As I explained in the last blog, finding the Sockheads had a massive impact on me as a kid.
But meeting this crew of Sifl and Olly fans wasn’t just huge because I found a community. It was big on the development of my tastes.
Because the show was so heavy with music – including style parodies of artists like David Bowie and Guns N Roses – it’s no surprise that the email list had a significant crossover with music fans and musicians alike. Notably, garage rock legend Paul Caporino of the band M.O.T.O. prominently posted to the list.
At age 11, I learned about bands like The Pixies, Soul Coughing, Guster, and countless forgotten regional acts. Plus, I discovered the sheer existence of college radio, thanks to the number of college DJs that the S&O humor seemed to attract.
One friend I made on the list, Glenn “Dr. Funk” Case, was incredibly supportive of my childhood interest in music. I had a 3/4-size Samick acoustic guitar with minimal idea of tuning. I would record songs into whatever tape recorders I had around the house.
Glenn accessed the internet using WebTV – a service that allowed people without computers to “surf the web” on their television sets. WebTV provided a self-publishing platform, and Glenn suitably used part of his to make a Sifl and Olly site.
The late ’90s were weird.
I can even remember exchanging voice messages with Glenn through some strange service that required codes from bottles of Coca-Cola to send and receive. This was the pre-cellphone era when AT&T’s conglomerate long-distance charges made landline calls a luxury.
Anyway, his site featured guitar chords and tabs of the songs from the show. Many hours were spent figuring out how to play them on that plunky detuned Samick. Those tabs would help me accomplish the next big project I had as a precocious 11-year-old kid.
Not to break the transition or anything, but I think I need to note that from this point forward, I’m going to refer to Glenn as “Dr. Funk.” It’s more fun to type, it’s more fun to read, and it’s more fun to imagine you reading it in your own voice in your head right now. Also, you can check out some music he’s released under his real name, Glenn Case, as background music as you listen.
Inspiring the Sifl and Olly tribute album
When I first started making websites and exploring fandom, “Weird Al” Yankovic was my biggest interest. One thing that fascinated about the fan community was that they had come together to create a tribute album.
Tribute albums are compilations made by fans to express their appreciation for an artist. They’re usually distributed free online or via mail order, as they’re rarely cleared for any commercial release. What I thought was cool about the idea was the variety of musical styles and interpretations. Fans would put their own spin on the original songs to more experimental and creative arrangements.
For Weird Al fans, this existed in a 1996 compilation called Prosthetic Lips. However, that album – only available via mail order cassette – was compiled long before I even had a guitar. I wanted to be involved, but it was much too late.
But it wasn’t for Sifl and Olly. While there was a tribute song from a college band with the questionable and regrettable name Tricky Dick and the Hot Freshman Girls who wrote a tribute song about the show. I can’t find that track online anywhere, but they also contributed a track to a Ween tribute album that popped up on YouTube.
Anyway, while sending an email to the Sockheads about something unrelated, I ended with a postscript asking if anyone had considered a tribute album.
Dr. Funk was the first person to get in on the action. He had been looking for a music project to learn home recording and was saving up for a TASCAM 4-track recorder. He thought a Sifl and Olly tribute album was a great project to tackle, and even had some pretty stellar ideas.
On top of taking the reigns of organizing and compiling, he could also make backing tracks for other members who were less musically inclined. They could record their vocals on a cassette tape, mail it to Dr. Funk, and he’d then make a backing track on his 4-track to dub the vocals back into.
Amazingly, Dr. Funk’s page on the tribute album still exists. Here’s his take on it (edited to reflect my name change and pronouns… more on that in a future blog):
The whole project has taken an absolutely insane amount of time. The whole project started from a post to the Sockheads list by J Channell, they asked if the Sockheads had considered doing a Sockheads tribute album. While I was cleaning out my hotmail e-mail account one day and getting rid of the mail I didn’t want or need anymore, I ran across J’s e-mail and thought…. “Why not, let’s do it!”
The next few months were fun, lots of e-mails back and forth trying to figure out who was going to be part of it for sure, me getting a P.O. Box, and people actually sending the tapes with their songs on it. I fondly remember checking my P.O. Box nearly on a daily basis and being surprised with some of the talent on this list as I popped the tapes in my Walkman while walking to work. We initially had about 60 entries, but only 23 of them ended up on the CD (only 23 people actually completed their songs).
Creating the tribute album
With Dr. Funk involved, the Sockheads community took it much more seriously than a P.S. from an 11-year-old. They were intelligent folks.
From there, the musicians in the group started calling dibs on songs and figuring out how they’d record and get the pieces to Dr. Funk. The preferred method was mailing an audio tape, as this was before convenient file sharing existed. Once all of that was done, he planned to make a final master that another group member would dupe to a CD that could be burned to CD-Rs and shared.
Anyone with a CD burner and time was enlisted to aid in the distribution. You’d send a blank CD-R, prepaid shipping envelope, and a certain amount of money for the insert printing (if you wanted). Then, get back the final copy, as it was manufactured by another fan.
I can’t remember everyone that was involved. Still, I know Alison H, one of the email list moderators, took a significant part in it. I believe she provided the copy I owned.
However, this production involved neither Tricky Dick nor his Hot Freshman Girls.
I was asked to create the cover art because I was the originator of the idea. That’s when I booted up my trusty copy of iPhoto Plus – a poor kid’s freeware alternative to Photoshop. It was not going to look good.
But we’d have to record the album before the manufacturing could happen.