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Weekend Discussion Thread: Best/Worst Bands in MSTed Movies

Alert reader Ken suggests:

Have we discussed favorite/least favorite bands featured in movies on the show? For example, I actually really love the Del Aires. (But they are SO FUN to make fun of.) But the VERY WORST PERFORMANCE (in my opinion) occurs at the “Radio Station” in THE DEAD TALK BACK. They are apparently supposed to be a JAZZ COMBO, but they sound less swinging than the Power Steves!

I’d agree The Del Aires are a lot of fun. As for the worst band, I’d have to pick the house band in “Incredibly Strange Creatures…” The cleaning ladies in the audience seemed to like it, though.

What would be your picks?

118 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Best/Worst Bands in MSTed Movies”

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  1. Clouseau says:

    I’m going to side with “good” for the band in Wild Rebels. I really enjoyed that song.

    I don’t know how I feel about the band in Girl in Gold Boots. Their music is catchy, but kinda grating to me. Half and half on those guys.

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  2. CG says:

    Wow, great thread!
    There’s one song from “Girl in Gold Boots” that I absolutely love and would be unashamed to have on an iPod. It’s performed in the last third of the movie by the band at the dance club. The chorus goes something like, “I just want to rest, at ease…” Anyone know what I’m talking about? Anyway, LOVE that song.

    I admit that, like one poster mentioned above, I’m remembering all of the good songs rather than the bad songs. For example, I kinda liked most of the tunes in Catalina Caper, and I’ll admit that Arch Hall Jr. isn’t as bad as some people make him out to be. (Ducks for tomatoes! :-))

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  3. PJE says:

    No love for Eddie Cochran? Okay, granted, you can’t hear him because the gang talks over his song in Untamed Youth, but still, he tried. But since you can’t hear him, I’ll vote for the Platters for best. Another vote for the band in Pod People for worst. Yikes!

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  4. Watch-out-for-Snakes says:

    For Best Band in a Movie, I would go with the Band that Played California Lady from Track of the Moonbeast or those crooners from Girls Town (The Platters, I believe).

    As for Worst Band, those scums from Club Scum in Hobgoblins and the Idiot Control band from Pod Poeple are both sucky.

    Not necessarily a band, but Critter from Girl in Gold Boots makes me want to smash his acoustic guitar into a million tiny little pieces.

    And ya’ll need to lay off Arch Hall, Jr. He can’t help it his songs sound like that or that his face looks like that.

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  5. The best:
    10. Kitty Blake from ‘I Accuse My Parents’. She is just so sweet in a 1940s way.
    9. The dance band from ‘Skydivers’. Very Dick Dale like guitar. Cool baby.
    8. Little Richard from ‘Catalina Caper’. He didn’t get to do much but it was nice to see some actual talent in that film.
    7. The Birds from ‘The Deadly Bees’. Psychedelic man.
    6. The Band That Played California Lady from ‘Track Of The Moon Beast’. Especially the friendly looking back-up singer.
    5. The Platters from ‘Daddy-O’. Good old 50s doo-wop.
    4. The Del-Aires from ‘Horror At Party Beach’. They just looked like they were having fun.
    3. The Other Thing from ‘Monster A Go-Go’. Their song is the only good thing from that film.
    2. The Beau Brummels from ‘Village Of The Giants’. Even giant ducks love them.
    1. Joel/Mike and the Bots for whenever they do a song.

    The worst:
    10. Whoever did ‘Yipe Stripes’ in ‘Teenage Strangler’. It had its one and only performance on a countertop in a greasy diner.
    9. The school band from ‘Mr B Natural’ “White. We’re white. We’re really really white. We’re really really really really white.”
    8. The dance band from ‘The Creeping Terror’. We got only one song and by god we’re gonna play it.
    7. Jim Stafford from ‘Riding With Death’. He is the reason people look down on the south.
    6. Eddie Crane from ‘The Beatniks’. He is so bland he makes Pat Boone look like David Lee Roth.
    5. The ‘Shine Your Love’ band from ‘Angels Revenge’. Disco at its nadir.
    4. Arch Hall’s ‘swingin’ band in ‘Eegah’. *tequila*
    3. The band from Club Scum in ‘Hobgoblins’. Fish picker? Pig kicker?
    2. Chase Winstead from ‘Giant Gila Monster’. His song literally kills the barn dance.
    1. The band from ‘Pod People’. They stink.

    P.S. Has there been a discussion thread for worst alien invasion yet? My vote would be for ‘Attack Of The The Eye Creatures’. They show up, wander around, and get killed by headlights.

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  6. finniasjones says:

    Best: The Fontanelles rock, but you’d have to have an ear for classic post-punk to appreciate how good they are. I even bought the 7 song “Soundtrack” with Rick Sloane autograph from eBay. Frankly, they were too good for Club Scum.

    Worst: Vic, singing “Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo” in Teenage Werewolf. But I don’t blame the kid, because the director didn’t properly sync the backing track to the lead vocal. Ruined what could have been a catchy song.

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  7. starman15317 says:

    Arch Hall Jr. is the worst!

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  8. Operation Weasel-Snitch says:

    I have to vote for “The Platters” in Girls Town as best band.

    And with all due respect to the mighty Ron Wood, “The Birds” (or were they “The Birds Birds” ?) – from the opening of The Deadly Bees – sucked.

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  9. big61al says:

    Speaking of the Del-Aires… I have been actively looking for the tracks they performed on the episode on cd [released or otherwise] for years. Does anyone have or know where they can be found?

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  10. Rex Dart says:

    Herc’s wife is a tour de force.

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  11. Bat Masterson says:

    Honestly, I love the new wave band from Hobgoblins. :-P

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  12. How about K Gordon Murray dubbing over the lounge act in Samson vs. the Vampire Women? Best, worst, take your pick. “We shall kill the Imperialist running dogs…”

    Actually, all of the “best” bands have undoubtedly been mentioned.

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  13. Oh wait, that’s in Spanish. Jeez. Nevermind.

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  14. Patrick says:

    Best: Sashe through the sarcasm
    Worst: I love you Vicki

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  15. MiqelDotCom says:

    Cool topic! (I’m a musician, sax & flute)

    BEST –
    Jimmy Bryant in Skydivers (really talented instrumentalist)
    The Platters in Girls Town (smooooooth and melodic)

    Honorable mention:
    Mary Beth Hughes from I Accuse My Parents (I like her voice)

    WORST –
    Paul Anka in Girls Town (Ouch, turn it off!!)

    Honorable mention:
    “Weylon Springroll” & the band playing at the lake in KTMA-21 Legend Of The Dinosaur. (I hate country music anyway, but it’s somehow even worse when Japanese people play it.)

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  16. The Toblerone Effect says:

    Best: Jimmy Bryant, The Beau Brummels, The Platters, The Del Aires.

    Worst: Stacey Smith, The Fem-Tones (from “Wild Rebels”), “The Book of Love” singer from “Catalina Caper”.

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  17. Matt Sandwich says:

    The first group that came to mind (for bands, rather than overall music) was the Birdwatchers in Wild Rebels. Though a quick look back at it certainly reminds me why they earned the name The Femtones. The Del Aires are great fun, but for whatever reason I love the more jangly “pseudo-British bubblegummy stuff” (as per #14) you get in Wild Rebels and Hellcats. The group in Girl With the Gold Boots deserves a mention, too. I actually tracked down the soundtrack for that one, though unlike most of these things, it was easy to find.

    I always wished for an album featuring the coolest/kitschiest tunes from MSTed movies. Probably impossible, but it would’ve been an absolute blast, from the jazzy vibes in Secret Agent Super Dragon to the dirty garage rock in Monster-A-Go-Go. Sigh.

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  18. Titanius Anglesmith, Fancy Man of Cornwood says:

    How good were the Platters? Even Servo said they were good. And who can argue? But I also sort of liked the girl singer in “Catalina Caper.”

    On the opposite side of the coin, I’d go with the band in “Catalina Caper” based on the fact that they really didn’t do jack! I can’t even remember one bar of the song they did. And if anyone ever killed Tony Travis or anyone who performed a song in “Warrior of the Lost World” for being talented, they’d be shedding innocent blood.

    Andan honorable mention to Mel Torme. He didn’t sing a note in “Girlstown.”

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  19. Thomas K. Dye says:

    I’ll put in a “best” for Jimmy Bryant’s band in Skydivers as well. The guy smoked on guitar, and “Stratosphere Boogie” kills. I have no idea how Coleman Francis managed to rope him in. He was massively influential on many latter-day guitarists.

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  20. RickHugeLarge says:

    and John Carradine’s velvet fog…

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  21. Peter says:

    I have to agree with most, the Platter’s, and Jimmy Bryant are my favorites. I’ve also got a special place for the Book of Love from Catalina Caper-not bad. Worst for me has to be the cafeteria band from Ring of Terror (The “College Cats” I think?) While rotten, they did have the amazing ability to create a trumpet sound from thin air and play instruments with their laps (though I suppose that could be blamed on production, but I digress). Second is the beach band from Wild World of Batwoman-make it stop.

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  22. Anglagard1 says:

    Little Richard got short shrift from MST3K–the man’s a freakin’ legend! He was one of a handful who created Rock and Roll.
    As far as no-names go, the band in Skydivers was very talented.
    And as for least talented, has anybody mentioned the “jazz for beginners” band in The Dead Talk Back?

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  23. Jimmy says:

    My little secret? I have an MP3 of “California Lady” on my iPod… yup, I grabbed the audio from the un-MSTed version.

    And yes, I do listen to it…

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  24. BIG G BURGER says:

    a lot of good bands preformed in mystie movies,unfourtunately not
    their best stuff.
    the worst Arch Hall jr & band Eghah,and that D.B.from Pod People.

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  25. Full Moon Over Flagstaff says:

    Jimmy, would you share the California Lady mp3? viedma9@yahoo.com

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  26. Jimmy says:

    To anyone who wants the California Lady MP3, I’ve uploaded it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?7grwtop2vcpztrz. On the right, near the top of the page, just click “Click Here to Begin Download”.

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  27. Glen BW says:

    Love the ‘Penguin’ band from ‘Operation Double 007’!
    “Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!”

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  28. Manny Sanguillen says:

    I like to first give an answer without much thought, going with what comes to me first. Later I’ll think it over and see what I may have suppressed out of my soul because it was just too awful.

    But first to mind is all of the music in Hobgoblins, which has kept me from watching it for a couple years at least. There’s good riffing in Hobgoblins, and it has some fun moments, but the pig liquor music is of such crap that I always change my mind and pick something else before popping in the dvd.
    I have that same problem with Zombie Nightmare too.

    I kind of liked the ‘Wild Rebels’ bar scene band and the “my lunch goes blechhh” song, and I wish the riffers would have kept quiet during the tune.

    I like a lot of episodes just because the music keeps me in a good mood throughout, but that doesnt count for this question which focuses on actual bands portrayed.

    but if it was asking about best music presented, I would say Danger Death Ray, Danger Diabolik, and Gamera vs Zigra would my favorites, with honorable mention to Final Justice, Wild Rebels (except for the crooning number), and Operation Double Double 07.

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  29. Manny Sanguillen says:

    I like ‘World War 2 Boy’ from Blood waters too, and on some site somewhere you can download the first minute of the song. I wish I could get the whole thing.

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  30. Manny Sanguillen says:

    Also, years ago I bought the unmsted MANOS just to get the music unencumbered. It grew on me to the point where I just had to have it on in the back ground at work and in the car.
    I also grabbed the Diabolik Italian version off of youtube for leisure listening. I kind of like the English version better though with Mike and the guys riffing on it. It adds to the pleasure, since it’s pretty funny riffing.

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  31. CG says:

    Since we’re on the subject of MST3K songs, I have to talk about this:

    I bought “Clowns in the Sky II” before I’d ever seen “The Undead,” and I thought the Digger Smolken parody on the CD was hilarious. Then I saw the episode, and I realized that the song was barely a parody; it was practically the same Digger Smolken in the movie!

    The one Smolken lyric I remember from the movie was “Lick the coffin clean.” I remember that because, seriously guys, GROSS.

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  32. MiqelDotCom says:

    Other good music from a purely musical perspective (not lyrical)

    The “Beatnik” music in #419 The Rebel Set is well played, or at least the flutist sounds well trained in classical and jazz.

    Oddly, the soprano saxophonist in the MANOS film is pretty good & I can almost make out what his musical influences are. Definitely listened to some of the edgy jazz of the time.

    #212 Godzilla vs Megalon – The disco-jazz in the car-chase sequence and a few other parts of the film is well executed. You’d have to have your chops in shape to play with that band!

    The “Jazz” combo in #603 Dead Talk Back sounds like they learned one teeny short line of a Thelonius Monk song and play it badly over and over (and over)

    #111 Moon Zero Two – as a jazz player, I can’t stand the ‘spacey’ abstract-but-in-a-crappy-way jazz noodling soundtrack. I like outside jazz, but not that.

    PS. Since this is a musical thread,
    here is the song origin of SOL’s Rocket #9 – it was named for Sun-Ra’s “Rocket Number Nine(take off for the planet Venus!)”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuNpmyZ6za0

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  33. Critter says:

    #80.
    I was psyched a year or so ago when I heard one of my fave singers bands was doing a cover of the Diabolik theme. Mondo Cane, Mike Patton and an orchestra doing it. It’s on You tube.

    The ‘Schick out of shape’ song from TISCWSLABMUZ was pretty grim.

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  34. Pemmican says:

    Been mentioned a bunch already, but the “Swingin’ Combo,” with “More changes in lineups than Menudo!” from ‘Eegah!’ wins the prize for me.

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  35. Professor Gunther says:

    MigelDotCom (#82): you know, the soprano sax playing from MANOS reminds me a little of Captain Beefheart, something of Trout Mask Replica Vintage (but of course that recording wasn’t out yet–or at least I don’t think it was). I’m also glad you mentioned the music from The Rebel Set. I totally dig the vibe playing. It’s certainly not anything like Bobby Hutcherson (one of my favourite musicians), but it’s still pretty darned swining.

    “There’s a Mingus among us!”

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  36. Professor Gunther says:

    That was supposed to read “swinging.” Blush I don’t know what “swining” sounds like. Oh–wait, I do! It sounds like ANY of the bad bands featured in an MST3K’d movie!

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  37. twitterhitter says:

    How about that band from Hobgoblins in Club Scum (high school lunchroom) that sang the song “Fish Picker or “Pig Sticker” …or what ever it was. It was so bad it was good as if you saw a train derailment and cant look away.

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  38. Opus says:

    Jimmy Bryant (amazing guitar player) and Little Richard (“Hey you were great! Now leave. Out the back.” ) are the obvious choices for greatest. Although the song given to Mr. Penniman is pretty bad. Dick Contino in Daddy-O is pretty good.

    The Pod People band stands out for me. In the style of the lamest 1980’s bands. I can’t believe people actually sit down to write songs and come up with a song like Flying Over Trout.

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  39. Unga Khan says:

    #82: I agree with you about the soprano sax in Manos. The solo where Torgo tries to seduce Margaret reminds me of Coltrane’s work on My Favorite Things. Nice and sultry (although it’s made ridiculous by what’s happening on screen). And then the free-jazz style workouts for the “action” scenes. Torgo’s theme notwithstanding, the Manos soundtrack wasn’t all bad, just difficult to listen to for over an hour in accompaniment to a disaster of a movie. I wonder what became of the musicians involved…

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  40. AgentMom says:

    I dunno if it’s a band, but “Yipe Stripes” has to come pretty high in the “it stinks” category.

    The band backing up the teen singer in “The Giant Gila Monster” ranks just as high.

    The band DEFINITELY in Pod People. “It Stinks!”

    The band for Hob Goblins. Yeargh!

    I liked the Del Aires. I don’t care what anyone else says.

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  41. Kenotic says:

    Happy to see The Del-Aires get some love — of all the MST bands that stank up the joint, The Del-Aires weren’t one of them. They were actually pretty fun, and I could totally see them as an early 60s garage band. No wonder they played for nearly half the movie.

    The worst, is easily “Idiots Control Now,” or whatever they were called. I’m sure dubbing it into English didn’t help, but lordy were those some stupid lyrics.

    And oddly enough, the Fish Picker band wasn’t that bad. The vocalist could use some help staying in tune (but most of that new-wave/post-punk stuff had some awful singers), but it at least was delightfully dumb.

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  42. Dark Grandma of Death says:

    Reaper G (#21) and Monoceros4 (#31), can’t say I realized that was Ronnie Wood (or even The Birds) from Deadly Bees. I just watched DB again a couple of days ago, and was struck – literally, aurally – by that song. It was such a jarring, discordant experience that I immediately thought of them when I saw this topic. To be fair, they’re not really the worst band in an MST episode, but that song…whew! I really couldn’t get past it.

    But in reading other comments here, I don’t think I saw anyone mention the “high school” band from Earth vs the Spider, with the really old “teenage” Dr. Smith type as the conductor. They were pretty bad. So there, now they’ve offficially made the list!

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  43. ck says:

    But wasn’t Little Richard hopped up on the goofballs? :)

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  44. Kerry says:

    We saw Arch Hall Jr perform live about five years ago and it was not as embarrassing as you would think. It was part of an Arch Hall Jr weekend that included a showing of “The Sadist” at the Warhol Museum. He had a pick up band of locals AND Alan O’Day (“Angie Baby”, “Undercover Angel”). He actually pulled off a show that my wife and I still talk about. And the “best of” CD has provided a lot of songs on my I-Pod. So there!

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  45. ciociekelly says:

    What a great thread! ck, i don’t think use of narcotics is limited to Mr. Richard on those sets, if ya know what i mean, so let’s keep him in the running…. and he do “swing”

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  46. fathermushroom says:

    My apologies if it’s already been mentioned, but I didn’t see it.

    How about the “is it Jimmy Page” band at the airport in “Operation Double 007”.

    eh EH eh, EH eh, eh EH eh eh…. (the penguin song)

    Your choice: best or worst.

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  47. MiqelDotCom says:

    Oh & I forgot to mention the longest lasting audio brain damage was inflicted by The Cascades in Catalina Caper singing the ultra-ultra BAD harmony in their song “There’s a New World”

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  48. Shaun says:

    Count me among the folks that enjoy the songs in Girl in Gold Boots. I’ve looked around for some of the songs as well, but didn’t find any.

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  49. Laura says:

    I know I’m in the minority here, but I can’t stand any of the songs (or “bands”, and I use that term very loosely) in any of the experiments. The directors (or whoever was in charge) seemed to either find some random garage bands, or, the case of Catalina Caper, blowing most of the budget of the movie on some big name who couldn’t make the movies suck any less.

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