Spike Jones
Wikimp3 information about the music of Spike Jones. On our website we have 67 albums and 61 collections of artist Spike Jones. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Spike Jones represents Humor genres.
Biography
[Edit]Lindley Armstrong Jones was a musical genius. In the wild and woolly days before multi-track recording, MTV, and certainly digital entertainment content, Spike Jones put together a top-flight musical organization that the world has not seen the likes of since. Known as the City Slickers, the emphasis was on comedy, primarily doing dead-on satires of popular songs on the hit parade and taking the air out of pompous classical selections as well.
Not merely content to do cornball renderings of standard material or trite novelty tunes for comedic effect, Jones' musical vision encompassed whistles, bells, gargling, broken glass, and gunshots perfectly timed and wedded to the most musical and unmusical of source points. His stage show was no less mind-boggling, needing a full railroad car just to carry the props alone, all presented without electronic gimmickry of any kind, with visuals that would make your eyes pop out of your head. Though he often downplayed his musical achievements (all part of the master plan of selling the idea to the general public), the fact remains that Spike was a strict bandleader and taskmaster, making sure his musicians were precision tight and adept in a variety of musical styles from Dixieland to classical, with a caliber of musicianship several notches higher than most big bands of the day that played so-called "straight" music.
In other words, Jones was no dummy. He knew what he was doing when he put the whole concept together — checkerboard suits and all. It gave him Top Ten hits on phonograph records and proved immensely popular as a stage show, in movies, and on television. (It became a badge of honor with pop musicians that you really hadn't tasted true success until Spike Jones & the City Slickers had destroyed your song.) A definite precursor to the video age, Jones didn't merely play the songs funny, he illustrated them as well, a total audio and visual assault for the senses.
Jones (the son of a railroad man, hence the nickname) had started as a jazz drummer and radio session player working with top-drawer stars like Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, among others. (One of the more interesting bits of Jones trivia is that if you listen hard enough, that's him gently working his wire brushes in the background on Bing's "White Christmas.") But as in-demand as he might have been, musician union restrictions only allowed so many radio dates to be worked by one drummer. To this end (and to distinguish himself from the pack), Jones added a full set of tuned cowbells, guns, whistles, and sirens to his already existing drum set, thus insuring steady work as a both a drummer and small-scale sound effects man.
Although these additions made him unique in a field loaded with anonymous sidemen, Jones had bigger and crazier ideas. After putting together various after-hours small groups that played "corny just for fun" (including early recordings with the Penny-Funnies and Cinema-Fritzers bands for the short-lived Cinematone company), he formed the City Slickers in the early '40s. By 1942, his sixth record under the new band's name, "Der Fuehrer's Face," became not only a national hit but a national mania, and Jones' self-named "musical depreciation revue" was off and running.
The bands assembled over the years under the City Slickers banner would feature everyone from singers, midgets, acrobats, and vaudeville comics to musicians who could just plain blow their brains out, all hand-picked by Jones. From George Rock's braying, high-register trumpet and kiddie voices to Freddie Morgan's incredible rubber-faced pantomime banjo shenanigans, from Sir Frederick Gas' insane "twig" bowing to Billy Barty's Liberace impressions, here was a band that truly defied description. Musicians who could play multiple instruments in a wide variety of styles were commonplace, making the City Slickers the crackerjack unit they were. But certain members of the troupe (like Gas or Barty) were hired because they did one thing extremely well, and would proceed to do it on a nightly basis, key players all. (For years, the rumor persisted that Jones had a guy on the payroll who did nothing but gargle.)
Though bands that played "corny" had been successful before he leapt to national fame (most notably Freddie Fisher & the Schnickelfritzers and the Hoosier Hot Shots), Jones' musical vision also encompassed a total assault against the conventions of general show-business pomposity. Whatever the newest fad (current singing stars, radio, television, and movie personalities), if Jones could figure a way to ridicule it for the "this month's flavor" shallowness of it all, the City Slickers torch was duly applied. And once you heard Jones' version of the tune, you could never go back and take any of those idols of the moment quite as seriously as you might have before. Although parodies of pop music continued to proliferate (Weird Al Yankovic is probably the closest modern-day equivalent, although he's closer in style to an Allan Sherman; he sings funny lyrics to normal songs, he doesn't play them funny), the simple fact remains that Spike Jones & His City Slickers did it better than anyone before or since.
Title: Dinner Music... For People Who Aren'T Very Hungry!
Artist: Spike Jones
Title: (Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection
Artist: Spike Jones
Title: Christmas Comes to Everyone (Merry Christmas from Spike Jones)
Artist: Spike Jones
Genre: Traditional Pop Music
Title: From Russia with Love (Remixes) - Single
Artist: Spike Jones
Genre: Techno, Dancefloor, Dance Pop
Title: Spike Jones Presents A Xmas Spectacular
Artist: Spike Jones
Genre: Jazz, Traditional Pop Music, Humor
Title: All I Want For Christmas) Is My Two Front Teeth (Digitally Remastered)
Artist: Spike Jones
Genre: Pop
Title: You Always Hurt The One You Love - Single
Artist: Spike Jones, Red Ingle, Carl Grayson
Genre: Pop
Title: I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas (Remastered) - Single
Artist: Spike Jones, Linda Strangis
Genre: Pop
Collections
Title: Christmas Hits, Vol. 1
Genre:
Title: Burlesque In Jazz
Genre: Jazz
Title: Vintage Novelty Songs For Kids
Genre: Kids
Title: The Kings of Komedy
Genre:
Title: Halloween - Vintage Radio Shows
Genre:
Title: Oldies But Goodies - Novelty Hits
Genre: Pop
Title: Christmas Music at the Dinner Table
Genre:
Title: Christmas Jazz Nights, Vol. 1
Genre: Jazz
Title: Timeless Christmas with the Greats
Genre:
Title: The Days of Silly Songs
Genre:
Title: A Retrospective Hits of 1945
Genre: Pop
Title: Greatest Songs, Vol. 2
Genre: Pop
Title: Classic Christmas Carols & Holiday Music
Genre: Kids
Title: Seasons Greetings Vol 2
Genre:
Title: 99 Great Tunes & Songs : Country & Western Music
Genre: Country
Title: Music History: Best Sellers, Vol. 2
Genre:
Title: Prewar Jazz
Genre: Jazz
Title: Happy Christmas - 20 American Jazz Songs (Remastered)
Genre:
Title: Jazz Christmas Night (Remastered)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rap, Soul
Title: Christmas Hits, Vol. 1
Genre: Traditional Pop Music
Title: Armed Forces Radio: Back Beat Boogie
Genre: Jazz
Title: Armed Forces Radio: Sentimental Journey
Genre: Jazz
Title: Armed Forces Radio: Strike up the Band
Genre: Jazz
Title: 100 Hits: Christmas Legends CD 3
Genre: Traditional Pop Music
Title: Christmas Hit'S CD1
Genre: Pop
Title: Top Christmas Songs Of All Time
Genre: Pop
Title: 50 Original Classics Christmas Hit'S (CD1)
Genre: Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: The Ultimate Christmas Album, Vol 3
Genre: Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: Christmas Hits 2009 (CD2)
Genre: Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: Christmas And The City
Title: Christmas Comedy And Novelty Songs
Genre: Traditional Pop Music, Humor
Title: That Christmas Feeling
Genre: New Age, Traditional Pop Music
Title: Christmas Hits 80 Festive Favourites CD2
Genre: Disco, Traditional Pop Music
Title: Christmas - Hits 60 Festive Favourite
Genre: Traditional Pop Music
Title: Halloween Mp3's Vol. 14 - Transylvanian Concubine
Genre: Rock
Title: New Discgems From Warner Brothers (CD2)
Genre: Garage, Jazz, Rockabilly
Title: Christmas Legends - 100 Hits (CD3)
Genre: Traditional Pop Music
Title: Halloween Mp3's Vol. 13 - My Beloved Monster
Genre: Rock
Title: The Greatest Novelty Songs (CD2)
Genre: Pop
Title: Yule Train: A Rhino Christmas Sampler
Genre: Soul, World Music, Pop, Traditional Pop Music, Folk
Title: Ultimate... Christmas (CD4)
Title: America's No. 1's Of The '40s (CD6)
Genre: Blues, Vocal Jazz, Pop, Easy Listening
Title: That’ll Flat…Git It! Vol. 28
Genre: Rock & Roll, Rockabilly
Title: 100 Greatest Songs Of The 1940s (CD1)
Genre: Soul, Vocal Jazz, Pop
Title: Ultimate Christmas Of Great Christmas Music (CD2)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, World Music, Pop, Folk
Title: The Nightmare (Halloween Special Collection) 2022
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rock, Punk Rock, Pop
Title: 50s Christmas Classics - Vol. 1
Genre: Traditional Pop Music
Title: Relaxing Retro Halloween 2023
Genre: Traditional Pop Music, Lounge
Title: 50s Christmas Classics - Vol. 2
Genre: Traditional Pop Music
Title: Lets Have A Funny Little Christmas
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Rock, Punk Rock, Traditional Pop Music, Funk
Featuring albums
Title: Xmas Classics - Essential Christmas Songs
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Traditional Pop Music
Title: Musical Depreciation Revue! (Remastered)
Artist: Spike Jones And His City Slickers
Genre: Jazz