Since the news just broke that David Bowie died, it got me thinking about musical references on the show. I’m curious what influence MST3K has had on people’s musical tastes, whether it got them into a band they wouldn’t have known about otherwise, or caused ! them to suddenly understand a reference years later when they finally heard the tune the bots were referencing.
For me, I certainly wouldn’t have gotten into Man or Astroman? without MST3K (it helped that they did a cover of the theme tune), and as an 80s/90s kid (but one who listened religiously to the Doctor Demento show), I missed out on a lot of the references to 70’s music until I was away at college, but oddly, had no trouble picking up the references to Firesign Theater or Tom Lehrer.
I want to even expand this topic further and talk about surprising and hilarious references to your favorite bands or musicians. I immediately think of somebody riffing “LOOK AT THESE HANDS!” (SOMEbody knows his or her Talking Heads) and Tom Servo’s many Tom Waits impressions.
You?
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I’m not a Motorhead fan, but I liked the Ace of Spades song from Zombie Nightmare and listen to it, whenever it is on the radio. I can’t help visualizing big guys getting run over or Adam West getting dragged down to hell, while I hear it.
Not music, but this thread’s intro did remind me that I checked out a couple of Firesign CDs because of the show.
And every now and then I’ll try to listen to Zappa again (both because of the countless references, and also one of my friends is a huge fan). I can’t confess to being a fan, but I do appreciate what he did (Apostrophe is pretty great).
More importantly, the show has introduced Arch Hall Jr, The Del-Aires, The Fontanelles, and Jimmy Bryant to my music shelves.
I know this is mostly off-topic. Sorry, the caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet.
During The Touch of Satan, while in the shed, pausing, Jodie says “Melissa…” and Crow chimes in with “Crossroads seem to come and go.” One of my favorite references and such a great Allman Brothers song.
“Ace of Spades” by Motorhead from Zombie Nightmare!!!!!! Of course, that was really outside of the show itself, but I NEVER would have had a more pleasant Motorhead appetizer than was presented to me on the MST3K platter.
As an aside, I think some of the best music was what the original music the cast and crew wrote for the show. Years later, I’m being “Frank About Frank” and yelling “Gamera”!!!!
Wings Of A Dove from Boggy Creek II –
The partial rendition of the soulful Wings of a Dove during the motorboat and blue smoke scene always comes to me when I hear Madness’s Ska tune of the same name which features a real Jamaican British church chorus. “Keep on looking up now. Don’t look down”.
(Oh man, where’s the EDIT button?!?!)
I just wanted to add that “Kiss Kicker ’99” is actually a pretty cool song. Simple yet addictive chord progression, wailing guitar solo, good timbre on the lead vocals (even if I can’t understand a word)… cool!
“Pig…. Liquor!”
I always have fun with them belting out the theme from Jessica every time her name is said in Thing That Couldn’t Die
This might be a little obscure for some of you, but during the out of control chariot scene in Hercules, Kevin starts humming Bernard Herrmann’s main title music from North By Northwest.
I became a Cure fan in the early 2000’s thanks to the show. It was “The Crawling Hand” episode when the dying astronaut with black under his eyes keeps yelling out Push the red button! Joel comments by saying “He looks like Robert Smith from The Cure.” Crow: “It looks like he needs The Cure.” After those series of riffs I picked up “Disintegration” and “Three Imaginary Boys” a couple weeks later.
Also from “Laser Blast”
Mike: “Looks like Robert Smith is having a good day.”
And from “Hercules and The Captive Women”
Joel sings: “Standing on the beach with gun in my hand.” From the song “Killing an arab.”
Because of the MST episode Village of the Giants, I discovered the Beau Brummels. Their music, along with Arch Hall Jr’s music (thanks, Eegah!), gives me a nice ’60s vibe to groove to.
Jethro Tull riffs and references made me happy, too. When the Melting Man stumbles past the drunken guys in the woods, Mike says, “The answer to ‘Whatever happened to Jethro Tull.'” And although I can’t remember which episode it was (it’s too early, I’m too old), there was a moment when Joel says quietly, “Your love’s in the sink” to a character standing by, well, a sink. I laughed hard enough to choke slightly the first time I heard it. Oh, darn, now I’ll have to spend the rest of today watching MST episodes so I can hunt it down.
I think it’s from “The Painted Hills.”
the “scrapbook” review frontpage made me mstie-wistful, so i started over from the pilot and have been running ktma’s the past night. just now catching up to “humanoid woman” and noticed joel’s frequent quoting “autobahn”, trace commenting “soundtrack by the residents”, and josh crooning a bit of “heatwave.”
a “ward e” list would probably end up being the longest list around!
My favorite TALKING HEADS album is Remain In Light, Adrian Belew’s insane guitar licks over David Byrnes Afro Beats! The other week after the debate when they were referencing who had the manliest man parts my first thought was TAKE A LOOK AT THESE HANDS! The Hands of a Government Man!!
That one’s been sitting in your inbox for a while. Anyway, my thoughts on this week’s topic concern Anime Music Videos (for those unfamiliar, a series of clips from anime set to a song, exactly what it sounds like). Though I don’t have the video editing skills to make them myself, I’ve imagined the potential use of MST3K songs in AMVs. For instance, you could take clips from some appropriate shows produced by Gainax and set it to Tubular Boobular Joy. Or string together some clips of characters voiced by Brina Palencia and set it to Creepy Girl.
Two words, from “Danger!! Death Ray” – “Watermelon Man.”
Also, there’s one episode I can’t place where Tom mentions a building looking like the cover of Pink Floyd’s “Animals” album.
Warrior OTLW. “Hey he’s got Laurie Anderson in there.”
It was in The Projected Man.
Not sure it fits in the thread or not, but…During Angel’s Revenge when the horse-faced singer is belting out the endless “Shine Your Love”, I always laugh when one of the bots does the angry patron shouting from the audience “How about shining my steak over here!”
When Rocket Attack USA was first aired, I was in high school, and was SO proud of myself for getting the Talking Heads reference “I’m standing in a shotgun shack in another part of the world.” Lots of references were lost on me at the time, but I actually knew that one!
No one’s said it yet, so I will: TUSK!!!
Actually, the whole riffing through the end credits of Werewolf, including “The Battle of New Orleans,” “We Will Rock You,” and so on. One of the best musical segments in the whole show IMO.
I’m a HUGE Steely Dan fan, so any of their references instantly gets my attention. I can think of two right off the top of my head. One time when Mike was trying to escape, he announced to the Mads, “Listen up, Babylon Sisters!” And another time was during Progress Island, where Servo said “Feel the glory of the Royal Scam.” Actually, the line should have been SEE the glory, but I won’t nitpik about that.
Became part of that whole new generation of fans that discovered the magic that is The Band That Played California Lady.
Servo also says in one episode (don’t know which one) “Bring back the Boston Rag”
Joel referring to the Mads as Difford and Tillbrook (Squeeze) was so cool!
[Screen shows the title “Prince of Space”]
Mike [imitating Prince]: Damn, I’m in space again!
At the beginning of ‘Mitchell’ when Tom sings the opening of ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’.
“It was the third of September.
The day we’ll always remember…”
When I Held Your Brain In My Arms –
All too many years ago I shared an MST3K tape (yes, tape) with a colleague who was teaching a Human Anatomy class to nurses. The students thought the music was “old fashioned” not realizing that was a purposeful style choice by the Brains. However, a few years later one of the then full fledged RNs came in to tell my colleague that she had impressed a neuro surgeon by reciting snippets of “When I Held Your Brain In My Arms”. You gotta love a lotta your medula oblongata!
The many songs of Prince in.. Agent From H.A.R.M.
Think I Wanna Dance.. OWWWW!!!
I can’t remember what thread discussion it was, but one of the posters was commenting on the stuff the bots say during the robot roll call, and what, if any, significance or origin they might have. Even though I was not 100% sure, I commented that the “Croooooowww…!” was a reference to the song “Crow” from the Jim Carroll Band’s album “Catholic Boy”. I was pleasantly pleased when, during one of the bonus extra feature in a fairly recent MST3K Volume, Joel himself confirmed that, indeed, that was exactly where that came! And I agree Joel, it was one of my favorite albums of the early 1980s also (still is!)
Me, I first heard as The Young Ones were running to the train station, so it’s a question of first exposure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co9yv2NjyWs
(high electronic voice) “Like……what wall,………….man?”
I don’t know whoever else ever had to suffer through Laurie’s “experimental” work outside of O Superman, but the timing on the riff gave me the giggles first time. :)
And if we’re talking about just riffs, Joel keeps getting the best 70’s ones:
(Teenage Caveman): “Two such men will fight one day…”
“…One tin soldier rides away.”
(Although I can’t remember the episode where we see something left in the ground, and they riff “Peace on Earth was all it said…Doo, doo, do do-do doo…”)
I was in my late 20s when I first watched, so many of the musical references were already well known to me even if I didn’t and don’t care for them. (Sorry, Mr. Zappa.) But having no idea who or what the Firesign Theatre was at the time, I was surprised to hear so many familiar references when my many-years-older ex listened to their albums.
My favorite musical reference? Perhaps my favorite riff of all time, the slam on John Williams during the credits of Daddy-O. Having maintained for many years that Mr. Williams
ripped off from various Russian composerswrote the music for Star Wars and then recycled it for the rest of his soundtracks, Servo’s “Oh no, John Williams BEFORE he heard Stravinsky” has me howling every time.Oh, and the sly David Geffen joke in Overdrawn at the Memory Bank always gets me.
Whenever there’s a moment with Moog synthesize sounding all sci-fi-ish, only to be backed up with “Oooo, what a Lucky Man, he was oo-WEEE-oo-WEE!”
Don’t know the episode. There’s the sound of a gong and Joel says “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Mahavishnu Orchestra.” Which is, of course, the name of the greatest band ever.
Joel: “Tom – no more Anthony Newley references. Ever.”
I don’t know why I find that so funny, but I do.
An INCREDIBLY obscure reference I finally got when I stumbled onto the song a couple years ago: From HIRED!, “I may be wonderful but you could be wrong.” It’s a line from an old standard. “You might be wonderful, but I could be wrong…”
Yes, I know, I know, but I’ve been waiting for AGES for a chance to tell someone about that…
I always love Servo’s 80’s alt rock music riffs. Two I like – From episode names that escape me…
“Pretty girl Young man Old man Man with a gun” – Jerry Harrison ~ Man with a gun
“Drive, she said” – Stan Ridgeway
What? No love for the Greatful Dead running gag in “The Dead Talk Back”?
(“And then the moon came out, and it was like Jerry willed it!”)
And of course MST3K introduced us to The Band That Played Idiot Control Now. After that, things would never be the same ….
Pity an’ a po-boy,
Hear the the engines roar!
Bees on pie,
Burning rubber tires!!!
I honestly cannot listen to a Wah Wah pedal now (especially one of the funky “duck noise” Big Jam Spit-Wah’s, like they used for the skit) without hearing Crow’s epic Jerry Garcia guitar solo. This also means that I inevitably find myself cracking up whenever I’m forced to listen to the actual Greatful Dead.
What episode was it where Crow quoted “The Trees” by Rush? Because that was some perfect timing.
In Space Travelers when Joel sings a bit from Roundabout. “In and around the lake / Mountains come down from the sky and stand there” and Crow says “Just say no to Yes.” Sorry Crow, been saying yes to Yes for most of my life. 8)
And Mike becomes Rick Wakeman for a bit of Six Wives, aww yiss.
Although Prince jokes are funnier in Minnesota, of course.
That was from “A Touch of Satan” they were by the pond, where the fish live, Mike started singing the song
and Crow told him not to anymore.
Another Rush reference was in Pod People when the soundtrack was mostly drums and they said “drums by Neil Peart”
I think there could be one more Rush reference…
but I can’t think of it now.
RUSH!!!
While not a reference to a major music group, I can’t help but find myself singing….
“Back in the funky 70s–ow!
the party didn’t ever stop–ow!
The city of Pompeii was doing all right
but Vesuvius blew her top.”
“Wowow! Back in the super bad 70s
the Roman Empire still reigned supreme.
Emperor Titus came to power
and he finished up the Colosseum.”
“They’re a cult.” Rosdower.
“They worship Blue Oysters.”
I’m a 2nd generation Moody Blues fan. So I love it when the knight trot’s by in The Undead and Servo quips “ME in white satin”. Cracks me up every time. Of course, it was only one of the many times they mentioned the Moodies.
You’re forgetting Servo’s title card riff: “Owner of a lonely heart, much better than the Warrior of the Lost World.
I sooo want to run Daddy-O by my soundtrack-collecting brother just for his laugh to that line.
laurie anderson’s “home of the brave:”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osHBA6YAHAo
some video-art right from the heart of the eighties! a slight bit dated… but at the time, was pretty innovative stuff. more than this, i’d recommend anyone investigating this era of stuff find and watch “swimming to cambodia” as a starter… you will never be more entertained than by one guy sitting at a desk talking at you for am hour-and-a-half…
going back a bit to laurie and “HOTB”… it is quite a little psychological MF, if you pay attention. give it a try, and see if it doesn’t apply to what you think of once in a while today…
Maybe this is just a little too obvious but our heroes do live on the SATELLITE OF LOVE, which, as we all know was designed by Lou Reed.
Also, there is an episode where a character enters & one of the guys says “Robbie Robertson!”.
Can anybody remind me of the episode?
I want to say it refers to Johnny Longbone (“Johnny, Johnny Longbone, Johnny, Johnny Longbone, it’s the Johnny Longbone theme!”) because he actually does look a little like Robbie.
And for you youngsters who don’t know who I’m talking about, go out & immediately buy, rent or stream a movie called THE LAST WALTZ. You won’t be sorry.
Won’t you? Thank you.
“Don’t pay the ferryman! ~ Don’t even fix a price”
By Chris de Burgh. Servo loves this one.