Bo-Day-Shus!!!: Mojo Nixon
Posted by: zac | From: June 18, 2004
Alright friends, It's skeleton in the closet time. Today I've decided to bestow upon myself a dubious distinction--an action that could forever alter the course of GBoAT history. I have decided today to author the first ever Greatest Novelty Band of All-Time. And I'm sorry if you loose respect for me forever.
Growing up in my stilted hometown of Everett, Washington, decent employment options limited, which is why it's all the more amazing that I was able to somehow weasel my way into the rarest of rare commodities: the coveted used record store job. And with this power, they say, came great responsibility. I had roughly eight hours a day to use the vast library before my to expand my limited knowledge, appreciation, and understanding of things spinning and circular. I took this responsibility very seriously, despite the fact that the selection in a used record store in a no-name Washingtonian city is of a little less depth than one would hope.
Despite my employer's eccentricities (he once infamously shot three "warning shots" at a shoplifting assailant in the middle of the city's populous downtown for the price of three Pink Floyd CDs), we got along famously--a mutual understanding that can be summarized in a short list of shared favorites: They Might Be Giants, Oingo Boingo, and Mojo Nixon. There was always a din of excitement whenever the rare record by any of these artists found its way into the store--a ceremonial pause as we both listened from beginning to end. and while his have probably had the shortest of shelf-lives of the three (most of the jokes long dated by the time I ever heard them), the albums of Mojo Nixon still hold a closeted place in my heart.
Beginning his career in San Diego in 1983, Mojo Nixon (born Neill Kirby McMillan, Jr.) and long-time collaborator Skid Roper signed to American indie Enigma in 1985, which began a recording legacy of college radio novelty hits that combined a roots-rock framework with Mojo's ridiculous backwoods persona--a mixture sophomoric sexual obsession and less-than-subtle liberal pseudo-politics. The song titles really speak for themselves: "Jesus at McDonald's," Stuffin' Martha's Muffin" (a tribute to MTV VJ Martha Quinn), "Burn Down the Malls," "I Hate Banks," "Debbie Gibson is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child," "Bring Me the Head Of David Geffen," and probably his most notable hit "Elvis Is Everywhere."
Nixon developed something of a cult following in the late '80s with a string of minor hits, enough to land him a part-time gig on MTV (later severed when the network refused to air the video for "Debbie Gibson...," which featured Winona Ryder in the titular role), and a number of--as he puts it--"Shitty movie roles" (including the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire!, The Super Mario Bros., Car 54, Where Are You?, and Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever); all while releasing the most notable works of his career (1986's Frenzy and Get Out of My Way, '87's Bo-Day-Shus!!!, '89's Root Hog or Die). Splitting with Skid Roper in 1990 in pursuit of a full band, Nixon's career began to deteriorate-- both artistically and financially. Enigma went bankrupt, and Nixon began (as so many artists do when they have worn out their social welcome) releasing material on any random label willing put out poorly designed products for the discount bin. Outside of a few memorable moments (his collaboration with fellow living cartoon Jello Biafra, and his cover of the Smiths' "Girlfriend in a Coma," come to mind), Mojo wound down the tail-end of his career in cult obscurity, finally officially retiring earlier this year with the statement "I have nothing more to say. Not only am I empty, but obviously nobody gives a rat's ass about the things I have been saying for twenty years." He's now an afternoon drive DJ in San Diego.
He once starred as the Ghost of Rock n Roll in a movie starring Cory Feldman. What more does it take to be the Greatest Band of All Time?
I pissed in an adjacent urinal next to Mojo back in 1986 at the West End in Chicago. Recently I hear he was temporarily coming out of retirement to support Kinky Friedman's run for Governor of Texas.
Posted by: curt the jerk at August 11, 2006 08:28 AM
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that is a SKELETON, man.
Posted by: scott at June 21, 2004 12:55 PM