Dennis and
Jimmy Flemion are the two most
twisted music-making brothers in the world. Their band is The Frogs, and they're one of
my favorites. Dennis plays
drums, Jimmy plays
guitar, they both sing, and a lot of other people, including
Jay Tiller,
Kelley Deal,
Brian "Beezer" Hill, and
King Roesser play
bass. They started playing live around
Milwaukee since
1980. In
1983, Jimmy started wearing
huge-assed wings on stage. Although
they didn't release anything for years, they were
home-taping practicioners, and they finally issued a self-titled compilation in
1988. Now it had some pretty bizarre songs, but nothing in comparison to the second collection they released in
1989.
Gerard Cosloy helmed up the compilation of It's Only Right and Natural for Homestead Records, which I think was actually one of his last projects for them that he did before he left to start Matador Records. The album was a suite of tunes mockingly preaching gay supremacy. Of course a lot of people were infuriated for various reasons, but then a lot of people were also instant fans of the group.
Their next album that was set to come out was Racially Yours, where the brothers took turns with white and black supremacy stereotypes in the same vein of their last collection. It didn't get released for some 7 years due to label bankruptcy and chickenshittedness by any label considering a release of it, since it would probably polarize people a lot more heavily than the last album.
So the brothers released tapes of songs to mailing lists, and generally got talked about and name-dropped by a lot of bands that enjoyed success during the Alternative Nation days. Loudest of their cheerleaders was Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam who had a habit of playing It's only Right and Natural for stadium crowds, some of whom I'm sure were totally confused with what they were hearing, that is if they were sober enough to understand. He also pimped them heavily on his radio broadcast specials, where he was taking time trying to be America's very own John Peel.
In 1994 Cosloy (now at Matador) got back to them again, to release a limited edition single from the Racially Yours sessions called "Now You Know You're Black", and then in 1996 the label released a compilation of songs from the mailing list tapes called My Daughter The Broad.
In 1997 they moved to Scratchie Records and issued the Starjob EP, which was produced by Billy Corgan. The EP was more-or-less an examination of a 90's alternative rock star, with a number of sly Kurt Cobain references thrown in for comparison-drawing nuts out there. In 1999 the band released an album of new material called Bananimals on Four Alarm Records, and in 2000 Four Alarm finally issued the Racially Yours album. Their next new album tenatively comes out Spring 2001 on Scratchie.
Wesley Willis wrote a song about the Frogs. He played it with the
Fiasco, and it was on a split 7" that came out
a few years back on
Sympathy for the Record Industry, it's also on
Greatest Hits Volume 2 on
Alternative Tentacles.
This band played at the Empty Bottle
About 200 people were at the show
The Jam Session Was awesome!
It whupped a pony's ass!
The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs
The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs
The band played it on
The band got down like a Magikist
The crowd roared like a lion
The jam session whupped a horses' ass!
The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs
The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs
The rock show was over at last
A lot of people met the band
The jam session was awe-some!
It whipped a jackass with a belt
It was a jam session!
I like them!
I love them!
They're my favorite band in the whole wide world!
They're smart dressers!
They're nice guys!
They're on this record on the other side!
The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs
The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs
The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs
The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs, The Frogs
Rock over london, rock on chicago!
Arby's, different is good!
Rock saddam hussein's ass!