music ruined my life: The Toy Dolls: On Stage in Stuttgart (1999)

Friday, March 16, 2012

The Toy Dolls: On Stage in Stuttgart (1999)

Well I had fun getting it ready, by any measure (visits, downloads, comments) I over-reached with this lengthy Toy Dolls series. It's no one's fault but mine for over-estimating the enthusiasm of MRML readers for the band, so I shall wrap it up resonantly quickly and harbour no regrets.

This week MRML celebrates Sunderland, England's The Toy Dolls, a pop-punk-oi trio that have been rocking the world since 1979 under the leadership of singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer/cartoonist/sole original member Olga, by building a list:

Ten Terrific Toy Dolls Traits:

6. The band's influence
The Toy Dolls influence will be felt around the world for years to come. Two aspects of their legacy bear highlighting here:

a. Fat Mike, a declared fan, surely took notes from the band's career trajectory. The Toy Dolls never attempted to follow fashion, as most of their punk peers did. Instead they decided to stick absolutely to their style of punk, even as their musical prowess grew, and to tour relentlessly. This was to prove the exact formula for the bands on Fat Mike's label, Fat Wreck-Chords, which is still going strong today.

b. The band seems to have had a strong influence on a lot of the mid-west punk bands of the nineties. I hear it in Screeching Weasel's lyrics which detail, with humanity and humour, the lives of those around them in songs like "Jeannie's Got a Problem With Her Uterus", in the singing style of Joey from The Vindictives and in just about everything about the ever-mad, Boris The Sprinkler.

Track listing

    Dig That Groove Theme Tune 2:19
    The Lambrusco Kid 2:54
    Idle Gossip 2:12
    Back In '79 2:48
    She's A Leech 2:25
    I've Got Asthma 2:22
    Sabre Dance (Khachaturian) 2:45
    She'll Be Back With Keith Someday 3:43
    Fisticuffs In Frederick Street 4:02
    Bless You My Son 2:00
    My Girlfriends Dads A Vicar 1:08
    Yul Brynner Was A Skinhead 2:56
    Wakey Wakey Theme Tune 0:22
    Stay Mellow 2:04
    Eine Kleine Nacht Musik (Mozart) 4:21
    Fiery Jack 2:42
    Alecs Gone 3:21
    I'm Gonna Be 500 Miles 2:45
    She Goes To Finos 2:57
    Dig That Groove Baby 4:17
    Raiders Of The Lost Ark (Williams) 1:07
    Cloughy Is A Bootboy 2:40
    Glenda And The Test Tube Baby 4:57
    Dougy Giro 3:16
    Nellie The Elephant (Butler, Hart) 6:01

Oi, Toy Dolls fans!!!
What do you see as the band's greatest influence on music?
Do you think we over-did it on the Toy Dolls stuff?
Let us know COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the On Stage in Stuttgart link).