#gidget goes to hell

[iamdangerace]

Suburband Lawns, Gidget Goes to Hell and My Boyfriend from the Gidget Goes to Hell 7" (1979).

[mudwerks]

(via Gidget Goes To Hell - Suburban Lawns (1979)

[regi-mentle-black-blog]

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for July 14, 2021; #273.

X-Ray Spex: “The Day The World Turned Day-Glo”

Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: “Fuck Off”

Lewd, The: “Pay Or Die”

Adicts, The: “Numbers”

Suicidal Tendencies: “Suicide’s An Alternative / You’ll Be Sorry”

Pere Ubu: “30 Seconds Over Tokyo”

Honey Bane: “Girl On The Run”

Flux Of Pink Indians: “Neu Smell”

Crass: “Rock Is Dead”

Buzzcocks: “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”

Swell Maps: “Black Velvet”

Fear: “Beef Baloney” + “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones” (live)

Alley Cats: “Nothing Means Nothing Anymore”

Adverts, The: “One Chord Wonders”

Flipper: “Love Canal”

Captain Sensible: “Wot”

Nikki & The Corvettes: “You Make Me Crazy”

X: “The World’s A Mess / It’s In My Kiss”

Mekons, The: “Work All Week”

Television: “Little Johnny Jewel”

Black Flag: “Depression”

Dead Kennedys: “California Uber Allies”

Angry Samoans: “Steak Knife”

Dictators, The: “America The Beautiful”

Government Issue: “Rock And Roll Bullshit”

Dogs, The: “Younger Point Of View”

Pure Hell: “Wild One”

Plugz, The: “La Bamba”

Cramps, The: “Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?”

Agent Orange: “The Last Goodbye”

Rezillos, The: “I Can’t Stand My Baby”

Undertones, The: “Girls That Don’t Talk”

Weirdos, The: “7 & 7 Is”

Au Pairs: “Domestic Departure”

Damned, The: “Noise, Noise, Noise”

Cravats, The: “When Will We Fall”

Chaos UK: “I Wanna’ Be Left Alone”

Annie Anxiety: “Cyanide Fears”

Fall, The: “Fiery Jack”

Wire: “Pink Flag”

Dickies, The: “Pretty Please Me”

Deadbeats, The: “Kill The Hippies”

Protex: “I Can Only Dream”

Suburban Lawns: “Gidget Goes To Hell”

Il Y A Volkswagens: “Kill Myself”

Cosmopolitans, The: “(How To Keep Your) Husband Happy”

Germs, The: “Forming”

Randoms, The: “Let’s Get Rid Of New York”

Bags: “We Don’t Need The English”

Cortinas, The: “Fascist Dictator”

Bonus Omega; classic punk.

[beardedmrbean]

We take an intermission on the Ginger with Soul, to remember another singing and acting fella -James Darren, who died earlier this week.  I know him best as Vic from DS9, which showcased his range of talents.  My parent’s generation, especially mom, would know him as Moondoggie, a repeating character in the Gidget movies.  Darren said the movies were a prison, because he was under contract to do them, but is was the best prison with all the beautiful women he got to work with. 

Is this performance corny?  Yes, but corn is a good source of fiber.

Submitted by @eggs-n-ham-sam

“Romeo and Juliet were in Verona Gidget”

“Don’t be so literal it’s still Italy”

That sounds like a good way to get the locals to start throwing rocks at you, probably not as bad as if you went to the Balkans and said they were all the same because everyone was white, but ya. 

Get the Bronx and Harlem mixed up and see how that goes.  For New York it’s important to remember that “it’s a hell of a town, the Bronx is up and the Battery's down”

This was fun It’s been forever since i’ve seen any of the corny films like this, and now I need to go put on a recording of Dino doing Nel blu, dipinto di blu (Volare)

I cheated and looked up the spelling

[atxsubpunk]

Suburban Lawns “Gidget Goes to Hell”

I like to think I’m omnivorous in my musical tastes but I have a special place in my heart for transgressive, subversive rock (bonus points if there’s a strand of punk woven into it’s DNA). This is an excerpt of “Gidget Goes to Hell,” the debut single of the legendary Suburban Lawns.

I was going to say it’s like a demented version of the B-52s “Rock Lobster” but I think “Rock Lobster” is already pretty demented itself!

Enjoy!

[iwasnolongerready]

Suburban Lawns - My Boyfriend (B side of Gidget Goes To Hell single, 1979)

[punkrockmixtapes]

Suburban Lawns - My Boyfriend (B side of Gidget Goes To Hell single, 1979)

[parkerbombshell]

The Menace's Attic #1074 - The Halloween Edition

The Menace's Attic The Menace’s Attic Mon-Sat 5pm EST bombshellradio.com  on ​Bombshell Radio Sunday’s 8pm EST New Shows Wednesday’s 1pm-2pm EST 10am-11am PDT 6pm-7pm BST bombshellradio.com Repeats Friday 5pm EST #classics #pop #rock #classicrock #themenacesattic #BombshellRadio   This Week – Episode #1074(10/31/2022)The Menace's Attic #1074 - The Halloween Edition   Opening Song Red Hot – Robert Gordon (Private Stock) Set #1 No Monster Mash Is The Tradition, That Said Zacherle Has Something Equally Scary – And It’s Not Dinner At Jack In The Box! Dinner With Drac – Zacherle (Abcko) The Witch Queen Of New Orleans – Redbone (Epic) Gidget Goes To Hell – Suburban Lawns (Suburban Industrial) Set #2 I’ve Got Some Good News And Strange News: The Wicked Witch Is Dead. But Yoko Has Taken Her Place! Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead – The Munchkins (MGM) Season Of The Witch – Donovan (Epic) Yes, I’m A Witch – Yoko Ono (Apple) Cold Ethyl – Alice Cooper (Warner Bros.) Set #3 Can I Interest You In Some Halloween Doo Wop – Hey, Who The Devil Do You Think I Am? Devil Or Angel – The Clovers (Atlantic) Devil In Disguise – Elvis Presley (RCA Victor) Devil With The Blue Dress – Shorty Long (Soul) Devil Inside – Inxs (Atco) Set #4 One Halloween Tradition I Can’t Resist: Dr. John Is In The House Zu Zu Mamou – Dr. John The Night Tripper (Atco) Pet Semetary – The Ramones (Sire) Closing Song Love Comes In Spurts – Richard Hell & The Voidoids (MCA) The Menace's Attic Podcasts       Read the full article

[odk-2]

Suburban Lawns - Gidget Goes to Hell (1979) Richard 'Whitney / William Ranson (AKA "Frankie Ennui" / "'Vex Billingsgate") from: “Gidget Goes to Hell” / “My Boyfriend”

West Coast New Wave | Post-Punk

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Su Tissue: Vocals Frankie Ennui: Guitar John Gleur: Guitar Vex Billingsgate: Bass Chuck Roast: Drums

Produced by E J Emmons / Suburban Lawns for Without Fail Productions

Recorded: @ Paramount Recording Studios (?) in Hollywood, California USA 1979

Released: in August, 1979

Suburban Industrial Records

Hellbound Gidget

“Gidget shakes her ass cool As she strolls across the beach She's so good, yeah At teasing all the boys there”

[iamdangerace]

Suburban Lawns performing at the Hong Kong Café, Chinatown, Los Angeles July 24, 1979.

William Ranson (Bass/Vocals), Susan McLane (Su Tissue)(Vocals/Keyboards/Conga), Frankie Ennui (Guitar/Vocals) and Charles Rodriguez (Chuck Roast )(Drums/Percussion). Photo by John Brian King.

[amandashaped]

A quickie Su on ✨toned paper✨. My new routine, perhaps?

[gotankgo]

1979

suburban lawns // my boyfriend

[winterviewz]

Frankie Ennui Suburban Lawns

  When I first discovered your band I heard Talking Heads and Devo in your sound instantly. Is that the sort of thing you were listening to at the time?

Absolutely. I think several band members went and saw one of Devo’s earliest, if not their earliest, L.A. performance and came back raving about it. I am still the proud possessor of Devo’s first single, in the very cool cover it came in, Mongoloid backed with Jocko Homo. All of us were fans of the Talking Heads too, of course. Eno, Iggy Pop, Television, Richard Hell, and lots of other new wavers or punk rockers were also on my personal play list at the time

Which clubs did you play, and with which bands?

Well, we played all over the place here in the L.A. area. The Masque, The Whiskey a Go Go, The Hong Kong Cafe, Madame Wong’s (both of them), The Roxy, The Country Club, Club 88, the Cuckoo’s Nest, etc. A lot of our early shows were thrown at our own studio in Long Beach. We’d charge $1 for each band that was playing and usually had two guests bands. The ones I remember off hand were The Plugz, The Minutemen, The Brainiacs, The Alley Cats and The Suburbs (friends of Su’s from Minneapolis)

I think we played the Masque couple of times, with groups like The Bags. The first such gig might have been under the band name Art Attack or Fabulons (which we later changed to Suburban Lawns). On one of those occasions, The Ramones were in attendance and later that night we went and saw The Ramones at the Whiskey

We played with nearly all of the local groups in those early days. Beyond the groups already mentioned, we played with The Dickies, X, The Germs, Black Flag, Geza X, Human Hands, The Reactionaries, Fear, The Vandals and a ton of other local great bands

We played quite a few opening gigs for Oingo Boingo (including a show at the Whiskey when they were still the Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo). Danny Elfman was a big fan of Su Tissue. We also opened for Oingo Boingo at the John Anson Ford Theater and the Universal Studios Amphitheater and did at least a couple Halloween gigs with them at Cal Arts

Later, when we were with IRS Records, we opened for U2 at the Santa Monica Civic, opened for the Clash at the Sacramento Auditorium and played with other fairly big names like Siouxsie and the Banshees, 999 and Bow Wow Wow

What a unique vibe. All the bands were great. I think Vex (Billy) had some connection with Tex and her Horseheads for a while there. The OC scene was happening too, but the details, these many years later, escape me

And you played Magic Mountain..

Magic Mountain was probably our biggest (and best paying) headline gig. Great facility, loads of enthusiastic fans and we got to go to the front of any ride line that we liked

KROQ was a supporter of the band, and Rodney particularly, and you were on SNL. Did you think at that point you were going to have a career with SL?

Rodney and all the folks there at KROQ were great. Rodney loved Su too

Doing a video with director Jonathan Demme for Saturday Night Live was a real highlight. What a down to earth and nice guy Jonathan is. He later put one of my songs (with a band called Electric Sheep) in one of his movies, Something Wild (in which Su appeared)

Yeah, we had a recording contract on a label that had lots of top flight bands (the Go Gos, REM, etc.) and we were on T.V., we were making a little money and we were optimistic about the future but…

How did the band write?

Initially, I weaseled my way into the group that eventually (after Su came on board) became the Suburban Lawns by jamming with the other guys and offering up some lyrics for some of their music. At first, most of the music was written by Billy (Vex Billingsgate) Ranson, our bass player (and also a singer) and John McBurney, our lead guitar player, and I would contribute lyrics. So, at least initially, John and or Billy would come up with a riff or two and I would then try to write lyrics to match. That was how Gidget Goes To Hell was written: Billy wrote those great riffs and I added the words. Su added her unique vocal styling. Other songs, like Janitor, were created when John and Billy came up with the music, I wrote most of the lyrics and then Su added the infamous “Oh my genitals, I’m a janitor” tagline. Eventually, even Chuck “Roast” Rodriguez, our drummer, started contributing music, as in Mom and Dad and God, where he wrote the music and I added the words. By the time we did the Baby EP, however, we were collaborating less. The best stuff, in my opinion, was created by way of our collaboration

Do you have any favourites? I really like Protection. And Not Allowed and Mom and Dad and God..

My favorites are probably Green Eyes and My Boyfriend, but I love them all. Protection is a favorite of mine too

You wrote the lyrics to Janitor after some conversation you overheard between Su and a friend, is that right?

No. Although on Wikipedia (and elsewhere) it has been written that I overheard a conversation between Su Tissue and Brian Smith where the “Oh my genitals! I’m a janitor!” originated and that such conversation inspired me to write the lyrics, that story is somewhat backwards. The music and all of the lyrics except “Oh, my genitals! I’m a janitor!” were already written when Su Tissue added those lyrics (which lyrics really made the song, in my opinion). For good or bad, I’m generally pretty literal in my lyric writing (as opposed to poetical) and I’m not shy about using bad puns

Su was definitely more of a poet than I have ever dreamed of being. The lyrics, except for Su’s contribution, are pretty straightforward science-nerd stuff about all things explosive. Su’s addition, whatever the source (and I have no reason to doubt what Brian Smith has apparently written about how Su came up with that addition), gave the song a poetical spin that added the dimension it needed to make it interesting. That’s exactly why, in my opinion, our best songs were those that were written collaboratively

Was the Baby EP the last thing you recorded together?

Sadly, yes

After SL split, you formed the Lawns. Was that going to be a direct continuation of SL, with new band members, or was there a change in musical direction?

Actually, I think (despite what you may have read on the Internet) that Vex (Billy) was not part of that effort. I think it was Chuck, John, a great (now deceased) friend named Tom Corey (of The Fibonaccis) and yours truly that tried to keep things going. Su and Vex went their own way. But it wasn’t anywhere close to the same thing without them. That band, The Lawns, eventually fell apart and/or morphed into the Electric Sheep, where we had David Kendrick (from Sparks and later, Devo) drumming and a friend of mine named Gloria Dawson, singing. We were trying to get into more of a hybrid thing, mixing R&B with punk, but it didn’t catch on for us

Do you think perhaps you were a couple years too early, and with MTV a household name you might have been bigger?

Probably. MTV was around (barely) and we made at least one video (Janitor) other than the video that was on SNL (Gidget), but it was tough to get airplay in those days. We began a video for Mom and Dad and God but it was never completed.

  The Tea Party. A fascinatingly ill-informed, emotionally-stunted and easily-led group of middle American folk. All supporting the very people who are destroying them. Talk about “asleep at the wheel.” Is America more divided now than you can ever remember?

Yes, unfortunately I think it is, although ironically it seems nearly certain that we are going to end up with two relatively moderate politicians running for the presidency in November, Obama and Romney. No thanks to the Tea Party, however. The “I’m willing to drive the country off a cliff unless I get my way on spending cuts, but don’t tax the rich” attitude of the Tea Party People is disturbing and especially so where the economy is already a mess. Not that the U.S. Government doesn’t waste a lot of money, however, because it does. Not sure how the U.S. became the world’s policeman and why war seems to be the answer to every international dispute, but I’m pretty sure it has a lot to do with money. We need, at least to some extent, to get the money out of our politics, but our Supreme Court apparently differs with me on that one

What you said about supporting the people who are destroying them is, in my opinion, accurate. Why so many in the middle class support low taxes on the wealthy is difficult to understand. Maybe its an aspirational thing. Its puzzling and frustrating

What did you do after music?

I worked in computers for a while and then went to grad school to become a teacher. I taught history and social studies at a high school in Santa Ana for about a week and half before quitting and going to work for an attorney friend as a receptionist. Eventually, I went to law school and have been an attorney here in Newport Beach for about the past 20 years

But I have never stopped playing music and writing songs. After Electric Sheep broke up, I started playing with some old friends from junior high school and am still playing with those guys (John Bitterly, Mark Handley and, later, Rick McDermott) to this day. Our band is called Johnny Mark and the Ricks (for obvious reasons). We play all originals. Our theory is that if we keep writing songs, eventually we’ll come up with something good. One of our most recent songs is called “”T Party People” in which I attempt to channel James Brown and Sarah Palin at the same time. It’s not easy. We can be checked out atjohnnymarkandthericks.com or on facebook, etc. Our next gig is on Cinco de Mayo, Saturday, May 5, 2012, at DiPiazza’s in Long Beach at 8:00 p.m. Any encouragement received will be appreciated, but not necessarily good for us

My good friend, Billy (Vex), has, in recent years, been playing with former Suburban Lawns, John and Chuck. More about Billy and the others can be learned at www.myspace.com/pulsatormusic. Enjoy!

  You channel James Brown and Sarah Palin at the same time? Maybe something like: “You can see Russia, hit me nah!… From my hou..hou…house-ah! Good god, ain’t it funky nah! YAAAAAAY!!”   I can’t recommend the Suburban Lawns album highly enough; if you’re into art rock, and 80s New Wave, or if you like the B52s, Nina Hagen, Lene Lovich and/or the Flying Lizards, you’ll probably love Suburban Lawns too

Thanks Frankie  

[captawesomesauce]

Su Tissue was always too clever for me to get when I was young, one of the best SoCal bands from back in the day.