Billy and the Boingers
|
|
Billy and the Boingers is a fictional heavy metal rock band from the comic strip Bloom County. The band was created by lawyer Steve Dallas during the peak of hair metal's commercial popularity, and originally called Deathtöngue. During congressional hearings on "porn rock," Dallas, being grilled by angry right wingers, completely caved into congressional pressure and announced the band had changed their name and image to the more wholesome "Billy and the Boingers."
The members include: lead "singer and tongue-player" "Wild Bill" Catt, a drug-addled cat, the penguin Opus Croakus on "rhythm tuba", and Hodge-Podge the rabbit on drums. Late in its career, the rechristened Billy and the Boingers embarked on their first world tour, sponsored by Dr. Scholl's Odor Eaters, which consisted of a single gig: the "Moose Lodge" in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they played such favorites as "Hari Kari for Barry" (a reference to Barry Manilow) and "Pimples from Hell."
Important to the band was not only playing ability, but also being able to "grimace musically." Their first single, "Demon Drooler in the Sewer" (which sold with "Leper Lover") peaked at 1,012 on the Top 100 list. Later, their record deal with CBS Records fell through because of explicit lyrics on "Let's Run Over Lionel Richie with a Tank" that Steve Dallas was stupid enough to read to a record executive who was sitting right under his autographed picture of Ritchie. Bill got rich when "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" got turned into a jingle for Wheat Thins — but he did not share the wealth. Consequently, when he lost his unsavory image after staying up all night and reading the Bible with a nun, the band informally disbanded and left him behind. He was born again as a televangelist named "Fundamentally Oral Bill" in the tradition of Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker and Oral Roberts, and the nun got to star in a Pepsi endorsement commercial.
Most of the Deathtöngue saga is contained in the Bloom County collection Billy and the Boingers Bootleg, which included a flexi-disc containing what were apparently two songs by the band: "I'm a Boinger" and "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U".
- "I'm a Boinger", written by Dallas, is the apparent response of Billy and the Boingers after the name change. It was actually played by the Harry Pitts Band.
- "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" is a song written by Bill the Cat. The song was played in reality by the band Mucky Pup. Bill the Cat later sold out to Wheat Thins -- they used his tune for a commercial. In return he became a millionaire, which led to the disbanding of Billy and the Boingers.
See also
- Heavy metal umlaut, for the basis of the umlaut in the spelling of Deathtöngue