10.31.2005
Psycho Chicken (Halloween VI)
The Fools Psycho Chicken (Clucked Version) (EMI Germany, 1980)
Happy Halloween! Today I am gonna treat you to a novelty classic. There is a good chance that you've heard The Fools take on Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads. Perhaps not. For some reason, I didn't hear this one until a couple weeks ago. My girlfriends and I had to take a trip north to visit an ailing relative of hers and we hauled back a stack of 7"s she bought when she lived in Brussels. Among a mess of Plastic Bertrand 45s (who a teenage she and a friend stalked for a couple days) was this Fools record. She asked if I had heard it and I admitted ignorance. "You have to hear it. You will love it." So when we got home I put it on the turntable and laughed my ass off.
Psycho Chicken is so dumb, but so, well, dumb. Why Psycho Chicken? And Frank Perdue? This is the kind of genius that starts at band practice as a dumb joke and evolves into something that gets out of control. And that is pretty much what happened. A Boston bar band, The Fools cut Psycho Chicken and gave a tape to a local dejay. He played it and the station was swamped with requests. A record was released and it sold out quickly. The band toured with the Knack and opened for the Cars, Blondie and others. After the buzz died down, The Fools continued to play music and still do to this day.
So for the final Halloween song of the holiday, I can think of nothing better than the tale of a blood-thirsty chicken bent on seeking revenge.
# posted by Scott Soriano : 09:23
