The Frogs - These Are The Finest Queen Boys (I've Ever Seen)
Although I made a pretty mean mixtape back in the day, my friend trumped me by introducing me to The Frogs with the song "Hot Cock Annie." My friends and I became instant fans of the entire It's Only Right And Natural album, and later discovered that the band was actually from our hometown of Milwaukee. I'm not sure how I had missed out on them up until that point, or how they became endeared by some of the biggest alternative bands at the time like Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Beck, etc. Of course, these were the days before something went viral every hour, so funny songs, prank calls and videos were more of a rarity, getting passed from friend to friend via dubbed cassettes or VHS tapes. Remember The Tube Bar?
Sadly, I never got to see The Frogs live. I thought their songs might be too lo-fi and ridiculous to translate live. But from watching YouTubes and hearing anecdotes of their shows over the last 2 days, it seems like I missed out. I'm just happy to have the term "snoot snout" in my vocabulary.
A nice little obit for Dennis can be found here on the Matador Records site.
And here's a considerably revved up version of "Hot Cock Annie" if you're only familiar with the album version:
The Frogs - Hot Cock Annie (Live)
Sadly, I never got to see The Frogs live. I thought their songs might be too lo-fi and ridiculous to translate live. But from watching YouTubes and hearing anecdotes of their shows over the last 2 days, it seems like I missed out. I'm just happy to have the term "snoot snout" in my vocabulary.
A nice little obit for Dennis can be found here on the Matador Records site.
And here's a considerably revved up version of "Hot Cock Annie" if you're only familiar with the album version:
The Frogs - Hot Cock Annie (Live)
I don't know if I ever told you this story, but after you introduced me to "It's Only Right & Natural", I of course put this on every mix or mp3 cd I was sending to friends. One I sent to my friend Johnny the Wooden Nickel in Alaska. He was literally mining for gold out there. He told me that one night he brought my mix cd to some poker game in the middle of nowhere with these huge grizzly adams looking motherfuckers and These Are The Finest Queen Boys (I've Ever Seen) came on... He told me there was this super uncomfortable silence and all of a sudden they broke out into laughter. He said they played it over and over a dozen times, all these burly lumberjacks dying laughing and drinking whiskey...ah....great song.
ReplyDeleteI actually think I lost it and need to get it from you again...
ReplyDeletehaha! awesome. i can send the album soon.
ReplyDeletea bunch of their albums are available via mp3 on amazon and they just released some old and new stuff on cdbaby.com.