2-25-08 Barnes & Barnes – Fish Heads

So my very good friend Shanoah e-mails me today:

Der Furher’s face rather reminded me of this for some reason (probably from the same cd). Looked it up and the music video for it is certainly one of the weirder things I’ve seen.

“One of the weirder things”. You got that, right, bubbie, cos I checked out the link and nearly knocked myself out smacking my forehead when I saw where it led. Of course, I chastised myself! How could any collection of neat things be complete without Fish Heads!

Some things you may not know about this cultural touchstone of the 1980s:

• It’s based on a 1978 song from Barnes & Barnes. According to Wikipedia,  they are twin brothers “based in ‘Lumania‘, a fictional mythological civilization (similar to Lemuria or Atlantis)”.
• One of the Barnes is really Bill Mumy. Yes! Lost in Space! He also appears in the film.
• Fish Heads originally appeared on Dr. Demento’s novelty song show. Dr. Demento, AKA Barret Hansen, is the bum who gets weirded out by Paxton at the start of the film (and anything can weird out the good Doctor has got to be fairly twisted… oh God, no, Paxton’s not doing what I think he’s do… AW GROSS!).
• This short was the directorial debut of Bill Paxton, who also stars as Creepy Fish Fetish Sunglasses Guy. According to IMDB.com, his one acting credit before Fish Heads was zillionth billing as John in Jonathan Demme’s 1975 Crazy Mama (a Roger Corman film). Before that, he was a set dresser for Corman.
• According to Wikipedia, Paxton was also in the crowd waving at JFK when he emerged from the Hotel Texas in Ft. Worth on Nov. 22, 1963, the day he was assassinated. This has nothing to do with the movie. I just think it’s one more weird detail about this weird little movie.
• No matter what Paxton and Mumy do in the future, I will now be their biggest fans forever.
• Shanoah’s, too.

So here it is. Ye who enter, abandon hope and a good deal of your sanity.