(Ciclk ot mkae tehm bgeigr.)
What scares me about these is that they have SOUNDS. SOUNDS that someone liked enough to purchase, so that they could hear the SOUNDS over and over again. (I completely understand wanting to have THIS compilation, and if I ever get a cell phone, the ringtone’s gonna be Leonard Emmanuel’s “Old Timey Holler.”)
[Strider has an excellent collection of crappy album covers, with commentary, here. Related TR archive post here. New crappiness from here.]
Levi Stubbs & the Four Tops, on the American TV show Hullabaloo, singing “Just Walk Away.”
From the Wikipoodle:
“Levi Stubbs was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the famed Motown R&B group The Four Tops.”
From Billboard’s Top Pop Singles:
“R&B vocal group from Detroit formed in 1953 as the Four Aims. Consisted of Levi Stubbs (lead singer), Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson, Lawrence Payton, and Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir. First recorded for Chess in 1956, then Red Top and Columbia, before signing with Motown in 1963. Stubbs was the voice of Audrey II (the voracious vegetation) in the 1986 movie ‘The Little Shop of Horrors.'”
Besides being a cousin to Jackie Wilson (!) Stubbs was also the voice of Audrey II in “Little Shop of Horrors.” I never made that connection until today.
Aretha Franklin’s tribute to Levi Stubbs, after his stroke and during his fight with cancer. Hard to watch.
RIP, Mr. Stubbs.
Rock n Roll at it’s peak. Check it out, yo!
But there’s more to his story. Besides being a household word for rock n roll and gettin’ hot babes, the late Ted Cassidy played TWO parts in “The Addams Family” TV Series. Lurch was one of them… the other was “Thing.”
From the Wikipedialoids:
“Lurch (Ted Cassidy) is the household butler. Morticia and Gomez summon him by means of a bell pull in the form of a hangman’s noose, which rings the massive bell located in the mansion’s bell tower; the resulting gong shakes the entire house when the bell’s noose is pulled. When Lurch appears (usually immediately or within seconds thereafter), he responds with an extremely deep-voiced, “You rang?”
“According to IMDb, Lurch was intended to be a non-speaking part, as the Charles Addams cartoon character was silent; however, Cassidy improvised the line during his audition, and it was so well-received that it became a feature of the character. When questions are posed to him, Lurch’s primary response is a deep throaty rumbling and, at times, tremendously annoyed sound, which the family nonetheless interpret as spoken words. Superhumanly strong (he cleans the family car by simply lifting it and shaking it out like a rug), Lurch often plays the harpsichord (the music is actually played by The Addams Family composer Vic Mizzy).
“Lurch is very high-minded about visitors; when a plainclothes policeman (played by George Neise) visited the family, Lurch patted him down and regarded him suspiciously when he found his gun. Neise showed Lurch his badge, whereupon Lurch returned the gun.
“Lurch occasionally regards his employers’ activities with some dubiousness, but only as any servant might regard the idle rich, not because he does not share their macabre tastes.”
As far as the Addams Family goes, Lurch was my 2nd favorite. Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams), well, um, you know. Cassidy also appeared in several episodes of:
Star Trek;
I Dream of Jeannie;
Wild Wild West;
and The Six-Million Dollar Man (as Bigfoot).
Y’all can forget his cameo on Batman, too… or not.
Cassidy ALSO appeared in the movie “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid” in this Classic Scene.
As a completely unrelated aside, anyone curious about what the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten is up to these days? Seems he’s turned Shatner on us. Promise.
BONUS! For all of our loyal readers and supporters of Tacky Raccoons, please welcome our SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST!
“Oooh, my face looks like a hamster in the side of THIS pan! Thank you, Prozac!”
[Image from the amazing Plan59.]
Daniel Tammet is amazing.
Clarke and Dawe. Full story can be found here.
Here’s Bob and Ray. Google them for more classic straight faced funnies.
The Bobs’ A capellaness is only mildly annoying and somewhat entertaining.
The Rays, with “Silhouettes on the Shade.”
The Silhouettes’ “Get A [lipsinch] Job.”
The Late Great Ray Charles: “Shake A Tail Feather!” from the movie “The Blues Brothers.” (Watch for Steve Cropper & Duck Dunn, with Matt “Guitar” Murphy.)
[Related posts: Cropper & Dunn be here and here. More Blues Brothers here.]
Not much explanation is necessary for these, unless you have dirt on the babes that you wanna share.
Miss Darby’s Restaurant.
Miss Arthur Godfrey Road.
Miss Auto Show 1965 is really Miss Van Nuys, standing next to Mr. Scissors who is cutting off the last of her tentacles.
Miss WSTC Alumni 1948.
Miss OCT 60.
Miss Somethingorother 1946, Taylor, Texas. (Standing on stilettos in dirt, her name is Flo Kruger, age 16.)
Miss Lightning-Bolts-Coming-Out-of-Her-Head 1963.
[Images from Square America and here, here & here.]
Tacky Raccoons 
