the Wombles

the Wombles

The Wombles are a British novelty pop group, featuring musicians dressed as the characters from children's TV show The Wombles, which in turn was based on the children's book series by Elisabeth Beresford. Songwriter and record producer Mike Batt wrote the series' theme tune, and went on to perform and write a number of successful albums and singles as 'The Wombles' with other collaborators. British Hit Singles ; Albums jokingly referred to them as the "furriest (and possibly the tidiest) act... are natives of Wimbledon Common, London". In 2011, the band played at The Glastonbury Festival.

History

Filmfair acquired the television rights to The Wombles and commissioned Batt to write the theme song. He waived the flat fee for writing a single song, and secured the character rights for musical production to write songs under the name 'The Wombles'

The band released several albums and singles. All four studio albums went gold  and four of the singles reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart The Wombles were the most successful act of 1974, with albums in the UK charts for more weeks than any other act.

A single called "Wombling U.S.A.", written to break into the American market, was recorded in 1975 but was not released until 2000 when it was included on the cassette version of "I Wish It Could Be a Wombling Merry Christmas Everyday".

Live Performances

In January 1974, Mike Batt appeared on an edition of Cilla Black's television series as Orinoco, having been led onstage by guest Bernard Cribbins, to plug "The Wombling Song". Consequently, when the single charted, the "band" was invited to perform on Top of the Pops. Additional Womble suits were hastily made for the live performance.

When appearing as a band, the Wombles were always played by experienced musicians in full costume. Batt continued to perform as Orinoco, regularly accompanied by drummer Clem Cattini as Bungo and guitarist Chris Spedding as Wellington (complete with Spedding's trademark white Gibson Flying V)--both of whom had previously recorded with Batt. On one edition of Top of the Pops, the costumes were filled by members of Steeleye Span.

Tim and Andy Renton, who had worked with Batt in the latter incarnation of Hapshash and the Coloured Coat also donned the costumes, along with Robin LeMesurier, who also had a Gibson Flying V, but was kicked out of the band following an arrest for possession of marijuana

The band was the interval act at the Eurovision Song Contest 1974.

They amassed eight Top 40 singles in the UK and reached No. 55 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. They were awarded the Music Week Award for Top Singles Band of 1974. Reissues of the Wombles' music in the late 1990s and early 2000s also charted, extending their number of UK chart hits to thirteen.

Wombles' split and Wellington's solo career

The Wombles 'split' in 1976 and, following a severe drought that summer, a single called "Rainmaker" (credited to Wellington Womble) was released.

Glastonbury Festival

In April 2011, Batt announced that The Wombles would play at The Glastonbury Festival in June. Michael Eavis, the founder of the Glastonbury Festival, said that booking the Wombles was "a bit of a mistake".^[9] Batt quipped that Uncle Bulgaria had been offended by Eavis' comments and had withdrawn an offer to tidy up the site after the festival.^[10] The band pulled a huge crowd on the Glastonbury Avalon stage – bigger than the audience for the main Pyramid stage on the same afternoon– so Eavis' Avalon stage booker was vindicated.

Personnel

The Wombles

·         Orinoco (Mike Batt) – vocals, piano

·         Wellington (Chris Spedding) – lead guitar

·         Tomsk (Les Hurdle) – bass

·         Bungo (Clem Cattini) – drums, percussion

·         Tobermory (Simon Chandler-Honnor) – piano, keyboards

·         Madame Cholet (Rex Morris) – saxophone

·         Great Uncle Bulgaria (Paul Peabody) – violin

They amassed eight Top 40 singles in the UK and reached No. 55 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. They were awarded the Music Week Award for Top Singles Band of 1974. Reissues of the Wombles' music in the late 1990s and early 2000s also charted, extending their number of UK chart hits to thirteen.

Source: various Wikipedia articles. Mike Batt, Womble's children's book and TV series, Wombles band

The Archies

Though recording career of the Archies lasted only 4 years , their most popular song Sugar Sugar has managed to sink deeply into the public psyche.
Even after 40 years it is a popular choice for advertising and date signatures in TV and film.
Not surprisingly since it was the biggest pop hit of 1969.
The Archie’s recording career was quite fleeting compared to the comic and the actual TV cartoon show that spawned the band,
Archie Andrews and his High School buddies have been in print since December 1941, even though the TV show that created the hits was centered around Archie Andrews and his band, it only ran for 17- 22 minute shows and continued on until 1977 in other formats other than musical.
Having a peak recording career that only lasted from 1968 to 1972
The Archies had 2 Top 10 singles (Sugar, Sugar and Jingle Jangle) and two other top 40 hits (Bang-Shang-A-Lang and Who’s your Baby?) and had their songs covered by various artists notably Sugar, Sugar by Bob Marley and Get on the Line by The Sweet
In their prime a popular band with heaps of earning potential, with comics, cartoon show and top 10 hits. Even though they are hailed as marketing phenomenon only one attempt has been made to ride the Archie train of nostalgia, a rather lame Christmas album in 2008.
ADDENDUM - July 2015: Since the writing this Archie comics have had a renaissance with titles like Afterlife with Archie and Archie Vs Predator. Pushing their brands popularity once again skyward.

ADDENDUM - July 2015: Since the writing this Archie comics have had a renaissance with titles like Afterlife with Archie and Archie Vs Predator. Pushing their brands popularity once again skyward.

The Rutles

The marvellous Rutles were the creation of the satirical genius of the Monty Python's Eric Idle and equally brilliant pop stylist Neil Innes who worked with Monty Python and wrote all the songs for The Holy Grail Movie.
The Rutles started as a small section on Idle's Rutland Weekend Television show in the early 1970s and developed into the telemovie All You Need Is Cash probably one of the worlds first mockumentaries.
A brilliant parody of the Beatles it tells the story of Ron, Dirk, Stig and Nasty with spot on Beatlesque style songs that could have passed as long lost songs of the Fab4 themselves.
While it took some time to get aired, the album with it's 12 page booklet tells an abridged version of the movie and both have become cult classics after a relatively slow start.
I myself was totally rapt in the artwork and satirical pictures and storyline so that's what I'm highlighting here.
I have supplied two more links for those who want to follow the band a bit more in depth.

The Rutles. org a great fan site
Wikipedia










Early Rutles The Saturday morning cartoon Rutles



A still from the YELLOW SUBMARINE SANDWICK (see below)




An early Rutles EP Meet the Rutles OUCH


A Hard Days Rut Sgt Rutters Dart Club Band Tragical History Tour


Shabby Road Let it Rot Archaelogy



Link to the Rutles LUNCH (a parody of LOVE the stage show)

Virtual /Cartoon Bands through history- Bebbe Lilly

Bébé Lilly (also known as Lilly Baba or Baby Lilly) is an animated baby girl singer in France. She has released thirteen singles, mainly in French, but several have also been recorded in other languages. She also has four albums and a DVD. Many of her songs have been ranked on top ten hits lists in France. Bebbe Lilly's first hit "Allô Papy"

The Beach Boys Heroes and Villians

This is wonderful clip taken from the Smile sessions, the legendary sessions that Brian Wilson abandoned in 1967. The album was released to much acclaim in 2003 and Brian Wilson toured without the surviving Beach Boys.
This video echoes The Beatles Yellow Submarine and is the original extended version and not the original single version which was considerably shorter.

Virtual band update

Virtual band update

Dethklok

Mistula are still huge in the Phillipines, Hatsune Miku is probably the biggest music sensation in Japan at the moment and has even gone on tour. Gorillaz have just released their second album in a year, the most recent totally composed and recorded using iPad applications. Panty,Stocking and Garterbelt have also had a massive hit in Japan with D City Rock. Dethklok after releasing their second album and third TV series have toured America (as has Gorillaz) to satisfy fans need for something more tangible. While Hatsune Miku has gone one step further on from Gorillaz ground breaking performances at the MTV and Grammy awards by going on a whole tour as a hologram.

Gorillaz IE9 Pr

Meanwhile in the cartoon band arena the Chimpmunks have made box office squillions by releasing a sequel that aped the first in popularity.
It’s a long way from the carton versions of popular bands like the Beatles, Osmonds, Jackson Five and Partridge Family, and cartoon rock characters like the Beagles, Josie and the Pussycats and Groovie Ghoulies.
Cartoon / Virtual bands these days can deliver the songs and the concept these days thanks to the wide range of technology and the means to portray themselves in so many different media.

Mistula

Gorillaz have recently been linked with the iPad and the new Internet Explorer 9, Dethklok have upgraded their amplifier sponsorship from Krank to Marshal as well as many other leading brand musical equipment including Gibson and MXR and Line6 effects.
Action figures is where the real collectables seem to be with Gorillaz and Dethklok selling out two releases of figures and Mistula dolls going for huge amounts and basically have to made from scratch by the fan after the manage to procure their own BJD (ball jointed doll), While Hatsune Miku seems to be readily available in many different formats.

Gap Band "Disrespect"

Another cartoon video by a real band, I like this because they give Prince a serve because of past discretions between band members and the "purple one"
Has a "Fat Albert" feel about it.

More Virtual bands the world forgot

Vbirds was a virtual girl band created by Cartoon Network UK in 2002 and aired a 6 minute episode (as well as a dance show, called VBirds; Perfect) that was going to be picked up as a series, but was cancelled. The band's only single Virtuality was a hit in early 2003, but the band disappeared. There are no further plans to revive it as of now.

For anyone interested the members were:

Boom:She is perhaps the most witty and energetic member of the group, although she can also be very bad tempered at the worst of times. Boom is able to create pulsating balls of colour that can be thrown around, by blowing a kiss into her hand. This gives her a knack for decoration.
Wow:The oldest out of all the VBirds, as well as the most mature. Her powers give her a calming influence on those around her, including people and animals, allowing her to keep most arguments under control.
Bling:She is the most fashionable one of the girls, and can easily show it by using her powers to create new costumes for the group in an instant. Although this ability comes in handy for the group during performances, she prefers to use it in her free time to annoy the other girls.
D:Lin:She is the youngest in the group, and with green skin she stands out more than the other VBirds. D:Lin love nothing more than DJ'ing whenever the group is not performing, and she is also able to use records as throwing weapons whenever the occasion calls for it.

The Purple Filth

These are  a couple of clips from a Cartoon Network show The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (i think)
The first is the Purple Filth playing as themselves.
You have to love the armpit farter.


The second is some mash up video using some other bands song.
I just like the music.
It's "Into The Darkness" by SPF1000 if your interested made by Artifactconcept

The ultimate fake rock band list

The ultimate fake rock band list is the creation of T. Mike Childs who has meretriciously catalogued thousands of bands, singers and performers who actually never really existed.
His website www.fakebands.com is also available in book form.
It is a labour of love that is being constantly updated and I think deserves a big free plug here.
I have a fondness for cartoon bands but T. Mike Childs explores movies, books even advertisements and songs in his never ending search.







For example did you know that there was this much information on just ONE of the bands in Star Wars?

The Max Rebo Band: the band of aliens entertaining Jaba The Hut in the movie Return Of The Jedi. Originally Evar Orbus and his Galactic Jizz-Wailers led by Evar Orbus.
Max Rebo took over after Evar Orbus died under a cloud of suspicion.
Losing their gig and low on funds, they auditioned for crimelord Jabba the Hut and got a lifetime contract Barquin D'an. Brother of Figran D'an , joined up with the band and helped beef up their sound with additional members until it became the Rebo Twelve. Barquin later left, disgusted with Jabba's cruelty. After Jabba's death and the collapse of his criminal empire, the band eventually broke up and went their seperate ways.
The Line up:
Pretty comprehensive stuff, hey?

There are pages of amazing stuff, just to see how many singers and bands the Simpson's have had in their 18 year old history is quite impressive.
All up an fascinating and entertaining read and something you can back to again and again.
However...
I found one omission.
I couldn't find these guys in anywhere in there.

Who is/was the greatest cartoon band?

The top 5

5. The Groovy Goolies – Even though Drac, Frankie and Boneapart were total disgraces as horror characters they rate because they had a great signature tune Time for a Goollies get together and the song Chic-A-Boom could drive you and anyone within earshot insane because it was so damn annoying .But you had to keep singing it, your probably doing it now!
# No Grammys








4. The Beatles. I know they aren’t technically a cartoon band but as a child I wouldn’t have got into them as early as I did if it wasn’t for the Beatles Cartoon Show and let’s not forget the Yellow Submarine Feature film I still love that movie.
Write your own list here for hits and classic songs.
***** The Beatles only ever won 5 Grammys over their entire career





3. Josie and the Pussy Cats. Growing up I thought they were hot, then they made a movie and they were hotter and had some good tunes.
The Movie did better than the carton peaking at No.16 in the US in 2001
Josie & The Pussycats had a catchy signature tune
#No Grammys




2. Alvin and then Chipmunks. Just because the sounded funny. My friend the Witchdoctor is a classic.
Did you know Alvin, Theodore & Simon had 2 N0.1 US Hits and have been in existence since 1958 and are still appearing in movies as recently as this year (2007 )
** Alvin and the chipmunks won 2 Grammys though they were for engineering rather than the songs.





1.Gorillaz. The best by far. I know they couldn’t have existed even 10 years ago due to the technology thye use but hey, great graphics , great histories, great songs I hope they just getter weirder.
* They have won 1 Grammy but were nominated for 5 in 2006






(Dis)Honorable mention.




BeSharps. Homer, Apu, Skinner ,Barney & Wiggum (who the others did a Pete Best to)
Baby On board.
* The Simpsons often mocks the Grammy Awards. [[Homer Simpson once won a Grammy statue for his barbershop quarter singing with The B Sharps, but threw it away in disgust. A passerby picked it up saying, "Ooooh, an award statue!" When he recognized the statue, he said, "Aww.. It's just a Grammy", and also threw it away.





The Archies. Even though I couldn’t stand Reggie (though Jughead was cool) Sugar Sugar was everywhere in 1969. Did you know the Archies had another 3 Top 40 songs in the US with "Who's Your Baby?," "Bang-Shang-A-Lang," and "Jingle Jangle."
# No Grammy’s



Jackson 5 A typical band cartoon like the Archies ,capitalizing on the bands popularity of the time.
The Jackson had all their hits before this cartoon was made and had a resurgence after some years after the show was cancelled. Of course Michael went onto to huge solo success later.
#No Grammys, even though they had 7 Top 10 hits and were inducted into the Rock n Roll hall of Fame in 1997.



The Impossibles. Super heroes whose alter egos who were a cool rock star trio.
# No Grammys


FingerBang Cartman, Kyle , Kenny , Stan and Randy Marsh (as all good Boy bands have 5 members) break at superstardom. Their career is short lived when Kenny is killed in an Elevator accident reducing their number to 4 members. # South Park have never been nominated for a Grammy but were nominated for best Song Oscar for “Oh Canada”




The Brady Kids Yes they were even a cartoon series, where they formed a band and moved suspiciously like The Archies




The Partridge Family had a short lived cartoon series after it was cancelled titled The Partridge Family, 2200 A.D. This didn’t last long either.





Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids Oh, this was just plain dreadful.




Even though their characters bordered on cartoonish, The Monkees have no place here. They were smart enough not to do a shitty cartoon version.