A while ago I looked back at the career of Pookiesnackenburger, who were a comedy musical sextet. They released the single “Just One Cornetto” in the early-80s, but this wasn’t a success, and they appeared on a few TV shows, including No. 73. By the mid-80s they had their own show on Channel 4, where they showed off their unusual combination of comedy and music.
But not long after this though, they went their separate ways, although two of them, Luke and Steve, remained together, and a launched a new group. They were now called The Yes/No People, and in November 1987 they had another attempt at achieving a hit single when “Mr Johnson” was released. There was a video made for this, plus some TV appearances, and there must’ve been hope that this would put them into the chart at last.
This was in a slightly different style, following on from their comedy songs. One critic said that “Mr Johnson” was “a funky, dense, no-escape-possible pop tune, ready for the dance floor”. But this wasn’t a huge success however, and reached only an unofficial no. 99. Having just scraped into the Top 100, also in the late-80s, they performed the theme to the short-lived Channel 4 music show Wired. This had an impressive for the time computer-generated opening sequence, which even surpassed anything that even The Chart Show could offer.
It was at about this point that The Yes/No People came to an end as well. But they had become known for making music without using conventional instruments, such as banging dustbin lids together, tapping milk bottles, and so on, all whilst performing dance routines. By the early-90s, Luke and Steve realised that there was a chance that this could be a successful idea, and they launched another new group, this one was called Stomp.
This was then turned into a stage show which has played theatres around the world, with various people taking part, although they have remained at the core, so fame did eventually come their way. They even performed the theme to CBBC’s Blue Peter, which was used for about five years, but was something of a racket compared to their earlier work.
And rather curiously, there was a recent episode of the animated sitcom American Dad, where the family buy the rights to a stage musical, which turns out to be Stomp, and we even see them perform this, with all of the dustbins and the like. So I suppose if you ever want to see a revival of this show, you should contact the fictional character Stan Smith.
ADAM'S NOSTALGIC MEMORIES 