Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks ‘em down for you. Why Video Hangover? Because when you watch as many videos as we do, you’re going to feel it afterwards.
“The Suits Are Picking Up the Bill”
Squirrel Nut Zippers, 1998
The Squirrel Nut Zippers are money, and they know it.
These days the Squirrels (or are they the Nut Zippers for short?) are most famous for birthing (or rather, intersecting with) Andrew Bird, but they were also on the vanguard of one of my favorite microtrends of the late ’90s: swing. Swing! Like, dudes in giant suits flinging Heather Graham around a bar. Despite the fact that there were only three or four bands involved in this “scene,” the swing window swung open (ooph — sorry) long enough for the SNZ to spit out this megalomaniacal loogie (yeah — sorry again). See, you think the suits have invited SNZ to perform at their fancy restaurant, until … oh no, it’s a menu! It’s a menu! The MUSIC INDUSTRY IS GOING TO EAT YOU ALIVE! If not for the fearless monkey, the band might have ended up totally compromising their indie-swing cred, like those sellouts from the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. God I hate those corporate-swing hacks.
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I just have to say that the album that this track is from, “Perennial Favorites”, is really, really good. Not at all like the cheesy tripe that Setzer and B.B.V.D. and the Cherry Poppin Daddy’s (gross) were spewing around that time.
Seriously, I know that’s a tough stance to defend in this hip climate, but give that disc a shot. If you like Andrew Bird and his ilk, you should listen to “Perennial Favorites”.
Word.
i recently re-bought this album, and i totally agree. loads better than the cheesy crap mentioned above, this album is gritty, textured and fun as hell.
While their video output left a lot to be desired, I am a huge Squirrel Nut Zippers fan. For an example of a good video off of “Perrenial Favorites,” I highly recommend “Ghost of Stephen Foster,” which parodies 1920s Betty Boop cartoons with surprising accuracy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KJzWGkgFcTU
“Ghost of Stephen Foster” amazing song and video.
They also put out a Christmas album that was fucking brilliant. A nice break from the played out xmas tunes you hear every year. Every song on it sounded like an instant classic, but 7/9 of the album were originals!
AND there’s a Ben Folds cameo!
i guess that maybe in the stereogum world SNZ is most famous for its connection to andrew bird. but in the real world, they’ll always be remembered for the amazingness that was the song “HELL.” and i’d take “HELL” over andrew bird any day.
i agree. i do love me some andrew bird, though (especially his post-swing stuff – i was not a fan of hiw bowl of fire). but i think snz deserve just a little more than being a mere footnote in an andrew bird biography. and i think if The Inevitable came out today, stereogum would be all over that shit. also, st. louis cemetary blues is a pretty hot fuckin’ song.
Break ‘em down for us, Jon McMillan. Ass.
The only thing missing from this video (besides a good song) is a cameo from Mr. Creosote.
so this is what this column has come to? a paragraph description and a youtube embed? COOL!
thank god this whole silly thing did not catch on.
Okay. here’s a little history for yo’ ass. The Squirrel Nut Zippers were playing hot jazz and swing-inspired music for years, and already had a couple of albums out before the short-lived swing revival happened. What’s more, they were more dedicated to the small-combo sound of early New Orleans jazz with a very small hint of gypsy swing a la Reinhardt/Grappelli (that’s where Andrew Bird came in). So it was always a tad unfair that they got lumped in with newer groups playing played-out Glenn Miller licks or crowd-pleasing Louis Jordan-style jump blues. Not that anyone besides a total nerd like me could tell the difference.
Having said that, however, the Squirrel Nut Zippers really lost me when they started adding latter-day elements such as New Orleans funk to the mix on albums like Bedlam Ballroom. The first two SNZ albums were pure gold, however. Gold, I tell you!
So they were around BEFORE the godawful swing revival. All the music was still just as terrible before it was (pathetically, astonishingly, yet, in a post-Mambo No. 5 world, unsurprisingly) trendy. Uuuuuuugh
Wait a minute. Do you mean ALL swing music sucks? That’s a pretty heavy dismissal of the dominant form of American music throughout WWII and the clear precursor to the “precious” Rock and Roll everyone speaks of nowadays.
Ha. Those kitchen scenes were filmed at my fraternity house’s kitchen in Chapel Hill one summer. They were really nice and took everyone out for drinks afterwards.
No shit? What house?
Jon, you are obviously a jackass. I hope the music business eats you up and sharts you out.
“When Stereogum Commenters Become Mutinous”
That’s rubber-faced Atlanta actor George Faughnan in the role of the headwaiter.
When I tried to sublet my apartment on Craigslist, a member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers responded. It was the first thing he mentioned in the email.