WHAT HAPPENED TO ROCK LAUGHTER?

Where is the fun in rock these days? I remember the time when The Barron Knights charted with parodies of other beat group era heroes and when the Bonzos kept us all entertained with their antics. But where are the rock humorists today? Please advise. Mike Riley, via e-mail

Fred says: Yes, it’s true – the spirit of Spike Jones, Tom Lehrer and Stan Freberg has sorely waned. Record companies, while promoting a flurry of stand-ups, don’t appreciate musical jokers. Frank Sinatra proved the point when he recorded the brilliantly tongue-in-cheek There’s A Flaw In My Flue, decked it out in a gorgeous Nelson Riddle arrangement then delivered it to Capitol who thought it was a great romantic ballad. Along the way we’ve had a decent supply of chuckle vendors, including Spinal Tap, Tenacious D, The Hee Bee Gee Bees and Ian Dury, as well as more recent sharp parodies by Adam & Joe and Flight Of The Conchords, while Weird Al Yankovic has continued to amuse – am I alone in believing that his Word Crimes is brilliant? But I guess rock does lack a surfeit of humour these days. Is there a really hilarious rock-comedy act anywhere out there? Readers’ thoughts on the subject are eagerly awaited here at Ask Fred Central. Fred says: The biggest array of Grateful Dead concert recordings I know can be found at Internet Archive (https://www. Archive.org/), which houses an incredible 10,365 concerts, spanning 1965-1995, in playable, legally downloadable form. Additionally, the Archive is a home for 1,114 concerts by Smashing Pumpkins, along with live recordings by Little Feat (642 shows), Ryan Adams (541), Ween (515), My Morning Jacket (349), Camper Van Beethoven (343), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (175), Robyn Hitchcock (124), Elliott Smith (105) and scores of others. Plenty of listening there while waiting for Armageddon or that great Lottery win, whichever comes first.

Dellar’s dossier opens with Dead bootlegs, hip jargon and Queen’s purple 7-inch.