Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Encyclopedia
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band, The Bonzo Dog Dada Band and, colloquially, as "The Bonzos") are a band created by a group of British art-school
denizens of the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall
, trad jazz
, psychedelic rock
, and avant-garde
art, the Bonzos came to the attention of a broader British public through a 1968 ITV comedy show, Do Not Adjust Your Set
.
(tuba
, but later lead vocals along with other wind instruments) and fellow art student Rodney Slater
(saxophone
) bonded over a transatlantic broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Patterson
and Sonny Liston
.
Rodney Slater had previously been playing in a trad jazz
band at college with Chris Jennings (trombone
) and Tom Parkinson (sousaphone
). Roger Wilkes (trumpet
) was the founder of the original band at the Royal College of Art, along with Trevor Brown (banjo
). They slowly turned their style from more orthodox music towards the sound of The Alberts
and The Temperance Seven
. Vivian was their next recruit and on that day in 1962, he and Rodney christened the band, The Bonzo Dog Dada Band. Bonzo the dog
was a popular British cartoon character created by artist George Studdy
in the 1920s and Dada
after the early 20th century art movement.
Not long after Vivian, Rodney and Tom were evicted from their shared flat, the band added two more faces to the line-up: Goldsmiths College
lecturer Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell and his lodger, songwriter/pianist, Neil Innes
. According to Neil Innes' website, the Bohay-Nowell was added to Vernon Dudley's name by Vivian Stanshall.
The band had been working with drummer Tom Hedge before Rodney found Martin Ash, who later took the stage name of Sam Spoons and shortly afterwards got them their first pub gig, where they were noticed by Roger Ruskin Spear
.
Ruskin Spear, the son of the British artist Ruskin Spear
, claimed, "I couldn't believe anyone was that bad." He eventually changed his mind and, with his interest in the manufacture of early electronic gadgets/objets d'art and sound-making systems soon became an integral part of the band.
The line-up changed again with the departure of Roger Wilkes and John Parry, the trombonist. The two were replaced by, respectively, Bob Kerr and "Big" Sid Nichols. The final 'classic' band member, "Legs" Larry Smith joined in 1963, as a tuba player and tap-dancer (but later as a drummer), on Vivian's invitation.
The band played up to five pubs a week in the London area, becoming popular with landlords for their "drinking" music—i.e., people stayed and drank more beer when they played. Reg Tracey spotted them at the Tiger's Head in Catford, and offered to help them.
The band's fortunes began to increase when Reg Tracey secured them a deal with Parlophone
Records in April 1966. Their first single, a cover of the 1920s classic, "My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies" was backed with "I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight" which was rather too risqué for radio.
A second single, "Alley Oop", backed with "Button Up Your Overcoat" followed in October of that year. Neither single sold well.
and The New Vaudeville Band
. (In fact Geoff Stephens
asked the Bonzos to perform as the New Vaudeville Band. They declined. Former Bonzo Bob Kerr
joined The New Vaudeville Band and went on to create his own band, Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band
, which combined the lunacy of the early Bonzo sound with music having a great deal in common with the Temperance Seven).
As the Bonzo Dog band's popularity increased, they were asked by Paul McCartney to appear in the Magical Mystery Tour
film at the end of 1967, performing "Death Cab For Cutie
". Around the same time, they were hired as the resident band on Do Not Adjust Your Set
, a comedy show notable for starring several future members of Monty Python's Flying Circus
(Eric Idle
, Terry Jones
and Michael Palin
) and David Jason
in the cast. The band performed every week as well as sometimes participating in sketches.
After signing with the US-based Liberty Records
label, the Bonzos released their first album, Gorilla (1967), produced by Gerry Bron
. The LP included "Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold" which savagely parodied their early "trad" jazz roots and featured some of the most deliberately inept jazz playing ever recorded — the record company only allowed two hours of studio time per track, so it was completed in a single take to allow for the far more complex "The Intro and the Outro" in which every member of the band was introduced and played a solo, starting with genuine band members, before including such improbable members as John Wayne
on xylophone
, Adolf Hitler
on vibes
, and J. Arthur Rank on gong
, Prime Minister Harold Wilson
, The Wild Man of Borneo, Val Doonican
, Horace Batchelor
, and Lord Snooty and His Pals
.
The first album was recorded on a four-track
tape recorder, as was typical for 1967. Due to the limited number of tracks, most of the non-band "personnel" are simply faded in and out, and few notice they are absent in the later stages of the track.
Several years later, Stanshall was to provide the voiceover on Mike Oldfield
's first instrumental album, Tubular Bells
, which echoed the style of The Intro and the Outro.
" produced by Paul McCartney
and Gus Dudgeon
under the collective pseudonym "Apollo C. Vermouth". The Beatles
were great fans of the group. The anarchic twelve bar blues
"Trouser Press" — featuring a solo by Roger Ruskin Spear on a genuine trouser press he had fitted with a pickup — gave its name to an American anglophile rock magazine Trouser Press
. "Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?" lampooned the British blues boom, and tap dancer/drummer "Legs" Larry Smith was an onstage hit with his lubricious dancing (he had actually trained as a child in tap dancing). Many of their songs parodied parochial suburban British attitudes, notably "My Pink Half of the Drainpipe" on the album The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse
(a euphemism for an outside toilet, still common in the United Kingdom at the time).
In 1969 they released their third album Tadpoles. Most of the songs on this album were also performed by the group on Do Not Adjust Your Set. The same year they also released their fourth album Keynsham and appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival
. Keynsham
is a small town near Bristol
in south-west England. The name of the album was almost certainly derived from an advertisement on Radio Luxembourg
for a dubious method of forecasting results for football matches (and using these results in football pools
). In the advertisement, which was of great length, Horace Batchelor
, inventor of 'the amazing Infra Draw method', would repeatedly spell his postal address of K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M for those listeners who wished to purchase his secret.
The Bonzos toured the United States with The Who
and also appeared at the Fillmore East
with The Kinks
. Introduced as a "warm-up act" for the real show, the Bonzos rushed out and did a series of frenetic calisthenics
. True to the dada spirit, Stanshall performed a mock striptease
and Roger Ruskin Spear, with a platoon of robots (including one that sang "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
" while actually blowing bubbles), did whatever he did without regard for what the rest of the band was doing. They undertook another American tour at the end of 1969. The band had a meeting and decided to split on their return to the U.K. The group played their final gig in January 1970.
, the album was released in 1972. The edition of the Bonzo Dog Band that made the "Friendly" LP featured only Stanshall, Innes and bassist Dennis Cowan from the "classic" earlier line-ups, although Roger Ruskin Spear appears on one track, and "Legs" Larry Smith on two. Rodney Slater is also listed as appearing "in spirit" in the album's credits.
Coincidentally, one of the Bonzos' song titles, "Cool Britannia
", was revived as a media label for late 1990s United Kingdom under Tony Blair.
The "No Matter Who You Vote For" single was Stanshall's final recording with the band; he died in a house fire in 1995.
, to celebrate the band's official 40th anniversary. Neil Innes, "Legs" Larry Smith, Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater, Bob Kerr, Sam Spoons and Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell appeared. There were also a number of special guests attempting with various degrees of success to be Vivian Stanshall
, one of two members of the band not still living (the other being bass player Dennis Cowan). The various Stanshall impersonators included Stephen Fry
, Ade Edmondson, Phill Jupitus
and Paul Merton
(who needed to read the words to "Monster Mash
" from cue cards at the show). The classic Bonzo stage antics were very much in evidence, including performances on the Theremin
Leg and Trouser Press. The show was filmed and was broadcast on BBC Four
and also released on DVD
in May 2006.
A countrywide tour, with Ade Edmondson and Phill Jupitus, followed during November 2006, starting in Ipswich
and ending with two nights at the Shepherds Bush Empire
, where Paul Merton
and Bill Bailey
joined in for a handful of songs. David Catlin-Birch
(lead guitar and vocals) joined the band for the tour; Catlin-Birch has also been a member of World Party
and The Bootleg Beatles
.
Officially calling themselves The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band again, the group released a live double CD of the Astoria concert titled Wrestle Poodles... And Win!
on 13 November 2006.
On 10 December 2007, the band released their first new studio album in 35 years, a 28-track album titled Pour l'Amour des Chiens
("For the Love of Dogs" in French).
The reunited lineup were due to perform again in 'The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band Christmas Show' on Friday 21 December and Saturday 22 December 2007 at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London, but the shows were postponed without explanation. The shows were later played in 2008. Since then it has transpired that the full membership have decided to go their separate ways and do separate projects, making such a full reunion unlikely again.
Neil Innes toured the United States in 2009 and 2010, having performed a number of shows in 2009 in the UK.
In 2009 Angry Penguin Ltd published the first history of the band, Jollity Farm, written by Bob Carruthers and edited by David Christie, with comprehensive interviews with all the core members of the group. The first release also included a limited edition DVD featuring the band's 2007 reunion performance at the Shepherds Bush Empire, which included several performances from that show which had not been previously released.
The band's onstage line-up varied, sometimes on a weekly basis, and they also invited a number of guest musicians into the recording studio. Additional members of various duration include: Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, Martin "Sam Spoons" Ash, "Happy" Wally Wilks, Tom Parkinson, Chris Jennings
, Claude Abbo, Trevor Brown
, Tom Hedge, Eric Idle
, Eric Clapton
, Elton John
, Paul McCartney
, Leon Williams
, John Parry, Raymond Lewitt, Sydney "Big Sid" Nicholls, James "Jim Strobes" Chambers, Bob Kerr
, Dave Clague, Joel Druckman, "Borneo" Fred Munt, Chalky Chalkey, Dennis Cowan, Aynsley Dunbar
, Jim Capaldi
, Anthony 'Bubs' White, Andy Roberts
, Dave Richards
, Pete Currie, Dick Parry
, Hughie Flint
and Glen Colson.
Stanshall and Innes were the band's principal songwriters. After the band's demise, both became founding members of Grimms
along with the members of The Scaffold
.
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
denizens of the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
, trad jazz
Trad jazz
Trad jazz - short for "traditional jazz" - refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century in contrast to any more modern style....
, psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
, and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
art, the Bonzos came to the attention of a broader British public through a 1968 ITV comedy show, Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969....
.
Formation and early years (1962-1966)
Unusually for a band, the actual date of conception for the Bonzos is known: 25 September 1962. It was on that day that Vivian StanshallVivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...
(tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, but later lead vocals along with other wind instruments) and fellow art student Rodney Slater
Rodney Slater (musician)
Rodney Slater was a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, playing saxophones and other musical instruments ....
(saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
) bonded over a transatlantic broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson was an American heavyweight boxer and former undisputed heavyweight champion. At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight title. He was also the first heavyweight boxer to regain the title. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by...
and Sonny Liston
Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston was a professional boxer and ex-convict known for his toughness, punching power, and intimidating appearance who became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round...
.
Rodney Slater had previously been playing in a trad jazz
Trad jazz
Trad jazz - short for "traditional jazz" - refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century in contrast to any more modern style....
band at college with Chris Jennings (trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
) and Tom Parkinson (sousaphone
Sousaphone
The sousaphone is a type of tuba that is widely employed in marching bands. Designed so that it fits around the body of the musician and is supported by the left shoulder, the sousaphone may be readily played while being carried...
). Roger Wilkes (trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
) was the founder of the original band at the Royal College of Art, along with Trevor Brown (banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
). They slowly turned their style from more orthodox music towards the sound of The Alberts
The Alberts
The Alberts were a British music/comedy troupe of the mid 1950s to mid 1960s, featuring brothers Tony and Douglas Gray. They often also appeared with Bruce Lacey. They were influenced by music hall, 1920s jazz and Surrealism...
and The Temperance Seven
The Temperance Seven
The Temperance Seven is a British band specializing in 1920s-style jazz music.- Career :The Temperance Seven were founded at Christmas 1955, although it has been alleged they first "saw the light" in the Pasadena Cocoa Rooms, Balls Pond Road, North London, in 1904...
. Vivian was their next recruit and on that day in 1962, he and Rodney christened the band, The Bonzo Dog Dada Band. Bonzo the dog
Bonzo the dog
Bonzo the dog is a fictional character created by British artist George E. Studdy in the early 1920s. He was a chubby little white pup with sparse black spots, a stubby tail and big blue eyes...
was a popular British cartoon character created by artist George Studdy
George E. Studdy
George Ernest Studdy was a British commercial artist. He is best remembered for his creation of Bonzo the dog, a fictional character in the early 1920s that first appeared in The Sketch Magazine....
in the 1920s and Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
after the early 20th century art movement.
Not long after Vivian, Rodney and Tom were evicted from their shared flat, the band added two more faces to the line-up: Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom which specialises in the arts, humanities and social sciences, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1891 as Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute...
lecturer Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell and his lodger, songwriter/pianist, Neil Innes
Neil Innes
Neil James Innes is an English writer and performer of comic songs, best known for his collaborative work with Monty Python, and for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later The Rutles.-Personal life:...
. According to Neil Innes' website, the Bohay-Nowell was added to Vernon Dudley's name by Vivian Stanshall.
The band had been working with drummer Tom Hedge before Rodney found Martin Ash, who later took the stage name of Sam Spoons and shortly afterwards got them their first pub gig, where they were noticed by Roger Ruskin Spear
Roger Ruskin Spear
Roger Ruskin Spear is a multi-instrumentalist who was a founding member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, staying with it until its end.-Career:...
.
Ruskin Spear, the son of the British artist Ruskin Spear
Ruskin Spear
Ruskin Spear, CBE, RA was an English painter.Born in Hammersmith, Spear attended the local art school before going on to the Royal College of Art in 1930...
, claimed, "I couldn't believe anyone was that bad." He eventually changed his mind and, with his interest in the manufacture of early electronic gadgets/objets d'art and sound-making systems soon became an integral part of the band.
The line-up changed again with the departure of Roger Wilkes and John Parry, the trombonist. The two were replaced by, respectively, Bob Kerr and "Big" Sid Nichols. The final 'classic' band member, "Legs" Larry Smith joined in 1963, as a tuba player and tap-dancer (but later as a drummer), on Vivian's invitation.
The band played up to five pubs a week in the London area, becoming popular with landlords for their "drinking" music—i.e., people stayed and drank more beer when they played. Reg Tracey spotted them at the Tiger's Head in Catford, and offered to help them.
The band's fortunes began to increase when Reg Tracey secured them a deal with Parlophone
Parlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
Records in April 1966. Their first single, a cover of the 1920s classic, "My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies" was backed with "I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight" which was rather too risqué for radio.
A second single, "Alley Oop", backed with "Button Up Your Overcoat" followed in October of that year. Neither single sold well.
A move from jazz to rock (1967)
Although the Bonzos had started out playing jazz, they decided to embrace rock in order to counter claims that they were beginning to sound like The Temperance SevenThe Temperance Seven
The Temperance Seven is a British band specializing in 1920s-style jazz music.- Career :The Temperance Seven were founded at Christmas 1955, although it has been alleged they first "saw the light" in the Pasadena Cocoa Rooms, Balls Pond Road, North London, in 1904...
and The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band
The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record his novelty composition "Winchester Cathedral", a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s and a Rudy Vallee megaphone style vocal...
. (In fact Geoff Stephens
Geoff Stephens
Geoffrey 'Geoff' Stephens , was one of the top British songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s.-Career:...
asked the Bonzos to perform as the New Vaudeville Band. They declined. Former Bonzo Bob Kerr
Bob Kerr (musician)
Bob Kerr is a comic musician who plays trumpet and cornet. He was originally a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and was persuaded by Geoff Stephens to join The New Vaudeville Band before forming his own Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band...
joined The New Vaudeville Band and went on to create his own band, Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band
Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band
Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band, also billed as Bob Kerr and His Whoopee Band, is a jazz band which started in 1967 and continues to perform today. It was an offshoot of the eclectic Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and shared many similarities with other outfits of the time such as The New Vaudeville Band and The...
, which combined the lunacy of the early Bonzo sound with music having a great deal in common with the Temperance Seven).
As the Bonzo Dog band's popularity increased, they were asked by Paul McCartney to appear in the Magical Mystery Tour
Magical Mystery Tour (film)
Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long British television film starring The Beatles that originally aired on BBC1 on 26 December 1967...
film at the end of 1967, performing "Death Cab For Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie (song)
"Death Cab for Cutie" is a song composed by Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes and performed by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It was included on their 1967 album Gorilla.-Content:...
". Around the same time, they were hired as the resident band on Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969....
, a comedy show notable for starring several future members of Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
(Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....
, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
and Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
) and David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
in the cast. The band performed every week as well as sometimes participating in sketches.
After signing with the US-based Liberty Records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
label, the Bonzos released their first album, Gorilla (1967), produced by Gerry Bron
Gerry Bron
Gerald L. Bron is an English record producer and band manager. In his early days, he managed the Bonzo Dog Band.Bron is the brother of actress Eleanor Bron. His family is Jewish. He is also of Eastern European origin...
. The LP included "Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold" which savagely parodied their early "trad" jazz roots and featured some of the most deliberately inept jazz playing ever recorded — the record company only allowed two hours of studio time per track, so it was completed in a single take to allow for the far more complex "The Intro and the Outro" in which every member of the band was introduced and played a solo, starting with genuine band members, before including such improbable members as John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
on xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
on vibes
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, and J. Arthur Rank on gong
Gong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
, Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
, The Wild Man of Borneo, Val Doonican
Val Doonican
Val Doonican is an Irish singer. From 1965 to 1986 he was a regular fixture on the BBC Television's schedule with The Val Doonican Show, which featured his own singing performances and a variety of guest artists...
, Horace Batchelor
Horace Batchelor
Horace Cyril Batchelor was famous in the UK during the late 1950s and early 1960s as an advertiser on Radio Luxembourg. He advertised a way to win money by predicting the results of football matches, sponsoring programmes on Radio Luxembourg...
, and Lord Snooty and His Pals
Lord Snooty
Lord Snooty was a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano, first appearing in issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, and was the longest running strip in the comic until Dennis the Menace and Gnasher overtook it...
.
The first album was recorded on a four-track
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
tape recorder, as was typical for 1967. Due to the limited number of tracks, most of the non-band "personnel" are simply faded in and out, and few notice they are absent in the later stages of the track.
Several years later, Stanshall was to provide the voiceover on Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
's first instrumental album, Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...
, which echoed the style of The Intro and the Outro.
Urban Spaceman and beyond (1968-1970)
They had a hit single in 1968 with "I'm the Urban SpacemanI'm the Urban Spaceman
"I'm the Urban Spaceman" was the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's most successful single, released in 1968. It reached #5 in the UK charts. The song was written by Neil Innes and produced by Paul McCartney and Gus Dudgeon under the pseudonym "Apollo C. Vermouth". The B-side was written by Viv Stanshall...
" produced by Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and Gus Dudgeon
Gus Dudgeon
Angus Boyd Dudgeon , most commonly known as Gus Dudgeon was an English record producer, most notable for production of many of Elton John's recordings.-Early career:...
under the collective pseudonym "Apollo C. Vermouth". The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
were great fans of the group. The anarchic twelve bar blues
Twelve bar blues
The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music, including the blues. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics and phrase and chord structure and duration...
"Trouser Press" — featuring a solo by Roger Ruskin Spear on a genuine trouser press he had fitted with a pickup — gave its name to an American anglophile rock magazine Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
. "Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?" lampooned the British blues boom, and tap dancer/drummer "Legs" Larry Smith was an onstage hit with his lubricious dancing (he had actually trained as a child in tap dancing). Many of their songs parodied parochial suburban British attitudes, notably "My Pink Half of the Drainpipe" on the album The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse
The Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse
The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse is the second album by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. By this time the band had changed their name to "The Bonzo Dog Band", dropping out the "Doo-Dah". The American version of this album was retitled Urban Spaceman and added their U.K. hit single "I'm the Urban...
(a euphemism for an outside toilet, still common in the United Kingdom at the time).
In 1969 they released their third album Tadpoles. Most of the songs on this album were also performed by the group on Do Not Adjust Your Set. The same year they also released their fourth album Keynsham and appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited...
. Keynsham
Keynsham
Keynsham is a town and civil parish between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, south-west England. It has a population of 15,533.It was listed in the Domesday Book as Cainesham, which is believed to mean the home of Saint Keyne....
is a small town near Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
in south-west England. The name of the album was almost certainly derived from an advertisement on Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
for a dubious method of forecasting results for football matches (and using these results in football pools
Football pools
A football pool, often collectively referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of top-level association football matches set to take place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, with the potential to win huge money. Entries were traditionally...
). In the advertisement, which was of great length, Horace Batchelor
Horace Batchelor
Horace Cyril Batchelor was famous in the UK during the late 1950s and early 1960s as an advertiser on Radio Luxembourg. He advertised a way to win money by predicting the results of football matches, sponsoring programmes on Radio Luxembourg...
, inventor of 'the amazing Infra Draw method', would repeatedly spell his postal address of K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M for those listeners who wished to purchase his secret.
The Bonzos toured the United States with The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
and also appeared at the Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
with The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
. Introduced as a "warm-up act" for the real show, the Bonzos rushed out and did a series of frenetic calisthenics
Calisthenics
Calisthenics are a form of aerobic exercise consisting of a variety of simple, often rhythmical, movements, generally using multiple equipment or apparatus. They are intended to increase body strength and flexibility with movements such as bending, jumping, swinging, twisting or kicking, using...
. True to the dada spirit, Stanshall performed a mock striptease
Striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
and Roger Ruskin Spear, with a platoon of robots (including one that sang "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
"I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" is a popular song which debuted in 1918 and was first published in 1919.-Creation:The music was written by John Kellette. The lyrics are credited to "Jaan Kenbrovin", actually a collective pseudonym for the writers James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent...
" while actually blowing bubbles), did whatever he did without regard for what the rest of the band was doing. They undertook another American tour at the end of 1969. The band had a meeting and decided to split on their return to the U.K. The group played their final gig in January 1970.
First reunion (1972)
While the group formally disbanded in 1970, their record company compelled them to reunite in late 1971 to fulfil a contractual obligation and record a final album. Titled Let's Make Up And Be FriendlyLet's Make Up And Be Friendly
Let's Make Up And Be Friendly was the fifth and, until 2007, final original album by the Bonzo Dog Band. The group had already disbanded when United Artists Records informed band members that the group owed the label one more album. This farewell album was the result...
, the album was released in 1972. The edition of the Bonzo Dog Band that made the "Friendly" LP featured only Stanshall, Innes and bassist Dennis Cowan from the "classic" earlier line-ups, although Roger Ruskin Spear appears on one track, and "Legs" Larry Smith on two. Rodney Slater is also listed as appearing "in spirit" in the album's credits.
Second reunion (1988)
Various members of The Bonzos (including Stanshall and Innes) reconvened in 1988 to record a new single, "No Matter Who You Vote For the Government Always Gets In (Heigh Ho)". The recording was meant to tie in with a current British election, but was not released at the time; instead, the single came out just prior to the next British general election in 1992.Coincidentally, one of the Bonzos' song titles, "Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia is a media term that was used during the late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s and later became closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair...
", was revived as a media label for late 1990s United Kingdom under Tony Blair.
The "No Matter Who You Vote For" single was Stanshall's final recording with the band; he died in a house fire in 1995.
Third reunion (2006-2008)
On 28 January 2006 most of the surviving members of the band played a concert at the London AstoriaLondon Astoria
The London Astoria was a music venue, located at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. It had been leased and run by Festival Republic since 2000. It was closed on 15 January 2009 and has since been demolished...
, to celebrate the band's official 40th anniversary. Neil Innes, "Legs" Larry Smith, Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater, Bob Kerr, Sam Spoons and Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell appeared. There were also a number of special guests attempting with various degrees of success to be Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...
, one of two members of the band not still living (the other being bass player Dennis Cowan). The various Stanshall impersonators included Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, Ade Edmondson, Phill Jupitus
Phill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
and Paul Merton
Paul Merton
Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
(who needed to read the words to "Monster Mash
Monster Mash
"Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song and the best-known song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. The song was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton's Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained several other monster-themed tunes...
" from cue cards at the show). The classic Bonzo stage antics were very much in evidence, including performances on the Theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
Leg and Trouser Press. The show was filmed and was broadcast on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
and also released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in May 2006.
A countrywide tour, with Ade Edmondson and Phill Jupitus, followed during November 2006, starting in Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
and ending with two nights at the Shepherds Bush Empire
Shepherds Bush Empire
The O2 Shepherds Bush Empire is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, run by the Academy Music Group. It was built in 1903, as a music hall, and in 1953 became the BBC Television Theatre...
, where Paul Merton
Paul Merton
Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
and Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
joined in for a handful of songs. David Catlin-Birch
David Catlin-Birch
David Catlin-Birch is a British musician, most notably as the World Party bassist, including their "Is It Like Today" track from No.1 album Bang, and the original and most recent Paul for leading Beatles tribute The Bootleg Beatles....
(lead guitar and vocals) joined the band for the tour; Catlin-Birch has also been a member of World Party
World Party
World Party is a British pop/alternative rock band, which is essentially the solo project of its sole member, Karl Wallinger. He started the band in 1986 in London after leaving The Waterboys.-Career:...
and The Bootleg Beatles
The Bootleg Beatles
The Bootleg Beatles are a Beatles tribute band. They have performed over 4,000 times since their establishment in March 1980.- History :The band's first performance was at a small student gathering in Tiverton, Devon, England. Following more low-profile gigs, the band performed a 60-date tour of...
.
Officially calling themselves The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band again, the group released a live double CD of the Astoria concert titled Wrestle Poodles... And Win!
Wrestle Poodles... And Win!
Wrestle Poodles... And Win! is a live double album by the reunited Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It was recorded at the London Astoria on 28 January, 2006.- Disc one :# Rule Britannia# Hunting Tigers# My Brother Makes The Noises...
on 13 November 2006.
On 10 December 2007, the band released their first new studio album in 35 years, a 28-track album titled Pour l'Amour des Chiens
Pour l'Amour des Chiens
Pour l'Amour Des Chiens is the first all new studio album by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in 35 years...
("For the Love of Dogs" in French).
The reunited lineup were due to perform again in 'The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band Christmas Show' on Friday 21 December and Saturday 22 December 2007 at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London, but the shows were postponed without explanation. The shows were later played in 2008. Since then it has transpired that the full membership have decided to go their separate ways and do separate projects, making such a full reunion unlikely again.
Present times
Rodney Slater, Roger Spear, Sam Spoons and pianist David Glasson (ex Whoopee Band) have been performing regularly as "Three Bonzos and a Piano". Forming in October 2008, they have undertaken regular gigs (about two or three per month) as a kind of "Bash Street Bonzos" (Roger Spear). They have included appearances from "Legs" Larry Smith and Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell and thus now constitute the largest number of surviving Bonzos playing together on the planet. The Three Bonzos and a Piano have a new CD "Hair of the Dog", which is due to be launched at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London on 6 February 2010, featuring new numbers from all band members and some re-workings of older favourites. Larry and Vernon will be at the Bloomsbury gig.Neil Innes toured the United States in 2009 and 2010, having performed a number of shows in 2009 in the UK.
In 2009 Angry Penguin Ltd published the first history of the band, Jollity Farm, written by Bob Carruthers and edited by David Christie, with comprehensive interviews with all the core members of the group. The first release also included a limited edition DVD featuring the band's 2007 reunion performance at the Shepherds Bush Empire, which included several performances from that show which had not been previously released.
Band members
The core members of the group for most of the band's career were:- Vivian StanshallVivian StanshallVivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...
(1943–1995): trumpet, lead vocals - Neil InnesNeil InnesNeil James Innes is an English writer and performer of comic songs, best known for his collaborative work with Monty Python, and for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later The Rutles.-Personal life:...
(b. 1944): piano, guitar, lead vocals - Rodney "Rhino" Desborough SlaterRodney Slater (musician)Rodney Slater was a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, playing saxophones and other musical instruments ....
(b. 1944): saxophone - Roger Ruskin SpearRoger Ruskin SpearRoger Ruskin Spear is a multi-instrumentalist who was a founding member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, staying with it until its end.-Career:...
(b. 1943): tenor sax and various contraptions - "Legs" Larry Smith (b. 1944): drums
The band's onstage line-up varied, sometimes on a weekly basis, and they also invited a number of guest musicians into the recording studio. Additional members of various duration include: Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, Martin "Sam Spoons" Ash, "Happy" Wally Wilks, Tom Parkinson, Chris Jennings
Chris Jennings
Chris Jennings is a gridiron football running back who is currently a free agent. He was signed as a undrafted free agent by the Montreal Alouettes in 2008...
, Claude Abbo, Trevor Brown
Trevor Brown
Trevor Brown is an English artist from London presently living in Japan whose work explores paraphilias, such as pedophilia, BDSM, and other fetish themes. Innocence, violence and Japanese popular culture all collide in Brown's art....
, Tom Hedge, Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, Leon Williams
Leon Williams
Leon Williams is an American football linebacker who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Miami....
, John Parry, Raymond Lewitt, Sydney "Big Sid" Nicholls, James "Jim Strobes" Chambers, Bob Kerr
Bob Kerr (musician)
Bob Kerr is a comic musician who plays trumpet and cornet. He was originally a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and was persuaded by Geoff Stephens to join The New Vaudeville Band before forming his own Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band...
, Dave Clague, Joel Druckman, "Borneo" Fred Munt, Chalky Chalkey, Dennis Cowan, Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Thomas Dunbar is an English drummer. He has worked with some of the top names in rock, including Eric Burdon, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar, UFO, and Journey...
, Jim Capaldi
Jim Capaldi
Nicola James "Jim" Capaldi was an English musician and songwriter. His musical career lasted more than four decades. He co-founded Traffic in Birmingham with Steve Winwood, and the band's psychedelic rock was influential in Britain and the United States...
, Anthony 'Bubs' White, Andy Roberts
Andy Roberts (musician)
Andrew "Andy" Roberts is an English musician.He gained a violin scholarship to Felsted School. He then attended Liverpool University. He has played with The Liverpool Scene, Plainsong, The Scaffold, Roy Harper, Chris Spedding, Pink Floyd, Hank Wangford, Kevin Ayers, Vivian Stanshall and Grimms...
, Dave Richards
Dave Richards
Sir Dave Richards is the chairman of the FA Premier League, member of the Football Association 's Board, chairman of the FA's international committee, president of the European Professional Football Leagues organisation, chairman of UEFA's Professional Football Committee and former chairman of...
, Pete Currie, Dick Parry
Dick Parry
Richard 'Dick' Parry is an English saxophonist. He has appeared as a session musician on various albums by modern bands and artists, and is probably best known for his solo parts on the Pink Floyd songs "Money", "Us and Them", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Wearing the Inside Out"...
, Hughie Flint
Hughie Flint
Hughie Flint , is an English drummer, best known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, playing drums on the Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album, released in 1966, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 70s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band.Flint played in...
and Glen Colson.
Stanshall and Innes were the band's principal songwriters. After the band's demise, both became founding members of Grimms
Grimms
GRIMMS was an English pop rock, skit and poetry group, originally formed as a merger of The Scaffold, the Bonzo Dog Band, and the Liverpool Scene for two concerts in 1971 at the suggestion of John Gorman...
along with the members of The Scaffold
The Scaffold
The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear , Roger McGough and John Gorman.-Career:...
.
Studio albums
- 1967 Gorilla (as The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
- 1968 The Doughnut in Granny's GreenhouseThe Doughnut In Granny's GreenhouseThe Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse is the second album by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. By this time the band had changed their name to "The Bonzo Dog Band", dropping out the "Doo-Dah". The American version of this album was retitled Urban Spaceman and added their U.K. hit single "I'm the Urban...
(chart #40) (released as Urban Spaceman in the US.) (as Bonzo Dog Band) - 1969 Tadpoles (chart #36) (as Bonzo Dog Band)
- 1969 Keynsham (as Bonzo Dog Band)
- 1972 Let's Make Up and Be FriendlyLet's Make Up And Be FriendlyLet's Make Up And Be Friendly was the fifth and, until 2007, final original album by the Bonzo Dog Band. The group had already disbanded when United Artists Records informed band members that the group owed the label one more album. This farewell album was the result...
(as Bonzo Dog Band) - 2007 Pour l'Amour des ChiensPour l'Amour des ChiensPour l'Amour Des Chiens is the first all new studio album by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in 35 years...
(as The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
Singles
- 1966 "My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies" / "I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight" (Parlophone R5430)
- 1966 "Alley Oop" / "Button Up Your Overcoat" (Parlophone R5499)
- 1967 "Equestrian Statue" (Liberty LBF 15040)
- 1968 "I'm the Urban SpacemanI'm the Urban Spaceman"I'm the Urban Spaceman" was the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's most successful single, released in 1968. It reached #5 in the UK charts. The song was written by Neil Innes and produced by Paul McCartney and Gus Dudgeon under the pseudonym "Apollo C. Vermouth". The B-side was written by Viv Stanshall...
" (UK Singles ChartUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
: #5) (Liberty LBF 15144) - 1969 "Mr Apollo" (Liberty LBF 15201)
- 1969 "I Want To Be With You" (Liberty LBF 15273)
- 1972 "King of Scurf" (U.S.) / "Slush" (UK)
- 1992 "No Matter Who You Vote For the Government Always Gets In (Heigh Ho)"
Compilations and miscellaneous
- 1970 The Best of the Bonzos
- 1971 The Alberts, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, The Temperance Seven
- 1971 Beast of the Bonzos
- 1974 The History of the BonzosThe History of the BonzosThe History of the Bonzos is a 2-disk vinyl album with 35 tracks recorded between 1967 and 1972 by The Bonzo Dog Band and the solo projects of its members, compiled by Andrew Lauder...
- 1983 Some of the Best of The Bonzo Dog Band
- 1984 The Very Best of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
- 1990 The Bestiality of the Bonzos
- 1990 The Best of the Bonzo Dog BandThe Best of the Bonzo Dog BandThe Best of the Bonzo Dog Band is a CD collecting the best cuts from albums of The Bonzo Dog Band. It was released in 1990 on Rhino Records.- Track listing :# "The Intro and the Outro" 3:05# "Bonzo Dog Band / Ali-Baba's Camel" 3:34...
- 1992 CornologyCornologyCornology is a 1992 compilation box set of the complete recorded output of The Bonzo Dog Band issued on the Parlophone, Liberty and United Artists labels....
- 1995 Unpeeled
- 1996 Everybody Loves Irony
- 1997 Buddha Is On Mars
- 1999 Anthropology: The Beast Within
- 2000 New Tricks
- 2002 The Peel SessionsThe Peel Sessions (Bonzo Dog Band album)The Peel Sessions is an album of music by The Bonzo Dog Band recorded in 1969. This is one of a series of original recordings made in the BBC studios for the John Peel shows on BBC Radio 1 known collectively as the Peel Sessions. It was released in 1990 on Strange Fruit Records under license...
- 2006 Wrestle Poodles... And Win!Wrestle Poodles... And Win!Wrestle Poodles... And Win! is a live double album by the reunited Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It was recorded at the London Astoria on 28 January, 2006.- Disc one :# Rule Britannia# Hunting Tigers# My Brother Makes The Noises...
(newly recorded live album)
In popular culture
- The psychedelic rock band, Poisoned Electrick HeadPoisoned Electrick HeadPoisoned Electrick Head is an English psychedelic indie rock/punk band formed in 1986 in St Helens, Merseyside, England. The band is best known for the 1994 independent chart hit "Out of Order" and for its fantasy-costumed stage act. Poisoned Electrick Head split up in 1998 and formally reformed...
, took their name from the last three words of the Bonzo's song, "My Pink Half of the Drainpipe". - Indie-rock band Death Cab For CutieDeath Cab for CutieDeath Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard , Chris Walla , Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr ....
took their moniker from a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song by the same name. - On 5 April 2010, the song, "Look Out, There's a Monster Coming", was used in the cold open of The Late Late Show with Craig FergusonThe Late Late Show with Craig FergusonThe Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...
as a way to introduce his new robot skeleton sidekick. - When British actor, David ThrelfallDavid ThrelfallDavid Threlfall is an English stage, film and television actor and director best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless. He has also directed several episodes of the show.-Early life:...
, appeared on Celebrity MastermindMastermind (TV series)Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
in 2010, the Bonzo band were his specialist subject.
External links
- Official Bonzo Dog Band 40th Anniversary Tour web site
- The Viv Stanshall Appreciation Society & Archive
- The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band by Ian Kitching - the first (1990's) Bonzo site
- The Bonzo Dog Band at The Trouser Press
- The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band Revisited
- Review, The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 31 January 2006.
- Review, The Times
- Words Of Innespiration - The Lyrics & Unplanned Career of Neil Innes
- Doo Dah Diaries