Is it remotely possible that Sha Na Na might have been good?

I have fond memories of watching their TV show as a little kid. Heard today, they're probably no goofier than, say, Robert Gordon.

The Essex were four Army schlubs who recorded when they had free time. They were NOT any good -- "Easier Said Than Done" has the most painfully tin-ear-rusted harmonies I've ever heard, and I am forever astonished that it was not only a hit but a #1.

Bowling For Soup > Interpol (I honestly believe that.)

Woohoo! Absolutely! (Do Bowling For Soup get a lot of shit? I've always liked what I've heard.)

- Deborah Spungen, 'And I Don't Want to Live This Life'

That's a lot of musical firsts provided by one silly cover band.

And I honestly believe that's completely out of my range of thinking. (This is my diplomatic way of saying "pfhraghahhhhWHA?" Though I know lots of people think nut cancer > Interpol so hey.)

xpost

Neither band has made a decent album. Bowling for Soup have made two entertaining singles ("1985" and the Britney cover). Hence, BFS win.

(i think i'm putting something like this up on the stypod this week, in case there's interest)

xpost

the Sha Na Na performance is pretty undeniable.

Or something like that. I don't remember the baby part, though that might've been what the murder conviction was for.

santana and sly were the best things in woodstock. imho.
-- Eisbär (llamasfu...), March 22nd, 2005.

Nonsense, all of you! It was HENDRIX! But I'd say the four of us together may have nailed the top five, or close to it. And yeah, that includes the hyperkinetic Sha Na Na - possibly the most energetic act of the day. (Not to mention the one most likely to have induced brown-acid freakouts.)

Dunno about the Reflections, but as for Joe Jones, I had occasion to mention him and his song "You Talk Too Much" on this thread:

Worst Rhyming Lyrics Ever...

but it's funny that you all mention the sha na na performance, which i thought of when i saw this thread. it was kind of disturbing!!

Great 20th Century Embarassments: The Mid-90's Swing Revival (A confessional thread)

and Festival Express is incredible! the footage of the Band before they were junkie-zombies (or Manuel at least) is so vibrant and life-affirming. and the Janis Joplin cosmic bluez suffering and slimy id-slither as stand-up routine brought tears...

My father toured with them as a sound guy when I was a wee lad (yup. I'm old) and took me along. Bowzer was a particularly nice guy, and never complained when my tagging along with him ruined his after-show attempts at scary Sha Na Na groupie pussy.

So, yeah, I'll say they were pretty cool.

"Sha na na na na na na knees" -- Axl Rose.

Anyway, now I'm wondering to what extent Bowzer might have been an inspiration for Joey Ramone.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bfZfH33baMs

That's the Billy Crystal-looking guy singing lead.

Although maybe he doesn't really like all that much like him after all.

Seeing that clip takes me back to my childhood in a very weird way. I find it disturbing, actually.

I turned it off in the middle. Does Kenneth Mars do some strange stuff in there at the end?

Whenever I see Sha Na Na, all I can think about is how my grandma loved it when they sang "Goodnight Sweetheart" at the end of each and every episode. DUN DUN DUN, DUN DUN DUN, DUN DUN.

Anyone who thinks Sha Sha Na was any good never heard any originals from Sun.

what does sha na na have to do with sun? their shtick was very doo-wop/nyc-based. ok, they did "hound dog" and whatever, but it's a pretty different thing from sun.

the laugh track on this video is interesting, like that music could only be performed as camp at that point. in some ways they remind me of hee haw, except that hee haw had the real mccoys on instead of lookalike soundalikes. but i think the cultural effect was the same, a sort of gentle tweaking that reaffirmed the music and gave people permission to like it without feeling utterly square, because the audience was in on the joke.

It was the originals of Sunn 0))) that really recontextualized Sha Na Na for me. Hard to take Bowzer seriously after a sit-down with Flight of the Behemoth.

but i think the cultural effect was the same, a sort of gentle tweaking that reaffirmed the music and gave people permission to like it without feeling utterly square, because the audience was in on the joke.

OTM

Let me play HOOS for a second and say:
OTMothra

Anyway, now I'm wondering to what extent Bowzer ... Joey Ramone

http://www.dickdestiny.com/kings4.jpg

C'mon, xhuxk. Sleeveless black T's on dudes with spaghetti arms weren't anyone's intellectual property. (Actually, the photo CREEM ran of DD&HK when you did the story had three of four -- but not me -- wearing sleeveless at the shoulder, a common white trash thing. Anyway, that's the way I remember it.)

Or motorcycle jackets for that matter.

http://www.dickdestiny.com/band.jpg

Did Bowzer influence the sartorial taste of the guy on the right? No -- the carnies at the Allentown fairgrounds plus me showing them the backpages of old Rock Scene mags did.

in some ways they remind me of hee haw

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, and almost started a TS: Sha Na Na vs Hee Haw thread

Hee Haw in a landslide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NyK3df0xaw

it seems from watching this that tv funnyman david schneider has a past i wasn't aware of.

Pffft You Were Gone is a timeless classic.

Hee Haw in a landslide.

u crazy

again

for years my dad thought kramer (from seinfeld) was a guy in sha-na-na. i believed him for awhile too!

gabb beat me to the punch re sha na na's academic pedigree. i was a bit surprised when i found out that they're a bunch of ivy leaguers.

lol @ tracer's dad.

it's still pretty amusing to think of michael richards doing his "battle boy" schtick on sha na na's prime-time TV show.

I did see some 20/20 special about a guy who faked being in Sha Na Na to bilk people out of their money at mall appearances. Turns out the imposter had escaped from jail and was lying low underneath this guise for years.
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Holy shit, the list of members is enormous. Lots of room for Michael Richards and the baby-killing guy on there with nobody noticing. Room for you, too, fellas - go to it.

Bought a Sha Na Na album (Sha Na Now!) for a buck at a garage sale today. The cover was worth it, the music.... not so much. But love this thread.

Look at this shit (1975):
http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s89975.jpg
Is it even remotely possible that Sha Na Na weren't a direct inspiration for The Village People?

one of the best thread titles ever

A while ago, fiddling around at Colindale newspaper library, I read the Guardian's round-up of 1970 in pop. Guy who wrote it - Geoffrey Cannon, maybe? Can't recall - rounded up the Velvets, Joni, Neil Young, and then concluded that the hands-down best album of the year was by Sha Na Na. Wonder if he stands by that.

A larger image for better WTFs:
http://webspace.webring.com/people/bd/divamagenta/snnow.jpg

Guy far left looks like he's just been kicked in the nuts. There's an underage Henry The Eighth upper right. And if you look carefully behind the bronzed fella lower right, there's a phantom pair of legs behind him, that belong to no torso.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f185/PappaWheelie/1987NWA-PanicZone12front.jpg

http://www.tampabay.com/music/woodstock-was-a-myth-sha-na-nas-henry-gross-who-played-before-hendrix-wants-to-bust-it-20190807/

“I submit to you that Sha Na Na should have been one of the first people, if there were a legitimate Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to go into it,” he said. “If you want entertainment, the original Sha Na Na cannot be beat.”

Sorry Henry, sorry Chuck--that is some kind of ludicrous. (Just posting this is taking the bait, I know--he's probably half-kidding.) I do like the idea that Sha Na Na was a people.

Maybe he just never got over the dog dying.

Great article

https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/archive/sep_oct08/features1?fbclid=IwAR0cYnFspm0ZlLdPKPqd6x_ssKgBLkZ0dqTzqScrFY1rR7fMSsW0WV8tlVY

I am a fan of their 1972 single "Bounce in Your Buggy," which sounds more like the Archies than Danny and the Juniors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7nQtuWuY9Y