strong bad sings

REVIEW: Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits (2003)

STRONG BAD Sings and Other Type Hits (2003 Harmless Junk)

Strong Bad, the coolest guy in town, is best known for his boxing gloves, mask, and emails on the Homestar Runner website.  Don’t know who Strong Bad is?  Then you probably haven’t heard of Trogdor (the Burninator) either.  These characters are part of a cult hit series of cartoons, born online and still going today.

In the early 2000’s, somebody named “Kaizer” emailed Strong Bad to ask him to draw a dragon, so Strong Bad obliged. The animated short, titled “Dragon”, went up Monday, January 13, 2003 and soon went viral. I was immediately hooked, and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer referenced Trogdor. Strong Bad and the Homestar Runner capitalized on their fame, with spinoff clothes, figurines, Wii games, DVDs, and this CD album. The song “Trogdor” even appeared in the Guitar Hero video games!

When the CD was announced, the Brothers Chaps (creators of Strong Bad) had some of the most popular songs from their online cartoons professionally recorded. The original “Trogdor” song was a low-budget recording with only guitar; no band. The new “Trogdor” is a full-on metal assault! Bass, drums, and wheedling guitar solos galore!

Strong Bad, despite the CD title, does not sing every song. There are other tunes here sung by characters such as Homestar, Marzipan, Coach Z, and of course hair metal band extrordinaire, Limozeen. This CD is worth it just for the Limozeen track “Because, It’s Midnight”. You must trust me when I say that Limozeen is the best hair metal band to never exist. Strong Bad first mentioned them when advising fans that if they want to start a rock band, they should name it after something cool, and then misspell the name. (“Taranchula” was another band name he suggested, and they too have a metal song on this album.)

Anyway, Limozeen: “Because, It’s Midnite” is their best tune, with awesome lyrics. “Heart of lion, and the wings of a bat, because it’s midnite!” Gary, Larry, Perry and Mary are one hell of a fictional band that actually played a couple real live gigs due to demand! Their not-hit “Nite Mamas” also appears on this album, which evokes classic Guns N’ Roses.

This is for fans of the cartoon only! Everybody else will not have a clue what the heck “Strongbadia” is or why they have a national anthem. But if you’re a fan? You’ll be happy. You get the classic singalong “The Cheat is Not Dead”! And let’s not forget Strong Bad’s country classic, “Somebody Told Me (Now I Believe Them)”.

Somebody told me,
that you were so stupid,
but I didn’t believe them,
But now I believe them.

And let’s not forget his similarly-themed ballad, “You’ve Got an Ugly & Stupid Butt”.

Quite a few songs are filler, but they’re all pretty short and then it’s onto the next one.  What’s cool is the variety of styles lampooned.  TV themes, techno music, gospel, punk rock and hippie jams make up the balance of the tunes.  I think it’s just cool that fans of the cartoon could buy a CD with good songs and this much effort put into it.  The digipack outer cover is designed to look “cheap as free” but inside there’s a full colour illustrated booklet and a Limozeen sticker!

For fans, 4/5 stars! For everyone else, ?/5.

Part 113: Destiny (“It’s Like It Was Meant to Be”)

RECORD STORE TALES PART 113:  Destiny (“It’s Like It Was Meant To Be”)

Sometimes, like destiny, something cool arrived on my counter at random. Something I’d been hunting for.  Something special, that hit the spot at exactly the right time.  That was the beauty of used CD’s.  Even more than a box of chocolate, you truly never knew what you were going to get!

For example:

IAN GILLAN – The Best Of

I had pretty much cleaned up on Deep Purple, and I was ready to start exploring the solo projects of people like Gillan, Glover and Lord.  Like it was meant to be, suddenly The Best Of Ian Gillan showed up!  This compilation covered his two most recent solo releases, Tool Box and Naked Thunder.  Both albums are hard to get, and I still don’t have them!  This compilation hit the spot.

I remember Statham coming into the store while I was playing the opening track, “Hung Me Out to Dry”.  He chuckled at the opening screams!  “What is this?” he laughed.  But he respected my choice instead of mocking it which is more than I can say for some of the coworkers!   You never see this stuff used in these parts, but once in a blue moon.  I truly felt like I’d hit a home run!

Another example:

DEEP PURPLE – “Haunted” (CD single)

I’d been planning on ordering this one online. I found it on the German Amazon site, but only there so far.  All the single had was a bonus remix of “Haunted”, but as a Deep Purple completist, this is the kind of rarity that I seek.  CD singles tended to be a European thing and hard to get here.  I was prepared to have to pay up to $15 for this single….

When suddenly a guy brought in not one but TWO promotional copies with the bonus track!  Unmarked promotional copies, as in only the case was marked, which you can replace.  SCORE!  I saved myself some cash on that lucky happenstance, and the other copy sold off the shelf in short order.

A third great example:

JOURNEY – Trial By Fire (Japanese import)

I had been collecting Journey rarities, especially the Steve Perry years.  I saw a Japanese import of the final album they did with him, Trial By Fire, at HMV 333 Yonge in Toronto.  It was $40 or $45.  The bonus track was “I Can See It In Your Eyes”.  It just wasn’t in the budget that day.  I had several Japanese imports in my hands that day, and something had to be sacrificed.  Journey didn’t make the cut.

And then a couple weeks later, one of my regulars, Conrad, sold me a mint condition copy, bonus track intact.  Instead of paying $45, I paid $15!  Score!