Back in the olden times, people had to wait until the syndicated Dr. Demento show to get their fix of novelty music. Make a tape, send it to the good doctor, and hope you are chosen for his weekly radio show. As time went on, novelty songs started to make their way onto morning radio ‘zoo’ shows and Saturday morning cartoons. Again, the fix of novelty music took too long for those types of junkies. But now, now in 2011 we have YouTube, heaven for condensed viral videos and those with Attention Deficit Disorder. Think of a good little ditty, slap some cartooning over it, and viola! This list is the best of the best of novelty songs under 2 minutes in length.
10. Ducks Live on the Moon-Keaton (2008)
Clocking in at :55, this song also doubles as a cautionary tale of what happens when you send your duck on a rocket ship to the sun. Unclear if the instrument playing at the end is a real harp, but pretty confident it’s not really Hitler playing it.
9. What Day is it?-Brak (1997)
From the hit album Space Ghost’s Musical Bar-B-Que, Andy Merrill supplies the vocal styling for Brak’s inability to understand, well, just about anything. Brak & Zorak later parlayed their popularity on Space Ghost into their own show. It’s amazing the way Brak redefined himself from a 60’s cartoon villain to a 00’s cartoon comedian. Your 1:16 will be well spent here.
8. Witch Doctor-ZekeySpaceyLizard (2008)
Way back in 1958, David Seville released the original version of this song. Two years later, he re-released the song with the Chipmunks. Over the years the song has been re-released by over a dozen different artists, including the Chipmunks re-releasing their own song again in the nineties. This version, though, pushes the song through the meat grinder as fast as it can go and squeezes the lyrics into a 1:23 spazz-fest.
7. Happy Happy Joy Joy–The Ren and Stimpy Show (1991)
Video removed, new one found here: http://nicktoons.nick.com/videos/clip/happy-happy-joy-joy.html
A 1:45 eruption of unadulterated joy felt by a psychotic Chihuahua named Ren and his dimwitted cat friend Stimpy. There is also a much longer version by the alternative band Wax that is pretty good, but it’s a bit more ‘edgy.’
6. Squirrels in My Pants-2 Guys N the Parque (2011)
The title fits the lyrics to a tee. A 1:16 nugget from the hit Disney cartoon Phineas and Ferb. For the uninitiated, the singer is actually the fictional older sister of Phineas and Ferb, Candace (voiced by Ashley Tisdale). Just a side note, this show is written especially well, considering it’s on the Disney Channel.
5. Up Butt Coconut-Parry Gripp (2008)
Another entry that can be found on the Albino Black Sheep website. As of this writing, this :29 song is so catchy, over 7 million people have watched it on YouTube. Granted, some people, like me, watched it over and over and over. There is also an ‘extended version’ that is on iTunes that is only 1:45. Either way, the absurd lyrics are written by the same guy who wrote the great alternative single “Van Halen” by Nerf Herder. Who would have thought that?
4. Weasel Stomping Day–‘Weird’ Al Yankovic (2006)
Off of the album Straight Outta Lynwood, Weird Al outdoes himself by penning an uplifting hymn to the (fictitious) Weasel Stomping Day. Besides his album landing in the Top 10 in the U.S., this video has over 3 million hits on VEVO and some of you may recognize the video from the Adult Swim series Robot Chicken. One of the greatest musical injustices in America is that Weird Al is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is universally accepted as the greatest music parodist in history.
3. Badgers-Mr.Weebl (2008)
Over 10 million hits and counting. The repetition burns a Badgers groove in your brain, because once you get sick of the original, you seek out a litany of parodies including Christmas Badgers, Dubstep Badgers, Live Action Badgers, and 3-D Badgers. Confoundingly memorable for a song that basically contains 3 words. And something else I wondered, if I type the words Badgers, Mushroom, Snake in a row, have I violated the copyright? Narwhals may have been a bigger hit, but who in the hell knows what a Narwhal is?
2. Kyle’s Mom’s a B***h-Cartman (1999)
The degree of difficulty on this 1:15 song is incredible. Granted Trey Parker had soundtrack money at his disposal, but Eric Cartman, singing at full speed, with full orchestration, with backing vocals, in 4 different languages, and still infusing the spirit of the South Park Movie: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut is pure genius. On top of that, the song is catchy, and if not for the ‘dicey’ lyrics, you could sing it around your house for the holidays. (Or, if you hate your relatives, replace Kyle’s Mom with your least-favorite relative of choice.) Because the “b” word happens so many times in this song, and it’s not our favorite word, the video above is the censored version. The video quality is poor. If the word doesn’t offend you, you can find a cleaner (and dirtier) version here.
1. Surfin Bird-Family Guy (2008)
Wow, where to start? Back in 1963, the Rivingtons released their single “The Bird’s the Word.” The Trashmen covered it, adding the Rivingtons 1962 hit “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” into their mix. The result was a #4 singles hit on the Billboard charts. Over the years the song has been covered by over a half dozen bands ranging from the Ramones to Sodom. Then, in 2008, Fox releases the 1:18 Family Guy version of the song on YouTube, generating over 50 million views. And that’s on top of network viewings, and viewings from DVD sales, and viewings from Hulu, and….
Author: Fred Hunt
Website: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1106912256
4 Comments
Family Guy at #1? I may just cancel my RSS feed to this site, then set fire to the part of my brain that remembers toptenz.
Any list besides “biggest joke thieves ever” that has Family Guy at number 1, is wrong.
If these are the top 10 novelty tunes, we’re in serious trouble
To read this list, you’d think cartoons didn’t exist before 2000, except for 2.