It is fair to say that Spike Jones was in his own category. By late 1942 with the release of “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” Spike Jones and his City Slickers were the most popular comedy band in the world. The next 20 years were very busy for Jones before ill health cut short his life.
Spike Jones actually began his career as a jazz and studio drummer. Few probably know that he was the drummer on Bing Crosby’s original recording of “White Christmas.” However Jones, while not being a verbal comedian himself, loved creating unusual sounds on his drum set in his spare time, he listened closely to the other more humorous bands, and he came up with his own conception.
A natural-born salesman and a workaholic who was very open to new ideas if they were funny enough, he gathered together skilled and versatile musicians (most notably trumpeter George Rock) and unique comedians for his City Slickers. His band was heard at its best on such classic satires as their versions of “Cocktails For Two” and “Chloe,” and their stage shows were quite riotous. Spike Jones and the City Slickers specialized at making fun of the more pompous side of classical music (which Jones actually loved), pop singers, overly sentimental ballads, and boring dance bands, often really tearing apart the music with bizarre sounds.
The fourth edition of Jordan R. Young’s 484-page Spike Jones Off The Record ha
