"You do that again and I'll tell Mom!"

"I want to go down to the ice cream shop/I don't care what you read about Dr Spock/ I'm gonna eat ice cream 'till I rot in hell/I don't care what you think, I'll get another pair of parents who'll give me ice cream all day unless you gimme some now!/ 'cause ice cream is better than you Mom and Dad."

Happy Flowers - Not Fade Away

I was inspired to take my beloved Happy Flowers albums off the shelf after reading the update regarding their use as an interrogation tool (click on the link above for the story).

So on the turntable went Making the Bunny Pay(a collection of their first two eps), and then on to their full-length releases My Skin Covers My Body, I Crush Bozo and Lasterday I Was Been Bad. I never picked up a copy of Oof, an oversight I cannot explain.

This is what you need to know: The Happy Flowers were/are/and ever shall be a duo of Mr Anus (guitar, bass, noise, yelling) and Mr Horribly-Charred-Infant (guitar, bass, drums, noise and more yelling). All their songs are from the perspective of a maladjusted eight year old. This explains why we get songs entitled "Mom, I Gave the Cat Some Acid", "Jenny Tried to Kiss Me at Recess", "My Frisbee went under a Lawnmower", "I'm the Stupid One", "The Vacuum Ate Timmy", and "If It was Broken You'd be Screaming". The latter, I swear was something my Mom once said to me.

It's tough being a kid.

They also performed a choice selection of covers: the Silver Apples' "A Pox on You", Big Star's "Thirteen" and Nick Drake's "Know" as well as a medley of "Hungry Like a Wolf" and the "Theme from the Love Boat". The songs don't sound a whole lot like the originals.

I could go all rockcrit and talk about the band's transcendent use of feedback...but that wouldn't be right. It's all just an hilarious gut churning racket.

The Happy Flowers are clearly not for everyone. I once made a best-of compilation for a friend and all I got in return was a look of blank incomprehension.

There you go.