Musicians - Billy and the Boingers

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	Musicians - Billy and the Boingers

Billy and the Boingers is a fictional heavy metal rock band from the comic strip Bloom County. The band was created by lawyer Steve Dallas during the peak of hair metal's commercial popularity, and originally called Deathtöngue. During congressional hearings on "porn rock," Dallas, under grilling by the wives of several congressmen, completely caved into congressional pressure and announced the band had changed their name and image to the more wholesome "Billy and the Boingers."

Late in its career, the rechristened Billy and the Boingers embarked on their first world tour, sponsored by Dr. Scholl's Odor Eaters, which consisted of a single gig: the "Moose Lodge" in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they played such favorites as "Hari Kari for Barry" (a reference to Barry Manilow) and "Pimples from Hell."

Their first single, "Demon Drooler in the Sewer" (which sold with "Leper Lover") peaked at 1,012 on the Top 100 list. Later, their record deal with CBS Records fell through because of explicit lyrics on "Let's Run Over Lionel Richie with a Tank", which Steve Dallas read to a record executive who was sitting right under his autographed picture of Ritchie. Bill got rich when "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" became a jingle for Wheat Thins, but he did not share the wealth with his bandmates. When he lost his metalhead credibility after staying up all night and reading the Bible with a nun, the band informally disbanded and left him behind. He was born again as a televangelist named "Fundamentally Oral Bill" in the tradition of Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker and Oral Roberts, and the nun got to star in a Pepsi endorsement commercial.

The lyric-writing ability of the band is exemplified by the following chorus:

:"Run with the Devil!
:Shout Satans might!
:Deathtöngue!
:Deathtöngue!
:The Beast rises tonight!"

Sadly, the hoped-for Grammy was not to be.

Most of the Deathtöngue saga is contained in the Bloom County collection Billy and the Boingers Bootleg, which included a flexi-disc containing what were apparently two songs by the band: "I'm a Boinger" and "U-Stink-But-I-♥-U".

"I'm a Boinger", written by Dallas, is the apparent response of Billy and the Boingers after the name change. It was actually played by the Harry Pitts Band.

"U-Stink-But-I-♥-U" is a song written by Bill the Cat. The song was played in reality by the band Mucky Pup.

Lineup

"Wild" Bill Catt - Singer/lead tongue
Hodge-Podge - Drums
Opus Croakus - Rhythm tuba
Steve Dallas - Songwriter/manager

Candidates for the band were chosen not only for their talent, but also the ability to "grimace musically."

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Billy and the Boingers ]

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