It’s Bastille Day, so let’s celebrate The Frogs!
Love them or loathe them, The Frogs, brothers Jimmy and Dennis Flemion, are undeniably one of the most outrageously tasteless bands in the annals of rock and roll. While no group will ever equal the exalted standard of rock depravity set by G.G. Allin, The Frogs have definitely earned a spot near the throne.
The Frogs count among their fans Eddie Vedder, Billy Corgan and the late Kurt Cobain, they are USDA grain fed rock and roll dadaists, improvising their songs and recording them on the fly in their home studio,utilizing genres as disparate as Appalachian ballads and glam rock to satirize pop culture and subvert sacred cows. They pissed off the Gay community with their hilariously insincere celebration of homo love, It’s Only Right And Natural (1988), which featured campfire singalongs like I Don’t Care If U Disrespect Me (Just So You Love Me) , Been A Month Since I Had A Man and Hot Cock Annie. And when The Frogs brought their record label, Homestead, the uber politically incorrect Racially Yours (2000), the label refused to release it even though the album had sure fire hits like Darkmeat 4 Sale and Two Blacks Don’t Make A White. These suckers were radio ready.
Actually, The Frogs did release an album that was radio friendly, the stunningly hip Marc Bolanesque Star Job, which contains two of the best rock songs of the past 15 years: I Only Play 4 Money and Weird On The Avenue.
I put together a crude little video (in keeping with The Frog aesthetic) featuring 4 tunes from my personal favorite Frogs album My Daughter The Broad (currently selling on Amazon for $133.00). I ‘m also sharing a video that was a big hit on Nirvana’s tour bus, a home movie that Jimmy and Dennis made titled Toy Porno. I hope you enjoy it and, if not, go fuck yourself. This is what we do late at night at Dangerous Dreams Minds.
Endless traveling on a tour bus can rupture the connection between the security of home and the ordinary rhythms of day to day life. Bands on the road often resort to repeatedly watching the same video tapes over and over in order to give themselves a sense of order. My record label leased Kenny Roger’s tour bus for our road trip. It was chock full of porn films and Cheech and Chong videos. We found that the combination of sex and dope imagery was very soothing. It grounded us. I imagine the guys in Nirvana found the same soothing vibe in Jimmy and Dennis’s contemplative film The Camping Trip from Toy Porno.
And here’s a taste of the magic that is Starjob: The Frogs and Eddie Vedder performing I Only Play 4 Money at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois on 03/13/1994.