Dickie Goodman: Difference between revisions

In June 1956, Goodman created his first record, "[[The Flying Saucer (song)|The Flying Saucer Parts 1 & II]]", which he co-wrote with his partner [[Bill Buchanan (songwriter)|Bill Buchanan]], and which was a four-minute rewrite of [[Orson Welles]]' ''[[The War of the Worlds (radio)|War of the Worlds]]'' radio show.<ref>{{cite news |first=Willard |last=Jim |title= Zany recording artists took humor to the skies |publisher=[[Daily Reporter-Herald]] |page=B2 |date= April 25, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Osborne |last=Jerry |title= The Flying Saucer' was first novelty break-in hit |publisher=St. Petersburg Times |page=13 |date=May 12, 1995 }}</ref> This recording was the subject of a [[copyright infringement]] case against Goodman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-case-for-old-napster-dickie-goodmans-son-reveals-fathers-legacy-in-book-and-fights-for-it-in-lawsuit-73270132.html |title=New Case for Old 'Napster'; Dickie Goodman's Son Reveals Father's Legacy in Book and Fights for It in Lawsuit|publisher=[[PR Newswire]] |access-date=November 25, 2014}}</ref> The court eventually ruled his sampled mix was considered a parody and thus an entirely new work.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}} The record "[[The Flying Saucer (song)|The Flying Saucer]]" was officially released under the artist name "Buchanan and Goodman" and was Goodman's highest-charting single on ''Billboard'', peaking at No. 3. Two months later, it was re-released as "Back To Earth". Buchanan and Goodman followed up with five other records: "Buchanan and Goodman on Trial" (#80 in 1956) (originally called, "Public Opinion"), "Banana Boat Story" (in which the duo used a single song, the Tarriers' "Banana Boat Song", as a break-in spoof of broadcast commercials), "Flying Saucer the 2nd" (#18 in 1957), "The Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie)" (by Buchanan and Ancell) (#85 in 1957), "[[Santa and the Satellite|Santa and the Satellite (Parts I & II)]]" (#32 in 1957) and "Frankenstein Of `59" / "Frankenstein Returns" (Feb. 1959). Both Buchanan and Goodman attempted to continue with the break-in approach after their breakup, but only Goodman had sustained success. Buchanan's later collaboration with Brill Building legend [[Howard Greenfield]] was not as successful.

There were some lawsuits filed against Buchanan and Goodman for the use of unlicensed materials. The couple had operated their business from a telephone booth at a pharmacy. While the couple got richer, the courts,court however,cases ate up the profits. (Source:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Uslan |first=Michael |title=Dick Clark's: The first 25 years of Rockrock and& Roll.roll |last2=Clark |first2=Dick |last3=Solomon |first3=Bruce |date=1983 |publisher=Greenwich House : Distributed by Crown Publishers |isbn=978-0-517-41597-9 |edition=1983 ed |location=New 1981)York}}</ref>

With Mickey Shorr in 1959, Goodman recorded two singles under the name '"Spencer and Spencer'" , both of which relied much less on sampling and more on [[sketch comedy]]. "Russian Bandstand" was a re-imagining of the then-popular TV series ''[[American Bandstand]]'' set in a totalitarian [[Soviet Union]]. "Stagger Lawrence" imposed [[Lloyd Price]]'s recording of "[[Stagger Lee (song)|Stagger Lee]]" onto a spoof of ''[[The Lawrence Welk Show]]'', borrowing heavily from an earlier Welk parody done by [[Stan Freberg]]. Neither recording with Shorr was as popular as the recordings Goodman made with Buchanan.

Starting in 1961, Goodman released his pieces as a solo artist. He scored three [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] hits based on the hit TV series ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'': "The Touchables" (#60), "The Touchables in Brooklyn" (#42), and "Santa and the Touchables" (#99). Also in 61'61 Dickie Goodman released several of his own self -performed Halloween -themed songs with Rori and; eventually these were released as an album, with the most successful track being "Horror Movies", about favorite pop culture movie monsters. The song has recently experienced a new found interest, released as background music in several films and venues, to include-including [[Adam Sandler]]'s ''[[Hubie Halloween]]'' on [[Netflix]], [[Amazon Primes'sPrime]] series, ''The Lake'', [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]/[[Hulu|HULU]] series ''Extraordinary'' and Universal Orlando's Halloween Nights.

In 1962, Goodman spoofed ''[[Ben Casey]]'' with "Ben Crazy" (#44). In 1966, his spoof of ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' resulted in "Batman & His Grandmother" (#70). He also released a full album, "''The Many Heads Of Dickie Goodman"'', which included most of most of his break-ins up to that point.

In 1963 while working at 20th Century Fox Records, Dickie Goodman's JFK Tributetribute Albumalbum (''John F Kennedy The Presidential Years'') was composed of Kennedy's famous speeches and became the #8 Album Of The Year in Billboard and is archived by The Henry Ford Museum.

In 1969, Goodman parodied the political unrest on college campuses with "[[On Campus]]" (#45) and the [[Apollo 11|first Moon landing]] with "[[Luna Trip]]" (#95). [[Jack Spector|Vik Venus]]' Goodman-like "Moonflight" reached an even higher No. 38 on 9 August 1969, one week after "On Campus" peaked. Goodman's records also inspired [[KQV]] morning disc jockey Bob DeCarlo to cut his own sample-spliced top 10 hit "Convention '72" asunder bythe name [[the Delegates]]. Goodman himself spoofed political issues such as the [[Watergate scandal]] with "[[Watergrate]]" (#42 in 1973), the 1973 energy crisis with "[[Energy Crisis '74]]" (#33 in 1974), and [[Richard Nixon]] with "[[Mr. President (1974 Dickie Goodman single)|Mr. President]]" (#73 in 1974). Goodman failed to chart with a different version of "[[Mr. President (1981 Dickie Goodman single)|Mr. President]]" in 1981 after [[Ronald Reagan]] became president.

In 1975, Goodman parodied the film ''[[Jaws (movie)|Jaws]]'' with "[[Mr. Jaws]]" (#4 in 1975), becoming Goodman's biggest-selling record by achieving [[R.I.A.A.]] [[music recording sales certification|gold disc]] status in September 1975.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book| first= Joseph| last= Murrells| year= 1978| title= The Book of Golden Discs| edition= 2nd| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd.| location= London| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/358 358]| isbn= 0-214-20512-6| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/358}}</ref> The record shot to No. 1 on 11 October 1975 on Chicago's [[WLS (AM)|WLS]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldiesloon.com/il/wls751011.htm|title=Musicradio Survey|publisher=WLS|date=1975-10-11|access-date=2020-08-10}}</ref> who played a customized version featuring "This is Dickie Goodman at WLS ..." at the beginning. "Mr. Jaws" also charted top ten in Great Britain and won a JUNO award in Canada.

Goodman's final chart record was "Kong" (#48 in 1977), spoofing the 1976 ''[[King Kong (1976 film)|King Kong]]'' film remake, followed by others that failed to chart in the Top 100. "Hey ET", based on [[Steven Spielberg|Spielberg]]'s movie ET[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|E.T. the Extraterrestrial]], was Dickie Goodman's last release to reach Billboard's Bubbling Under chart (Top 200). Altogether, Goodman charted seventeen hits, with five of them reaching the [[top 40]]. Joel Whitburn's, Billboard Top Pop Singles listed Dickie Goodman's Billboard ranking at #1 (17 in the Top 100) for Comedy and Guinness World Records certified Dickie Goodman for the most Billboard Charted comedy hits (17).<ref>{{Cite web |title= |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/77013-most-billboard-chart-entries-comedy-records}}<nowiki/ref> Goodman produced several other break-in records which garnered airplay and charted only in regional areas, usually Los Angeles and New York City, but in a few other areas as well.

Dickie Goodman was posthumously awarded a GRAMMYGrammy for his original first hit record "The Flying Saucer" on [[Rhino Entertainment|RHINO]]'s CD set ''Brain In A Box'' (2000).