TV Tunes: Made For TV Bands That Rocked Our TV Sets Part Two: 1980 to 2009 (page 2)

"The Zits are here!" Degrassi High's own Zit Remedy

The Zit Remedy (Degrassi Junior High)  Degrassi Junior High may not have had the best acting or the greatest production values, but the progressive Canadian teen drama will go down in pop culture history as being the most hard hitting and realistic shows ever made aimed at kids.  The show dealt head on with taboo issues such as sex, death, teen pregnancy, racism, AIDS, drugs, homosexuality, racially mixed couples, abuse and suicide in a hard, no nonsense way that was unlike the preachy “very special episodes” that American programs like Blossom and Family Ties offered.  The show was gritty, the kids were played by real teens and not thirty year olds playing sixteen year olds and the actions and consequences of each episode would follow the characters throughout the remainder of the series.  So when Joey Jeremiah, Snake and Wheels started a garage band called The Zit Remedy, the producers opted to deal that realistically too.  The real actors, Pat Mastroianni  Stefan Brogren and Neil Hope played their own instruments….badly.  Not only that but in the five years they were together The Zit Remedy only had one song, a poorly written and performed number called “Everybody Wants Something.”

They only knew one song and didn't have a drummer, but "Everybody Wants Something" got stuck in a generation of Canadian's heads, and has become Canadian television's second best loved song, only after the Hockey Night in Canada theme

However, despite the fact that the song stank there is nobody in Canada between the ages of thirty and thirty five that can’t sing it.  They may have not been the Barenaked Ladies but Canadian kids loved the Zit Remedy.  Sure, nobody will ever admit it, but if you walk into a Canadian pub during open mic night and play “Everybody Wants Something” you will totally bring down the house.  It’s true.  I’ve seen it happen.

So why didn’t The Zit Remedy have anymore then one song?  Well, because they were too busy dealing with teenage angst.  You see, in the world of Degrassi you can’t go very long without a major drama.  But before we go into the Zit Remedy’s issues lets introduce you to the band.

Front man Joey Jeremiah would sell his own grandmother to keep the band together

First there was Joey Jeremiah, the singer, keyboardist and band leader, not to mention the stand out star of the series.  Overconfident, arrogant and often obnoxious the scrawny fast talking kid in a fedora was the heart and soul of The Zit Remedy.  He’s the one who kept the band going, and trust me, it was often hard to do.

Then there was Archie “Snake” Simpson on lead guitar.  The most sensible of the group, Snake was often the voice of reason to Joey’s overzealousness, but it didn’t stop him from often getting swept up in Joey’s stupid ideas.  And finally there was Derek “Wheels” Wheeler on bass.  Wheels was the bad luck kid.  I mean this kid must have smashed a mirror or something prior to junior high.  If something terrible was going to happen, it most likely was going to happen to Wheels.  Wheels wasn’t a bad kid, but his rotten luck made him dangerously unstable, turning him into the Iggy Pop of Degrassi.

Voice of reason Snake couldn't make band practice because his parents made him take ballet lessons

The Zit Remedy formed with little fanfare for a school talent show, but the band was nearly demolished before it even got started!  When Snakes’ parents were out of town the three guys stayed up all night watching movies and drinking soda. When Wheels wakes up the next day and realizes that he has an eye appointment Joey steals Snake’s parents car, despite the fact that he doesn’t have a license, to get Wheels home but as these things often do on TV programs, Joey takes out  the car taillight, which forces the boys to spend the money they were saving up for an amplifier to fix the car.  But Snake’s parents find out anyways and the three boys are grounded.  Joey’s parents confiscate his keyboard, Snake is enrolled into ballet lessons and Wheel’s parents won’t let him hang out with Joey anymore. 

Wheels was the crazy, unstable, self destructive member. Not only did he sell his bass for video game money, but his parents died, his Grandparents kicked him out, he stole from Joey's Mom, he was molested on the way to Port Hope, he blinded Lucy, he killed a kid, he....

However that wouldn’t matter long because a few episodes later Wheel’s parents were dead anyways, which sent Wheels’ into a deep pit of instability as he was forced to move into his grandparents place and stopped attending school.  Snake had issues dealing with the grieving Wheels, and when Joey tried to get Wheels to come back to school and get the band together again Wheels beat the crap out of him.  Wheels even went so far to sell his bass guitar and ran off looking for his real Dad, but despite getting molested by a pervert while hitchhiking to Port Hope, Wheels finds out that his real Dad, who was also a rocker, was more interested in rocking out and having sex with groupies then being a Dad.  Wheels left with his tail between his legs, to find out that the guys had replaced him with new student Simon Dexter on bass.  However Wheels eventually rejoins The Zit Remedy and the boys performed “Everybody Wants Something” at the high school prom and they were hot! So hot that the school burnt down.

Quicker then you can say "You're fucking Tessa Campanelli," The Zit Remedy dissolved. They never did learn a second song

Eventually the boys graduated to high school where they decided that the Zit Remedy needed a new more mature name so they changed it to simply The Zits.  Still not having learnt any new songs they made a music video and Joey tried to sell their cassette single to CRAZ radio but was shot down.  Eventually the boys just sort of moved onto other things.  Snake was busy trying to get good grades and a girlfriend, Wheels was busy just getting more crazy and unhinged and Joey was busy fucking Tessa Campanelli. Just as most teenage garage bands, The Zit Remedy slipped quietly into retirement as the boys moved to other things..

So whatever happened to The Zit Remedy?  Well Joey became a used car salesmen, Snake returned to Degrassi and became a teacher and Wheels ended up in prison after killing a kid while drinking and driving.  Oh Wheels.  Will he ever learn?  Anyhow, The Zit Remedy never had more then one song, but was amongst the most popular and best remembered characters in the Degrassi franchise, and remains to be Canadian TV icons today

John Stamos made being a rebel look lame as Uncle Jessie on "Full House"

Jesse and the Rippers (Full House)  Now let’s get this straight before I start.  I hate Full House.  I mean, I hate it more then any other TV show ever made.  Everything about Full House makes me angry.  The plots, the jokes, the stars….everything.  However, John “Uncle Jesse” Stamos’ band Jesse and the Rippers may have been one of the more interesting TV bands of their era.  I mean, they had things happen that you just didn’t see happening on other TV shows before, or since.

When Full House started its eight year reign of terror Jessie Katsopolis was the rebellious bad assed motorcycle drivin’, Elvis lovin’ uncle with a heart who moved in with his dweeby brother-in-law Danny in order to help look after his dead sister’s three kids.  Well he may have had pink bunnies on his bedroom wall, but he was front man in a band named after the legendary Whitechapel killer.  Oh yeah!  Jessie and the Rippers were the baddest band in all of San Francisco!  Uncle Jessie just wanted to rock and roll all night, and change diapers every day!  Now although John Stamos often performed music on Full House, Jessie and the Rippers were never a strong presence in the show and were never much more then an afterthought.  Despite this though, they did have one song of note, a cover version of the Beach Boy’s 1970 song “Forever” which Uncle Jesse performed at his wedding to Aunt Becky.  In fact, “Forever” was released by John Stamos as a single, but found it’s origin in one of the most unlikeliest of places – on a 1992 Beach Boys album called Summer in Paradise.  So how did Uncle Jesse end up on a Beach Boy’s album?  Well John Stamos had been traveling with the Beach Boys for years as part of their traveling show, and the group even showed up on an episode of Full House as a favor to Stamos.  It’s true.  Mind you, they had to pull Brian Wilson’s head out of the oven after he realized that he had sold out by appearing on such a crappy show.  But the glory days of summer were long over for the Beach Boys by the time Summer in Paradise came along.  It was their worst selling album ever and has been noted by many music critics as being the Beach Boys’ lowest moment.  You see!  Full House taints everything it touches!

The Rippers eventually threw Uncle Jessie out and replaced him with Barry Williams. You know you suck when Greg Brady can out cool you

However it wasn’t just the Beach Boys fans that hated Uncle Jessie.  In a plot development unheard of in the history of TV fake bands, Uncle Jessie was eventually thrown out of the Rippers!  In the years that he spent running after kids, marrying Aunt Becky and becoming a father to twins Uncle Jesse just wasn’t a bad ass anymore.  So, the group threw him out and replaced him with….get ready for this…Barry Williams!  That’s right.  Greg Brady is even more bad ass then John Stamos!  Who woulda guessed it?  Jesse and the Rippers became Barry and the Rippers while Jesse started another band called Hot Daddy and the Monkey Puppets.  That’s right.  Hot Daddy and the Monkey Puppets.  Where he got this name I don’t know.  I expect it was from a fetish porn tape he found in Danny Tanner’s closet.   Fortunately for us The Monkey Puppets just never caught on but somehow Full House is still in syndication on television.  I swear I will never understand the tastes of the masses.

"Hold me tighter Tony Danza!" Tony Danza and Judith Light made Doo Wop go bad in a "classic" episode of "Who's the Boss"

Tony and the Dreamtones (Who’s the Boss)  The episode of Who’s the Boss which introduced Tony Micelli’s high school doo-wop group The Dreamtones may not be one of the landmark moments in pop culture history, but it had an impact on me when I first saw it, changing the way I watched TV forever.  It was in that episode that I realized that I hated sit-coms, hated Who’s the Boss and hated Tony Danza and Judith Light.  I’m serious!  After watching this episode of Who’s the Boss I barely watched sit-coms again.  Up until that moment I don’t remember seeing an episode of a sit-com so vapid, so banal and so lacking in point…and I have seen every episode of the Brady Bunch!  Who’s the Boss was really a new low for television.

However this is supposed to be about Tony and the Dreamtones, not a critique of Who’s the Boss.  Lemmee see if I can pick through the scars and recall this episode.  Oh dear god!  Twenty minutes of mugging, over acting, unfunny one liners and Tony Danza and Judith Light singing.  It hurts already.

Tony, Angela, Mona and the Dreamtones all proved to be nothing but a bunch of assholes in what was possibly one of the worst episodes of a sit-com ever, making an average episode of "Hello Larry" look like high art

Anyhow, when finding out that they are tearing down their old high school, Tony’s four high school chums, Vinnie, DJ, Satch and Jimbo come looking for Tony to ask him to reunite their old high school doo-wop group so that they can perform a fund raiser to save the school.  At first Tony refuses to rejoin, which would have saved us the next twenty minutes of pain.  But Angela, being the sadist that she is, talks Tony into it.  You see, Tony lost that moment of fame oh so many years ago when he and the Dreamtones didn’t get to perform at their senior prom after they broke up over creative differences, resulting in Tony losing his chance at being something more then just a housekeeper for an annoying yuppie with a bad dye job.  Anyhow, after using Angela’s living room as a rehearsal spac e Angela gets the song “The Book of Love” stuck in her head and that evening Tony catches her singing it in the kitchen.  It seems that Angela also had dreams of singing in front of an audience.  So Tony gets this great idea!  Since Angela talked him into getting back with the Dreamtones they ought to let her sing a number with them!  Great idea – right?  Wrong.  The Dreamtones turn it down immediately without even hearing Angela sing!  Why?  They don’t give a reason.  Their just being assholes.  So Tony throws a temper tantrum and says if Angela doesn’t sing he wont sing either which sees the Dreamtones storming out.  However days later Jimbo returns to the house and says they need Tony back and that Angela can sing too.  However Angela, claiming she has stage fright, says she won’t sing.  Jimbo and Tony leave satisfied.  That’s when Angela admits to her mother Mona that she didn’t have stage fright but went to the Dreamtones and asked them to take Tony back and she wouldn’t sing.  As I said, what a bunch of assholes.  However, the real asshole would be Mona because at the Dreamtones show, during a break between sets, she nearly blows the entire jig when she deliberately tells Tony about Angela’s lie although she promised she wouldn’t!   What a bitch!  So, Tony grabs Angela and pulls her on-stage and as the Dreamtones watch in anger, Tony and Angela start singing an unrehearsed number flawlessly   The crowd goes crazy and in a moment of “if we can’t beat them, join them” the Dreamtones join Tony and Angela on stage and they all create perfect harmony together until the credits roll.  Fade to black.

The Dreamtones were played by real life, and incredibly talented, Los Angeles based doo wop group The Might Echos. Too bad they got mixed up with "Who's the Boss"

Now to be fair, The Dreamtones weren’t all that bad of a singing group.  They are actually really amazing, but this was mainly due to the fact that the producers of Who’s the Boss had the good sense to hire a professional doo-wop group called The Mighty Echoes to sing around Tony Danza.  Based out of Los Angeles, Who’s the Boss was the Mighty Echoes first major television exposure.  Despite the nightmare of having to watch Who’s the Boss, even this cynic can tell you that the Mighty Echoes are full of charisma, energy and perfect pitch harmony.  Obviously the Mighty Echoes were really just the victims of being hired to appear in a badly written sit-com.  But this didn’t stop others from noticing their talent.  The Mighty Echoes would go onto appear on Murphy Brown, and also be featured in an independent film called Wilder Napalm.  However they were not ready to give up their Dreamtones alter egos yet, and reprised their roles years later in the final season of Who’s the Boss.

Were Tony and the Dreamtones a suitable last minute replacement for Wilson Phillips? They are in "Who's the Boss" world

If you thought their first episode was bad wait until you hear THIS!  When Samantha is put in charge of an entertainment committee at her college, Tony tells her that he has a buddy who is a booking agent for Wilson Phillips!  Holy crap!  Wilson Phillips!  Remember them!  I mean, getting them would be better then, say, The Beach Boys or The Mamas and the Papas!  Anyhow, like a total moron, Samantha goes ahead and arranges the whole show and sells tickets before getting ink on a contract and making damn sure that Wilson Phillips is going to show up.  Of course, Tony finds out that his friend was just being a liar and they can’t actually get Wilson Phillips.  But you know how these sit-com plots go.  You’ve seen this one over and over again.  At the last minute Wilson Phillips shows up and sings their next single on the show – right?  Well, surprisingly enough, wrong.  Wilson Phillips does not show up and Samantha is left broken hearted in a sold out auditorium of Wilson Phillips fans getting ready to start a riot.  What is she going to do?  Well she calls the only band she knows and before the first kid can throw a chair Tony comes to the rescue…with his Dreamtones!  Going on stage and performing doo-wop settles down the rowdy college crowd because, man they may not be Wilson Phillips but those cats can jive!  Despite being a group of college kids who were just RIPPED OFF they settle down and rock out to Tony and the Dreamtones.  Yeah.  Okay.  Sure.

Despite appearing on a cultural nightmare like "Who's the Boss," The Mighty Echos are a fantastic group. Go to their web-site and buy their CDs. Tell them Tony Danza sent you

Fuck I hate Who’s the Boss….

Anyhow, despite being a part of the tragic legacy of Who’s the Boss the Mighty Echoes are still together, although the line-up has slightly changed.  If you’re in LA you can watch them perform most days for free at the Farmers Market at 3^rd and Fairfax.  Next time you visit Los Angeles go there yourself and say hello to the Dreamtones.  Don’t give them a hard time about being a part of Who’s the Boss history.  It’s not their fault.  For more information on The Mighty Echoes, as well as how to order your own Mighty Echoes CDs and merchandise, check out their web-site at http://www.mightyechoes.com/cd1.htm

"Just the Ten of Us's" The Lubbock Babes. Could they sing? Well when you are as hot as them, who the hell cares?

The Lubbock Babes (Just the Ten of Us)   Now I know what you’re thinking.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with a singing group consisting of jailbait catholic schoolgirls – right?  Well if it’s t.A.T.u not at all, but when it was the Lubbock Babes from The Growing Pains spin off Just the Ten of Us it’s another story.

For those who may not remember the details of this short lived spin-off, Just the Ten of Us followed the misadventures of Mike Seaver’s gym teacher Coach Graham Lubbock and his very large catholic family (every sperm is sacred you know), which included his four sexy daughters Marie (the prude), Cindy (the ditz), Wendy (the whore) and Brook (the brain) who are the only four girls attending the all boys prep school that Coach Lubbock teaches at.  In the beginning most of the plots revolved around the overprotective Graham flipping out every time one of his daughters set their sights on a boy, or if a boy even so much as talked to one of his daughters.  Anyhow, after fifteen episodes of that the producers realized that plots were getting a little thin and it might be time to do something new.  That’s when some Einstein got the great idea to turn the girls into a band!  I mean, it worked for the Bradys…right?  I mean the girls were cute, sexy and fun.  It could be a big hit!  However there was one problem.  The actresses who played the girls, Heather Langenkamp, Jamie Lunar, Brooke Thiess and JoAnn Willet were completely tone deaf.  They couldn’t sing a note.  I mean, imagine four Mrs. Miller’s but with a lot more sex appeal.  That’s how bad they were.  So the producers of Just the Ten of Us hoped that if the girls just bumped and grind a lot that viewers would be too busy getting turned on by the girls then actually paying attention to their singing ability.  It just might work!  Thus, the Lubbock Babes were born.

A little bumping and grinding sure goes a long way in order to make the audience forget that the Lubbock Babes sort of sound like a Mrs. Miller album

It all started when the girls made a demo recording of “Rock Around the Clock” at a local mall and proudly brings it home to their parents.  Mom Elizabeth loves it, but obviously love is deaf.  I’m sure Yoko Ono’s Mom probably thought she was a lovely singer too.  However, Graham gives the girls the only decent piece of advice and in an attempt to try to crush his daughter’s ambitions explains that they can never make a living as singers.  Big mistake Dad.  The girls decide to prove him wrong and without the permission of their parents enter a talent contest at a local pizza place called Danny’s where they gyrate, grind and molest the crowd…while choking out a limp version of Steppenwolf’s classic metal song “Born to Be Wild.”  I can still hear John Kay’s screams of despair to this day! Anyhow, the crowd goes wild, which makes me believe that there was either the pizza parlor was hosting a meeting consisting of the hearing impaired or jailbait anonymous, which has Danny hire the girls to perform at the restaurant every Saturday and Sunday night for fifty bucks a show!  The girls figured they must have hit the big time, but they don’t know how to tell their Dad.  So, that Saturday they decided that instead of telling their folks that they got a job and can help contribute to a household in which their one father has to make a living to feed ten people that they’d steal their Dad’s car instead to sing at Danny’s.  Anyhow, youngest sister Sherry rats the older girls out, which leads Graham and Elizabeth to race to Danny’s just in time to watch Marie let her inner slut out as she murders Ray Charles’ soul masterpiece “Unchain My Heart.”  It’s not until he hears the response of the audience that Graham has a change of heart and apologizes for getting in the way of their dreams.  Obviously as a result of the reaction of the crowd of drooling perverts he realized that he could exploit the girls and turn himself into a white Joe Jackson.  In the end the Lubbock Babes kept their job, and from there on the girl’s singing group was featured prominently as part of the show.

Fortunately the show would only last one more season after the debut.  The official reason for the cancellation has been said to be network politics, but I truly believe that somebody stopped watching the girls wiggle and started actually listening to them sing, thus realizing that they didn’t have a good thing going.  Sure, the girls may have been the sexiest TV fake band of all time, but if that couldn’t stop the show from being cancelled God knows their singing wasn’t going to.

The Heights, from the short lived FOX series, had a big hit in 1992 with "How Do You Talk With an Angel"

The Heights (The Heights)  Remember the song “How Do You Talk With an Angel” by the Heights that went to number one on the Billboard Charts in 1992?  Kind of?  Yeah.  I kind of remember it too.  It wasn’t really a classic.  Well you know why you never heard from The Heights again?  Well they weren’t a real band!  That’s right!  In fact they were created for TV by famed TV producer Aaron Spelling.  Never saw the show?  Not a surprise.  I never saw it either.  IIt only lasted thirteen episodes and had the bizarre and cruel fate of being cancelled a week before the band’s song hit number one on the charts.  While the world was digging their song, the kids from The Heights were picking up unemployment checks and looking for new gigs.  Oh the irony.

After his success with Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place Aaron Spelling helped developed The Heights, which was to be a similar teen drama about the members of a rock group.  However, unlike 90210 the kids in The Heights were to be grittier, more rebellious and from blue collar backgrounds.  Beaches and palm trees were replaced with back alleys and warehouses.  I mean, this was the world of rock and roll!  Not a beach party!

In one of television's biggest cases of irony, "How Do You Talk With an Angel" hit number one on the charts a week after the show was cancelled. As a final insult they lost the Emmy for best song to Liza Minnelli

Anyhow, The Heights were made up of grocery stock boy Alex, who auditioned for the band as a guitarist in the premier episode by singing “How Do You Speak to An Angel” while making eyes at Rita, the saxophonist, who was a dispatcher for a beer distributor.  Alex’s presence in the band pissed off regular lead singer JT, who was a mechanic, who had this weird love/hate thing with rich girl Hope, who played guitar.  Rounding out the band was a plumber on drums named Dizzy, a waiter named Lenny on keyboards and pool hall bartender Stan on lead guitar.  Anyways, we never really got to know these kids because the show didn’t last long enough and the song is still more memorable then what actually happened.

Anyhow, after the show was cancelled and the song went to number one, The Heights had one final insult.  In 1993 “How Do You Talk With an Angel” was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of “Outstanding Achievement for Music and Lyrics.”  It didn’t win.  The trophy went to Liza Minnelli for a song called “Sorry I Asked” from a concert special she did.  The world would never hear from The Heights again.  Unfortunately, it would hear more from Liza Minnelli.

Lisa Kudrow as eccentric coffe house musician Pheobe Buffay

Phoebe Buffay (Friends)  The 1990’s saw the rebirth of coffee house culture, which would be beautifully utilized by landmark 90’s sitcom Friends.  But a coffeehouse can’t be complete without the presence of a pretentious artistic musician of questionable quality.  Such a character has been the mainstay in coffee houses ever since they were invaded by beatniks in the 1950’s, and on Friends the role was fit perfectly by Lisa Kudrow’s space cadet alter ego Phoebe Buffay.  Setting up at the Daily Perk coffee shop Phoebe would entertain, and often horrify, patrons with songs with such unlikely titles as “Su Su Suicide,” “Ode to Public Hair,” “The Double Jointed Boy” and her most famous song, “Smelly Cat.”  “Smelly Cat” would be so popular that it would become a reoccurring gag and even have plots revolving around the song throughout the series.

Lisa Kudrow tapped into the psyche of the "girl with a guitar" trend that dominated the 90's with songs such as "Double Jointed Boy" and "Su Su Suicide"

Phoebe Buffay’s simple shocking songs were all written by Lisa Kudrow herself, who although offered to be given guitar lessons by the producers of the show, thought it would be funnier if she couldn’t actually play the guitar and opted to just learn a minimal amount of chords.  Kudrow was right, and the fact that Phoebe was awful was what made her music so memorable and loved by viewers!

"Smelly Cat" became so popular that it is possibly the most recognized song from friends, only after The Rembrandts "I'll Be There For You"

Although she hides behind a sweet exterior, Phoebe Buffay had lived a hard life on the streets of New York.  Abandoned after her mother’s suicide, making friends with some of New York’s seedier characters and being homeless at times, Phoebe played guitar, be it badly, in order to make money to stay alive.  It is her real life experiences on the brutal New York streets which were the inspirations for her music.  Obviously, a nameless mangy stray cat was the subject matter of :”Smelly Cat,” which tells the story of a neglected cat which has been fed bad food by its owners.  “Smelly Cat” first appeared in am episode where Phoebe develops a rivalry with a new, and far better, coffee house performer who is stealing her thunder at the Daily Perk played by rocker Chrissie Hynde.  The song was supposed to be a throw away, however a scene shot for the credits at the end showing Phoebe trying to teach Hynde to play “Smelly Cat” became a fan favorite moment.  On the Friends soundtrack Phoebe and Hynde’s redid the scene, as well as recorded a new version of “Smelly Cat” which increased its popularity.  “Smelly Cat” would gain its own success in the Friends universe later when it was sold as a cat litter commercial by Phoebe’s ex-partner Leslie who co-wrote the song.  Later Phoebe would “record” a professional version of “Smelly Cat,” but her voice would be replaced by the sound engineer by someone else’s without Phoebe’s realization.  Yet the biggest shock would come when Phoebe met her real father after years of searching for him, to find that a lullaby he used to sing to her called “Sleepy Girl” used the melody to “Smelly Cat,” which stuck in her subconscious and was recycled later.

Lisa Kudrow wrote all her own songs, and the worst the songs got, the more endearing they were to "Friends" fans

However the Daily Perk wasn’t the only place Phoebe would be appreciated.  When she was hired by a daycare operator, played by Chris Issac, to entertain kids, Phoebe unleashed songs such as “Barnyard Animals” about the slaughter of farm animals for food, :”The Grandma Song,” about death and “Bi-Sexuals,” about sexual preferences.  This got her fired from the daycare, but she gained a following as a children’s entertainer when groups of school children showed up at the coffee house looking for what they called “the woman who sings about the truth.”  That’s one way of putting it, and is possibly why viewers couldn’t get enough of Phoebe’s music.