It's the early '70s, payola is (supposedly) illegal, and you want to get a song on the radio. What do you do? Well, the subtler method is to write a song about how cool it is to be listening to the radio...less subtly, you can write a song drooling all over an influential DJ - and, if you're even less subtle, hire the DJ himself to babble over your tribute to him. Do you think he'll play the record? Check the record, check the guy's track record: the Guess Who song reached #6; Rundgren, being the perverse fella that he is, didn't bother releasing his song as a single.
The Guess Who "Clap for the Wolfman"
Todd Rundgren "Wolfman Jack"
ps: The whole "pompitous/pompatus" thing is rather amusing - I'll let you google away to your heart's content - but here's an odd little page that suggests that "pompatus" is an actual word...pertaining in some way to spiders. Curious and curioser...especially since this is the only page on the web wherein "pompatus oningis" is mentioned. Oops.
1 comment:
In a similar vein, Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids hired Wolfman Jack to add some voiceovers for their "Did You Boogie (With Your Baby?)" single. Not a tribute to the DJ, exactly, but definitely a tribute to the old-time-rock-and-roll he used to play. And, yep, it was a hit, too.
--
James
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