TV Tunes: Made For TV Bands That Rocked Our Televison Sets – Part One: 1951 to 1979 (page 3)

Fonzie joins in on drums with Richie, Ralph Malph and Potsie's unnamed band

The Happy Days Band/Leather and the Suedes (Happy Days) While most TV shows wait until they are running out of ideas before they get the characters to start a band, Happy Days introduced their band in the fifth episode of the long running TV series. With Ritchie on bass and saxophone, Ralf on guitar and Bill Downey aka “Sticks” on drums (who would later be replaced by Chachi in later episodes), the band was really a way to feature Anson “Potsie” Williams as a vocalist.

Anson Williams, as Potsie Webber, was an accomplished singer, and provided lead vocals for the band

Anson Williams was an amazing singer, and its unfortunate that his vocal talents were never used beyond Happy Day s. In the band’s first appearance they get a gig to play at a frat house party, but unfortunately know only one song, “All Shook Up,” which they play over, and over, and over. Thankfully, the band would learn more material where they eventually were hired as the house band at Arnold’s Diner, the local teenage hang out. Strangely enough, the group never had a name. This would eventually be incorporated as an on-going joke when Al would introduce the group as “the band” only to quip “you guys really ought to get a name one of these days.” The band would be a non overbearing presence on the show until 1980 when Ron Howard and Donny Most left the show, which pretty much killed the band.

The Fonz gives the thumbs up to rocker Suzi Quatro who played Leather Leather Tuscadero in 1976

However, Happy Days introduced the world to another, less famous, musical character. In 1976 the Happy Days producers attempted to introduce a regular love interest for Fonzie. This was the popular fan favorite Pinky Tuscadaro played by Roz Kelly. However, Kelly proved to be difficult to work with and was let go from the series after only two episodes. Yet, as a result of her popularity, the producers was not ready to let go of the idea of the character and instead of just recasting Pinky they introduced her younger sister, rock and roller Leather Tuscadero, played by rocker Suzi Quatro. Despite having a successful career in Europe, Quatro was having difficulty finding success in North America, but when Happy Days creator Gary Marshall saw a picture of Quatro on his daughters wall, his people called her people and he offered her a continuing role on Happy Days on the spot. Leather Tuscadero was a former juvenile delinquent who returns to Milwaukee with her rock band The Suedes to audition for a gig at Arnolds. However, due to her criminal past, the police threaten to close Arnold’s down if they allow Leather and the Suedes to play. Of course Fonzie shows up and saves the day. Leather and the Suedes were brought back the next week where Joanie Cunningham suddenly was developing an interest in music when she begins singing with the Suedes. When Leather offers Joanie to come on tour with them, Joanie runs away with the group after her parents say no. Of course, Joanie is eventually caught and returned and everything works out at the end of the half an hour. And who doesn’t remember when Leather and Fonzie introduced us to the newest dance craze “The Fonzie” in a musical number “Do the Fonzie.” Leather proved popular with the audience and was brought back throughout the rest of the 1976 season.

Suzy Quatro makes the cover of "Rolling Stone." Producer Gary Marshall offered Suzy her own Leather and the Suedes spin off series, but Quatro turned the offer down.

In fact, Garry Marshall believed in the strength of Leather and the Suedes so much that he offered Susie Quatro her own spin off series, but she declined stating that she didn’t want to be typecast. Soon she took leave of Happy Days herself to find further success in the music business. However, it is worth noting that the season that Leather and the Suedes were introduced that it was the year that Happy Days officially “jumped the shark.” Not only did Fonzie actually jump the shark but it was the season that they introduced Chachi (a jump the shark kid), the year Ritchie nearly dies in a “very special episode” (a jump the shark moment) as well introduction of a new band (a jump the shark sign). It would be another four seasons before Ten McGinley would appear and finally seal Happy Days fate. However, the Leather and the Suedes episodes are easily the best moments of the season.

Michael McKean and David Lander, in their roles of Lenny and Squiggy, released their own live concert album in 1979.

Lenny and the Squigtones (Laverne and Shirley) The 1970’s had a preoccupation with the 1950’s. Franchises such as Grease, Happy Days and Sha Na Na popularized and romanticized the image of the “greaser” – those juvenile delinquents of days gone by. But while Fonzie and Bowser were loveable, on the other end of America’s love affair with the greaser was Lenny and Squiggy, two of the most obnoxious, but beloved, greasers of all time who were made famous by Michael McKean and David Lander on the Happy Days spin off Laverne and Shirley. The characters of Lenny and Squiggy were developed by McKean and Lander long before Marshall created Laverne and Shirley when the pair met as theatre students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg. They continued to develop the characters as members of an LA comedy troupe called the Credibility Gap, which lead them to their roles on Laverne and Shirley. Not surprisingly, it was during this early period that Guest and Lander also began writing and performing hysterical doo wop songs as their characters. Now it took a while before Guest and Landers were able to bring their Lenny and the Squigtones act to Laverne and Shirley, despite the fact that Garry Marshall was continuing the musical tradition of Happy Days over on the spin off as well. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams often performed as a singing duo on the show, and even released an album titled Laverne and Shirley Sings with the pair covering 1950’s standards. However The Shangri-Las they were not and the album was not well received. Yet, while Lenny and Squiggy weren’t musical geniuses either, their Lenny and the Squigtones act is pure comedy gold. Michael McKean is a fantastic song writer and musician and the compositions put together by himself and Lander was possibly better then any of the other 1950’s style material being put together at the time. McKean would introduce the pair by saying “I’m Lenny” and Lander would finish with “and I’m the Squigtones” as they launched into songs such as “Star Crossed” and “Night After Night” with McKean singing bass and Landers singing falsetto.

Lenny and the Squigtones' back up band included KISS drummer Peter Criss, Blues Brothers keyboardist Murph and McKean's future Spinal Tap cohort Christopher Guest credited on the album as Nigel Tufnel

Not to be outdone, the two recorded an album of their material in 1979. Recorded live at the Roxy in Hollywood, the album, simply titled Lenny and the Squigtones, is a fun listen combining music and comedic patter in front of an audience. Yet the album has become a much sought after collectors item for a number of interesting oddities. McKean and Lander had a few musical guests on hand including KISS drummer Peter Criss credited as Ming the Merciless, Blues Brothers keyboardist Murph and McKean’s good friend Christopher Guest on guitar who is credited on the album as Nigel Tufnel. Of course, Nigel Tufnel would become a major rock and roll pop culture icon a year later when Guest would bring the character to life in Rob Reiner’s cult classic This is Spinal Tap, in which McKean would bring another of his famous characters to life, Spinal Tap lead vocalist David St. Hubbins. Lenny and the Squigtones may not be one of the best remembered groups to come out of television, but they are easily the most underrated and possibly one of the funniest.

The Kroft Brother's glam rock group, Kaptain Kool and the Kongs

Kaptain Kool and the Kongs (The Krofft Supershow) By the middle of the 70’s Sid and Marty Krofft had their formula pretty much worked out – giant puppets (H.R. Pufnstuff), low budget live action shows (The Land of the Lost), variety shows of questionable quality (The Donny and Marie Show), a boat load of drugs (Lidsville) and pop music (The Bugaloos). Thus, in 1976, changing networks from NBC to ABC, The Krofft Brothers was ready to bring it all together in the amazing one hour anthology program The Krofft Supershow. Stealing the exact same formula from The Banana Splits, The Krofft Brothers would have a colorful rock band perform sketches, songs and comedy while introducing live action serial segments for Saturday morning kiddies, which included now legendary pop culture favorites such as Electra Woman and Dyna-Girl, Wonderbug and Bigfoot and Wild Boy. This time, instead of creating a group of furries to introduce the segments Sid and Marty created their own glam rock group called Kaptain Kool and the Kongs as the show’s hosts. Consisting of Kaptain Kool, Super Chick, Turkey, Nashville and Flatbush, the garishly costumed Kaptain Kool and the Kongs were a bizarre entity on television, whose look was sort of a disco version of KISS crossed with David Bowie. In fact, as a kid I was more scared of Kaptain Kool and the Kongs then delighted by them. The Krofft Brothers obviously knew they had over did it this time and by the second season toned down the look of the Kongs, as well as got rid of Flatbush, who obviously was the troubled band member or something.

The Kongs found themselves out of a job when they were replaced by The Bay City Rollers

In reality band leader Kaptain Kool was played by Michael Lembeck, who was the son of comedian Harvey Lembeck and would go on and play Julie’s husband Max on One Day at a Time before becoming a successful TV director. Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, like all the Krofft groups before them, also released LP’s but went a bit further by making appearances on popular music programs such as American Bandstand, Midnight Special, The Donny and Marie Show and even the Krofft Brother’s ill fated Brady Bunch Variety Hour between putting on rock concerts on at the Krofft Brothers short lived indoor amusement park in Atlanta, Georgia. Yet fame would be fleeting for Kaptain Kool and the Kongs and in 1978 the group received it’s pink slip and found out that they were being replaced by a new house band. Their replacements? None other then Scottish pop sensations The Bay City Rollers who were, undoubtably, the number one favorite band of pre-teens of the era. Kaptain Kool and the Kongs didn’t have a chance. They hung up their terrible glam rock outfits and were never heard from or seen again, but they would eventually get the last laugh. Due to dissatisfaction with the show, troublesome Bay City Roller front man Les McKeon would quit both the show and the band, striking a nail in the coffin for both The Krofft Supershow and the classic era of 1970’s bubblegum pop.

Electric Mayhem (The Muppet Show) While casting directors had to sift through thousands of hopeful young musicians to become Monkees or Bugaloos, Jim Henson and the puppeteers at Henson Productions had a much easier time. All they needed was a bit of foam, a load of stuffing, a sewing machine and a ton of imagination to come up with one of the most unique musical groups ever to appear on television – Electric Mayhem, which gave new meaning to the term “manufactured band.” Led by the enigmatic Dr. Teeth, Electric Mayhem was the strange house band at the Muppet Theatre and continues to appear in Muppet production to this day. In actuality, for the exception of Dr. Teeth, who was voiced and created by Jim Henson himself, the rest of Electric Mayhem, consisting of bassist Janice, guitarist Floyd, drummer Animal, saxophonist Zoot and trumpet player Lips was created by Michael K. Frith.

Band leader Dr. Teeth

The green faced Dr. Teeth, with a grin bigger then any of the Osmonds, that contains a single gold tooth which was created by melted down Gold albums, was modeled after New Orleans jazz pianist Dr. John. Despite being the leader of the band, Dr. Teeth is probably the least prolific. Possibly this was due to the fact that he rivaled screen time on piano with the more popular Rowlf the Dog (the Muppet’s resident pianist) and the fact that Henson claimed that doing Dr. Teeth’s voice was hard on his throat. It would be the rest of Electric Mayhem that would end up being far more popular and better remembered.

Most popular band member, drummer Animal

The most popular of the band was easily the savage creature Animal, the pink and orange half monster/half missing link creature who talked in broken English and chased women, trashed rooms and had tendencies that were so violent that he had to be locked up in a cage in the basement. According to Animal’s original puppeteer Frank Oz, Animal’s personality was defined by five words – sex, sleep, food, drums and pain. These attributes made Animal one of the most popular Muppet characters, and is possibly one of the most marketed of the Muppets after Kermit and Ms. Piggy. Not surprisingly, Animal was modeled after another rock n’ roll drummer that had a tendency for trashing hotel rooms and living the violent rock n’ roll lifestyle – The Who’s Keith Moon. The other most visible member of Electric Mayhem is

According to early concept sketches, hippie chick Janice was almost a guy

San Francisco folk musician Janice, the lanky burnt out hippie chick modeled after Jonie Mitchell, with a nod to Janis Joplin, would become the second most popular female Muppet in Muppet history. However, what may be hard to believe is that originally Janice was supposed to be a guy! Original designs show that Janice was to be an emancipated big lipped rocker modeled after Mick Jagger. Thankfully they decided to change Janice’s sex so she’d become the sweetest sketch bag in puppet history. Janice also had a role in the Muppet sketch Veterinarian’s Hospital with Rwolf the Dog and Miss. Piggy as well as her own running gag on Muppet productions as the last person to stop talking during Muppet meetings, only to be revealed that she was talking to herself and on topics not at all related to anything….which usually involving her being naked.

Sgt. Floyd Pepper was a virtual Pink Floyd!

Janice was involved with guitarist Sgt. Floyd Pepper who replaced Dr. Teeth as lead singer for Electric Mayhem in the second season. Floyd was inspired by a number of different artists. His name and costume is obviously homage to the Beatles Sgt. Pepper period, but his personality and look is more reminiscent of Jerry Garcia or Dr. Hook. However, the best gag surrounding the character is that he has pink skin, literally making him a “Pink Floyd.” Get it? Floyd is truly the member of the band that keeps the group together. Acting as Electric Mayhem’s spokesperson (or would that be spokespuppet), he is Animal’s keeper and is the only Muppet who can calm the beast, and he obviously is keeping Janice away from the liquor and drugs. Unfortunately, he often would clash with Kermit by rallying up the band to make strange demands. Also, Floyd is the Muppet most often seen in the background backstage between musical numbers, just lingering about.

Electric Mayhem's most obscure member, Lips

Lips is the often neglected member of Electric Mayhem that nobody ever really got to know. A later addition created by puppeteer Steve Whitmire, Whitmire really didn’t know how to find Lips a voice. The character was based on Louis Armstrong, but Whitmire feared that he would upset black viewers if he attempted to imitate Armstrong’s unique gravely voice. As a result Lips just faded into obscurity.

Mysterious jazz man Zoot always got the last laugh

Finally comes Zoot, who was the quietest and the most mysterious member of the group. With his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and a constant befuddled look on his face Zoot was modeled after jazz musician Zoot Sims and was the embodiment of the burnt out fifty year old jazz musician. Despite being the quietest member of the band, Zoot got the last laugh at the end of each and every episode of The Muppet Show when he hit the wrong note at the end of the closing theme, leading to him to look into the end of his saxophone hoping to find out what went wrong. Over the years many of the original puppeteers who played Electric Mayhem have either died or have retired, but Electric Mayhem continues to be a part of Muppet movies, specials and other forms of media because puppets never die, making Electric Mayhem eternal.

"Eight is Enough" heartthrob Willie Ames brought his real life band, Paradise, to television as Tijuana Tokyo

Tijuana Tokyo (Eight is Enough) Oh that Tommy Bradford. Will he never stop trying to figure out how to make a quick buck? I mean he’d sell his own mother if he had a chance….or if she didn’t die after six episodes. Well in 1979, when finding out that his high school prom committee will shell out a whole $300 for a band, Tommy quickly throws together his own group with the unusual monniker Tijuana Tokyo! In reality, the group was played by Eight is Enough actor Willie Aames’ real life band, Willie Aames and Paradise, which played around the LA area at the end of the 1970’s. Coincidently, Aames would later star in a Blue Lagoon rip off called Paradise, which will screw up pretty much any Google searches for his old band. Just letting you know. Anyways, Tijuana Tokyo would reappear a handful of times throughout the run of Eight is Enough, even being managed in one episode by Bradford cousin Jeremy played by future 80’s teen heartthrob Ralph Macchio. However, the TV exposure didn’t do much for Willie Aames real life music career. Willie Aames and Paradise never released any recordings on the mass market, and are really only remembered by hard core Eight is Enough fans (if such a thing actually exists) and people who actually saw them live back in the day.

Older brother Grant Goodeve sang "There's a plate of homemade wishes on the kitchen window sill”. Later on he would start drinking. I would too if I had to sing bad lyrics like that

However, Willie Aames wasn’t the only member of the Bradford family with musical talent. Possibly much better remembered by pop culture fans was oldest son David Bradford’s, played by 70’s hunk Gra nt Goodeve, sappy acoustic cover of the Eight is Enough theme in the season two finale. Originally the theme was an instrumental but by tacking on lyrics to the familiar tune, Grant Goodeve’s rendition of the theme not only was released as a single, but replaced the opening theme music for the next three years of the series. Now does that mean that the song was good? Well one can wonder how Grant Goodeve could actually sing a lyric like “There’s a plate of homemade wishes on the kitchen window sill” with a straight face. Perhaps that’s why Goodeve hit the bottle so hard in the 80s. Anyways, although he didn’t pursue music during his time on Eight is Enough, Goodeve was initially interested in going into music instead of acting and was an accomplished guitarist. In 1996, long after his Eight is Enough career and after giving up the booze and finding God, Goodeve released a country gospel album of original songs. Grant also was one of Bob River’s singers in his popular Twisted Christmas albums. Today neither Goodeve or Aames are involved in music. Goodeve currently is a host for the Home and Garden network while Willie Aames is trying to erase the memory of being Scott Baio’s dimwitted side-kick throughout the 1980s.

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TV TUNES: MADE FOR TV BANDS THAT ROCKED OUR TELEVISION SETS: PART TWO – 1980 TO 2008

Note: This article could not have been possible without the reference of www.fakebands.com, containing information on thousands of fake bands from TV, movies, literature, comic book, cartoons and beyond. Check it out. House of fun for anybody interested in the history of pop culture and music.