Published on Feb 11, 1999
The album cover makes you notice them. Three
naked guys, holding guitars in front of their privates.
These three look like they have never been out in the sun.
If this band isn’t a trio of crazy musicians, I don’t know what
a crazy musician is. This Twin Cities band is just nuts! To call
them a spoof band is to reduce them to the same genre as Weird Al,
which would be close to the mark, but too limiting. This band is
astoundingly original. I laugh almost non-stop when I listen to
this disc.
To get an idea of what this band is like, the disc starts out
with someone saying, “How should I know, I’ve never been there!”
The first time I heard this, I thought, “What?” The guitar then
starts playing the theme from “Seasame Street.” When the song gets
to the chorus, “Can you tell me how to get to Seasame Street,” the
same voice shouts “How should I know, I’ve never been there.” And
the song isn’t even done. The song transforms into a cover of the
Doors’ “L.A. Woman.”
There are some funny spoofs in-between track one and the spoof
of the Katrina and the Waves pop hit “Walkin’ On Sunshine.” The
Vinnie way to sing the song is “I’m Committin’ Suicide.” With
almost all of the same lyrics, this song is hilarious. There’s the
witty “I’ve Got A Lot of Friends – The Drinking Song.” Then there’s
the epic, “Pandomonium” in four movements called “Climb Ev’ry Mt,”
“Eine Kinda Not Musak,” “Morea Eat Oats,” and”Bela Lugosi’s
Shoes.”
After that song, though, the band’s appeal wears thin. There are
15 “tracks” of phone messages. While I used to tape phone messages
people left me in college for historical reference, I don’t think
I’d ever release them on a CD. These messages get boring kind of
quickly. The first couple are funny, but eventually, they become
tediously dull.
The disc ends with “XXXMas Song.” The spoof this time is “I saw
Mommy fisting Santa Claus.” Okay. The song is a fitting conclusion
to the chasos of this disc.
And that’s Vinnie and the Stardusters. Sure there are some slow
moments, like the phone messages, but for 95% of this disc, this is
pure heaven. I think that the band’s originality will take them as
far as they want to go in the national scene. I didn’t get a press
kit with this disc so I can only hope the band aspires to play to
big audiences and to bring their humour to the masses.