The Dickies
- Soundtrack
The Dickies are a delightfully zany and irreverent comedic punk band
from Los Angeles, California. The group first formed in the San
Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles in 1977. The original band
members were: Leonard Graves Phillips (lead vocals), Stan Lee (guitar),
Bob Davis (guitar/keyboards/saxophone), Bill Remar (bass), and Carlos
Cabellero (drums). The Dickies are distinguished by their winningly
campy and goofy sense of playful good humor that's a total radical
departure from the often snotty and sarcastic humor of your average
punk band. They hold the distinction of being the first California punk
group to both appear on network television (they pop up as themselves
on an episode of the TV comedy series "CPO Sharkey") and be signed to a
major record label. Besides such amusingly nutty original songs as
"Hideous," "Waterslide," "Manny, Moe and Jack," "You Drive Me Ape (You
Big Gorilla)," "Attack of the Mole Men," and "(I'm Stuck in a Pagoda
With) Tricia Toyota," the Dickies have done insanely inspired covers of
other artists' songs that include Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," "Nights
in White Satin" by the Moody Blues (this particular cover was a Top 40
hit on the UK pop charts in 1979), Barry McGuire's "Eve of
Destruction," and "Nobody But Me" by the Human Beinz. The band scored a
Top 10 British radio hit in 1979 with their wacky rendition of the 70's
Saturday morning cartoon TV series theme tune "Banana Splits (Tra La La
Song)." Alas, the group has endured their fair share of hardships
throughout the years: Bob Davis committed suicide after breaking up
with his girlfriend in June, 1981 while replacement drummer Jonathan
Melvoin died of a heroin overdose on July 12, 1996 in New York City.
The group did the marvelously madcap theme songs for the movies "Killer
Klowns from Outer Space" and "The Spirit of '76." The Dickies are still
touring and performing on stage to this very day, although only Leonard
Graves Phillips and Stan Lee remain from the original line-up.
