The "Insane World Of Mike Sain" airs every Wednesday at 9:00 AM Eastern Time on WPON-AM 1460 Detroit. This morning's theme was "Twilight Zone" featuring mostly novelty songs with a macabre feel.
Note: Many of the songs listed below are included on the following CDs: Brain in a Box: The Science Fiction Collection [BOX SET] [SOUNDTRACK]; Golden Age of American Rock'N'Roll: Special Novelty Edition.
- Theme From "The Twilight Zone" TV Series - 1960
- Out Of Limits - The Marketts - 1964
- Flip Top Box - Dicky Doo And The Dont's - 1958
- Mope Itty Mope - The Boss-Tones - 1959
- I Hear Voices - Screamin' Jay Hawkins - 1962 (by request)
- The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley - 1958
- Tarantula - The Tarantulas - 1960 (by request)
- Martian Hop - The Ran-Dells - 1963
- The Flying Saucer Parts 1 & 2 - Buchanan And Goodman - 1956
- I Want My Baby Back - Jimmy Cross - 1965 (by request)
- Time Machine - Dante And The Evergreens - 1960
- Telstar - The Ventures - 1963
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Notes:
- The famous theme from Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone" TV series is a splice of two short compositions by French avant-garde classical musical composer Marius Constant (d. 2004). The signature repeating 4-note sequence, played on electric guitar, was taken from Constant's "Etrange #3," and the rest of the "Twilight Zone" theme, which uses bongos, brass, and flutes, was taken from his "Milieu #2." Marius Constant's "Twilight Zone" theme was first used in the fall of 1960 during the show's second season.
- The Marketts were an LA-based instrumental ensemble with several hits from 1962-1966 that included their 1964 futuristic surf rock hit, "Out Of Limits." "Out Of Limits" kicks off with a four-note theme very similar to that of "The Twilight Zone." Many years later, the Marketts became the New Marketts and had one R&B chart hit in 1976 with "Song From M*A*S*H."
- Best known for their 1958 chart debut song, "Click-Clack," Dicky Doo and the Dont's got their group name from Dick Clark's son's nickname, Dicky Doo. This group made a splash in 1958 with several chart hits that include "Flip Top Box." Dicky Doo and the Don'ts was formed by singer, songwriter, and producer Gerry Granahan who had a Top 40 hit in 1958 with "No Chemise, Please." Although "Click-Click" was credited to Dicky Doo and the Don'ts, this song was actually performed by Gerry Granahan. Granahan used the "Dicky Doo and the Dont's" moniker because he wanted to release "Click Clack" with Swan Records while avoiding certain legal hassles with Sunbeam, the record company under which he had a contract at the time. After "Click-Clack" became a success a group of four backing musicians (Harvey Davis, Al Ways, Ray Gangi, and Dave Alldred) was quickly assembled, and they, along with Gerry Granahan, went on to record several more hit songs with Swan as Dicky Doo and the Don'ts.
- The noncharting "Mope-Itty Mope" by the Boss-Tones was released as a single in 1959 (Boss B-401 b/w "Wings Of An Angel"). This song is included on the following CDs: Doo Wop Box; Doo Wop 45's on CD 4 [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]; The Encyclopedia of Doo Wop/The Complete Book of Doo Wop.
- The noncharting and creepy "I Hear Voices" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins was released in 1962 as a single (Enrica 1010 b/w "Just Don't Care"). Screamin' Jay Hawkins is famous for the maniacal oldies classic, "I Put A Spell On You" (1956). "I Hear Voices" is included on the CD, Voodoo Jive: The Best of Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
- Oklahoma-born Sheb Wooley is a singer, songwriter, and actor who has, over the years, appeared in a number of TV shows including "Rawhide." Wooley, who also recorded under the name Ben Colder, had a long string of hits on both the Country (1962-1971) and Pop/Rock (1955-1968) charts and recorded mostly novelty and parody songs. His best known songs include "The Purple People Eater," which topped the Pop/Rock charts in 1958 and is one of this show's featured songs, and "That's My Pa," which topped the Country charts in 1962. "Purple People Eater" was later a minor hit for Dickie Goodman in 1973 (peaking at only #119).
- The Tarantulas first recorded as the Spyders and had some personnel changes before changing their name. Band members included Bobby Tucker, Fred Crook, Dan Rains, Sammy Creason, and Bill English. The Tarantulas' best known song is "Tarantula," an instrumental with sound effects and a spoken introduction. "Tarantula" was recorded at Fernwood studio in Memphis ca. 1960 and was released as a single (Atlantic-2102 b/w "Black Widow"). This song is included on the CD, Fernwood Rock N Roll. After Bill Black passed away in 1965, Bobby Tucker became the lead for the Bill Black Combo and the group, which incorporated other Tarantulas members, recorded until the 1970s.
- The Ran-Dells were a short-lived novelty trio from New Jersey who had only one chart hit with "Martian Hop" in 1963. The Ran-Dells were brothers Steven and Robert Rappaport and cousin John Spirt. "Martian Hop" was one of the first pop tunes to make use of electronic special effects and synthesized sounds.
- "The Flying Saucer Parts 1 & 2" (1956) by Bill Buchanan and Dickie Goodman was the first of a long string of novelty tunes to chart for Dickie Goodman. The similarly titled "Flying Saucer The 2nd" charted soon after in 1957. Buchanan and Goodman are best remembered for their creation of the "break in" record format that consists of snippets of popular tunes spliced together and interspersed with dialog in the form of, e.g., a radio show or an interview.
- Jimmy Cross had only one charted song with "I Want My Baby Back" in 1965. This teenage death song, which makes references to the Shangri-Las' "Leader Of The Pack," consists mostly of long spoken story segments about a guy losing his sweetheart in a grizzly car accident. Jimmy Cross produced the syndicated radio show, "Country Concert."
- Dante and the Evergreens, an early 1960s LA-based novelty group led by Donald Drowty, are best remembered for the 1960 hit, "Alley-Oop." This group had one other Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Time Machine," as featured on today's show.
- The Ventures are best known for "Walk - Don't Run" (1960), "Hawaii Five-O" (1969), and many other surf rock instrumental hits. Their noncharting cover of "Telstar" was included on their 1963 album, "The Ventures Play Telstar, The Lonely Bull And Others" (Dolton Records BLP-2019 and BST-8019). "Telstar" originally topped the charts for the Tornadoes in 1962. Mary Singleton soon after charted with a sung version in 1963 (as "Magic Star (Tel-Star)") which was a minor hit, peaking at only #124. Apollo 100 later also charted with this song on the Adult Contemporary charts in 1972. The version of the Ventures' cover of "Telstar" as played on today's show is included on their Gold CD.
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