much more of a mindset than a hairstyle & a jacket… looked on in befuddled amusement—"
The Pudz' sole single—a Dave Locksley original called "Take Me To Your, (Leader)" b/w "Take A Letter Maria"— was as close to a "hit" as one could have in the DIY era, receiving airplay on college radio up and down the West Coast. The single sold out quickly and was later incorporated into The Squirrels' CD Scrapin' For Hits. In 2000, "Leader" was included in an Experience Music Project
Experience Music Project
The EMP Museum is a museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction located in Seattle, Washington...
2-CD retrospective of Northwest Rock, which also featured more famous groups like The Sonics
The Sonics
The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, originating from the early and mid-1960s. Among The Sonics' contemporaries were The Kingsmen, The Wailers, The Dynamics, The Regents, and Paul Revere & the Raiders...
, Paul Revere & The Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders
Paul Revere & the Raiders is an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with hits such as "Kicks" , "Hungry" , "Him Or Me - What's It Gonna Be?" and the 1971 No...
, Heart
Heart (band)
Heart is an American rock band who first found success in Canada. Throughout several lineup changes, the only two members remaining constant are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music...
and Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
.
The Pudz broke up when lead guitarist Dave Locksley left town; Rob briefly put together a band called The Pamona Boners, then in 1984 he managed to draft the Young Fresh Fellows
Young Fresh Fellows
The Young Fresh Fellows are an American alternative rock group that was formed in 1981 in Seattle, Washington, by Scott McCaughey and Chuck Carroll; Tad Hutchison, Chuck Carroll's first cousin, joined for the recording of the group's debut album in 1983....
(YFF) to back him under the name Ernest Anyway and the Mighty, Mighty Squirrels, seen in retrospect as the first Squirrels lineup.
PopLlama Records
PopLlama Records is an independent record label founded by record producer Conrad Uno in Seattle, Washington, in 1984. After making several of his own demos in his basement studio, Uno would produce the Young Fresh Fellows' debut album The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest at the bands request...
released an album split evenly between the first two Squirrels lineups, with the Mighty Squirrels side consisting entirely of covers of songs by seminal British rockers Johnny Kidd and the Pirates
Johnny Kidd and the Pirates
Johnny Kidd & The Pirates were an English rock 'n' roll group led by singer/songwriter Johnny Kidd. They scored numerous hit songs from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, including the rock & roll classics 'Shakin' All Over' and 'Please Don't Touch', but their influence far outshines their chart...
, a band that most Americans had never heard of.
Over the next few years the band ran through numerous names: Squirrels Group '87, Ron Voyage and the New Squirrels, Squirrels Live Unit—one lineup that included longtime bassist Kevin Crosby and drummer Nate Johnson went by "Crosby, Squirrels, and Nate"—before finally settling down to just The Squirrels. The equally varied lineups intersected such Seattle groups as YFF, The Fastbacks, The Dynette Set, The Posies
The Posies
The Posies are an alternative rock/power pop group. The band was formed in 1987 in Bellingham, Washington by primary songwriters Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. They are best known for their radio hits "Golden Blunders" , as well as "Dream All Day", "Solar Sister" and "Flavor of the Month"...
, and Pure Joy, and included several people with extensive musical theater experience. Guitarist/vocalist Joey Kline, who joined in 1985 and would become a long-term Squirrel, often "borrowed" musicians for the Squirrels from his many other musical projects.
Other than Morgan and Kline, the band has had considerable turnover, with many musicians coming and going several times over the years. Erickson died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in 1996. Among the other frequent contributors have been jazz and soul guitarist Jimmy "J.T." Thomas, drummers Hollis the Bug & James "Cookie" Cookman, guitar wiz Aaron "A.T." Taylor, and bassist Matt Fox; for a time, a woman named Mary K. would show up on stage for every show and (almost inaudibly) "play" a slinky
Slinky
Slinky or "Lazy Spring" is a toy consisting of a helical spring that stretches and can bounce up and down. It can perform a number of tricks, including traveling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum.-History:The toy was...
. The band has also had guest appearances by the likes of Re Styles of the Tubes, Roy Loney of Flamin' Groovies, Tortelvis of Dread Zeppelin
Dread Zeppelin
Dread Zeppelin is an American band best known for performing the songs of Led Zeppelin in a reggae style as sung by a 300 pound Vegas Elvis impersonator. Over the years they would also perform songs originally by Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and The Yardbirds. The group toured extensively around the...
, and Skerik
Skerik
Skerik is an American saxophonist from Seattle, Washington. Performing on the tenor and baritone saxophone, often with electronics and loops, Skerik is a pioneer in a playing style that has been dubbed saxophonics. He is a founding member of Critters Buggin, Garage a Trois and Skerik's Syncopated...
of Critters Buggin'. , the band continues to record and perform, although the project has definitely taken on more of a "hobby rocker" status than in years past: at this point the band only perform a handful of shows a year, almost entirely within the Seattle city limits. Still, they maintain a steady & fairly rabid fanbase, with fans routinely flying in from all over the country for the band's annual XXXmas X-travaganza, an institution since 1990 that features the Drunken Angel Bodyguards.
Music
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
law and tests the limits of fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
. Nonetheless, they have released numerous recordings over the years, some of them in general releases, others in limited editions.
The Squirrels' single "Oz On 45" (1988) was a "Stars on 45
Stars on 45
Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was briefly very popular in the United Kingdom, throughout Europe, the United States and Australia in the early 1980s. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the U.K. and Ireland it was known as Starsound...
"-style reworking of songs from The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
(and a fragment of a song about Oz by Mark Nichols). It was one of the 142 seven-inch records that British DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
had set aside in a box, to be grabbed if his house ever caught fire and he had to abandon the rest of his collection. (It had a typically eccentric B-side: Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish-English singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again ", "Clair" and "Get Down". The music magazine, Record Mirror, voted him the No...
's "Alone Again, Naturally".)
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
album The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...
, described by Jim DeRogatis
Jim DeRogatis
James "Jim" DeRogatis is an American music critic and co-host of Sound Opinions. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as Spin, Guitar World and Modern Drummer, and for fifteen years was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.He joined Columbia College Chicago as a full-time...
, of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
as a "…brilliant through-the-looking-glass reimagining of Pink Floyd's classic…"
The best recorded evidence of the Squirrels recombinant approach can be found on their Christmas recordings, such as "Smoke on the Housetop" (combining Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
's "Smoke on the Water
Smoke on the Water
"Smoke on the Water" is a song by the British hard rock band Deep Purple. It was first released on their 1972 album Machine Head. In 2004, the song was ranked number 426 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, and in March 2005, Q magazine placed "Smoke on the Water"...
" with B.R. Hanby's "Up on the Housetop"), "Peaceful Easy Town of Bethlehem" (combining The Eagles' "Peaceful Easy Feeling" with "O Little Town of Bethlehem
O Little Town of Bethlehem
"O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a popular Christmas carol. The text was written by Phillips Brooks , an Episcopal priest, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. He was inspired by visiting the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his...
"), or the lyrics of the carol "Joy to the World
Joy to the World
"Joy to the World" is a Christian Christmas carol.The words are by English hymn writer Isaac Watts, based on Psalm 98 in the Bible. The song was first published in 1719 in Watts' collection; The Psalms of David: Imitated in the language of the New Testament, and applied to the Christian state and...
" sung to the tune of the Hoyt Axton song
Joy to the World (Hoyt Axton song)
"Joy to the World" is a song written by Hoyt Axton, and made famous by the band Three Dog Night. The song is also popularly known by its opening words, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog"...
of the same name.
Discography
- The Pudz, "Take a letter Maria" b/w "Take me to your (leader)". 1981 Teenie Wompum Records (45 RPM); "Take me to your, (leader)" was also included in the 1981 Engram Records compilation Seattle Syndrome and in Wild And Wooly-The Northwest Rock Collection, 2000 Experience Music ProjectExperience Music ProjectThe EMP Museum is a museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction located in Seattle, Washington...
/Sub PopSub PopSub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
double CD. - New Age Urban Squirrels, "Get DownGet Down (Gilbert O'Sullivan song)"Get Down" is a song by Gilbert O'Sullivan, from his album I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter. Released as a single, it spent two weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in April 1973, and was also a number-one hit in Ireland and a top-ten hit in the United States and Canada. The song has nothing to do...
" (Gilbert O'Sullivan) on 1986 Popllama sampler 12 Inch Combo Deluxe. - New Age Urban Squirrels Five Virgins, Ernest Anyway and the Mighty, Mighty Squirrels Sing the Hits of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates; 1986 "split" LP, PopLlama
- The Squirrels Group "Oz on 45" b/w "Alone Again (Naturally)" 1988 Popllama (45 RPM)
- Mark Nichols / Puddletown Youth Symphony, "Little Boy Goes to Hell" 1988 Popllama
- A musical by Nichols; released as a box set of four 7-inch 45 RPM records with book illustrated by Rob Morgan; cast included Morgan, Kline, Nichols, Tad Hutchinson, Tom Vail (all sometime Squirrels) and many others.
- The Mighty Squirrels, "Game of Love" and "Laughin' Your Head Off"; on compilation Oh, GOD! My Mom's on Channel 10!, 1989 Nardwuar the Human Serviette (Canada) LP
- The Squirrels Group, What Gives? (15 Big Ones), 1990 Popllama CD
- The Squirrels, "Beautiful Sunday / Seasons in the Sun / The Hustle"; split 7-inch EP with Show Business Giants (Blobs, Vol. 2), 1991 Way Out! Records (Canada)
- The Squirrels, "Betsy", on compilation Clam Chowder and Ice vs. Big Macs and Bombers, 1992 Nardwuar the Human Serviette (Canada) LP
- The Squirrels, "Seasons in the Sun / The Hustle", on compilation 20 More Explosive Fantastic Rockin' Mega Smash Hit Explosions, 1992 Pravda Records CD
- The Squirrels, Don't Fear The Snowman (The Squirrels' Christmas Album)" 1992 Popllama cassette
- The Squirrels, Harsh Toke of Reality 1993 Popllama CD
- The Squirrels, "Let It Be" on compilation The EXOTIC BEATLES part 2, 1994 Exotica Records (United Kingdom)
- The Squirrels, Son of Snowman / Don't Fear the Snowman" (Expanded Xmas album!) 1994 Poplust Audio/PopLlama cassette
- Roy Loney & the Longshots, Full Grown Head 1994 Shake Records (Canada), 1995 Real Cool Records (Japan)
- Band includes Joey Kline, Jimbo Sangster, Scott McCaughey, Tad Hutchison, all sometime Squirrels; Rob Morgan is "guest vocalist" on 2 tracks.
- The Squirrels, "Too Bad", on compilation Peace Wave (Seattle Peace Concerts compilation CD Vol. 2) 1996 Seattle Peace Concerts CD
- The Squirrels, Scrapin' for Hits (27 song "Best Of" CD), 1996 Poplust Audio CD
- The Squirrels, "With All My Might", on SparksSparks (band)Sparks is an American rock and pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1968 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael , initially under the name Halfnelson...
tribute Amateur Hour-When Do I Get To Do It My Way; AAIIEE (with Rob Morgan on vocals) "At Home At Work At Play"; 1999 Fan Mael Records (The Netherlands) - The Squirrels, The Not-So-Bright Side Of The Moon, 2000: Popllama Products
- The Squirrels, Digital Snowman (expanded CD-R version of the Christmas album) 2000 Poplust Audio
- The Squirrels, Live Bootleg Vol. One (limited edition CD-R, booklet) 2001 Poplust Audio Archival Series
- The Squirrels, "Hawaii Take 5-0", on compilation Hold The Vocals: A Tribute to the Instrumental Hits of the 50's 60's 70's 2001 GO-Kustom Rekords
- The Squirrels, Rock Polisher, recorded 2002, not yet released.