About
Orchestra / band, active from the early 1940s to the mid 1950s, which specialized in performing satirical arrangements of popular songs.
Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, and outlandish vocals.
The group came to be due to drummer Spike Jones growing bored with playing the same music each night he performed with The Victor Young Orchestra;
First to be recruited was Delmar Porter, who sang with The Foursome -- a vocal and ocarina quartet Jones had backed on Decca Records -- was Jones' partner in musical mayhem from the outset. Porter led a six-piece group called the Feather Merchants, which was managed by Jones before it gradually evolved into the City Slickers.
They soon found other like-minded musicians and together they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment. The musicians wanted their wives to share in their enjoyment, so they recorded their weekly performances. One of the recordings somehow made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians a recording contract. The first record made by the City Slickers was Der Fuehrer's Face.
Because of the success of the record, Jones turned from being the group's drummer to being its bandleader. He initially thought the popularity he and the City Slickers enjoyed as a result of the record would fade. Audiences kept wanting to hear more from Jones and his band, so he began working at more comic arrangements for the group.
The band released their last album in 1956, calling it a day soon afterward due to Jones wishing to perform "more serious" music.
Ballads and classical works receiving the Jones treatment would be punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, and outlandish vocals.
The group came to be due to drummer Spike Jones growing bored with playing the same music each night he performed with The Victor Young Orchestra;
First to be recruited was Delmar Porter, who sang with The Foursome -- a vocal and ocarina quartet Jones had backed on Decca Records -- was Jones' partner in musical mayhem from the outset. Porter led a six-piece group called the Feather Merchants, which was managed by Jones before it gradually evolved into the City Slickers.
They soon found other like-minded musicians and together they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment. The musicians wanted their wives to share in their enjoyment, so they recorded their weekly performances. One of the recordings somehow made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians a recording contract. The first record made by the City Slickers was Der Fuehrer's Face.
Because of the success of the record, Jones turned from being the group's drummer to being its bandleader. He initially thought the popularity he and the City Slickers enjoyed as a result of the record would fade. Audiences kept wanting to hear more from Jones and his band, so he began working at more comic arrangements for the group.
The band released their last album in 1956, calling it a day soon afterward due to Jones wishing to perform "more serious" music.
Members
Spike JonesDick MorganCarl GraysonDoodles WeaverRed IngleSir Frederick GasGeorge RockFreddy MorganDr. Horatio Q. BirdbathDel PorterMickey KatzLuther RountreeCarl HoefleDick GardnerBeauregard LeeBilly BartyJoe SiracusaJoe WashburneJad PaulJohn StanleyKing JacksonDon AndersonLuther RoundtreeTony Martinez
Discography
659 releasesThe Poet & The Peasant
Spike Jones And The City Slickers* · 2011
The Classic Songs Of Spike Jones And His City Slickers
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2007
Cocktails For Two: Essential Collection
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2007
Hawaiian War Chant
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2007
Spiketaculars
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2006
The Essential Collection
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2006
Spike Jones And His City Slickers
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2005
Spiking The Classics - Original Recordings 1945-1950
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2005
A Proper Introduction To Spike Jones And His City Slickers
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2004
Vintage Spike Jones And His City Slickers
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2004
Clink, Clink, Another Drink
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2003
Musical Depreciation With Spike Jones And His City Slickers - Original Recordings 1942-1950
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2003
At His Very Best
Spike Jones & His City Slickers* · 2003
Cocktails For Two
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2002
Fonk: Vintage Rarities
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2002
Clink Clink Another Drink
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 2000
Have A Proper Christmas With ...
Spike Jones & His City Slickers* · 1999
Transcribed
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 1999
The Very Best Of
Spike Jones & His City Slickers* · 1999
Strictly For Music Lovers
Spike Jones & His City Slickers* · 1999
Musical Mayhem
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 1998
The Bluebirds
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 1998
People Are Funnier Than Anybody
Spike Jones & His City Slickers* · 1998
The Jones Laughing Record
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 1998
Cocktails For Two
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 1997
Musical Depreciation
Spike Jones & His City Slickers* · 1996
Corn's A-Poppin'
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 1994
Old Time Radio Comedy
Burns And Allen / Groucho Marx / Spike Jones And His City Slickers / Will Rogers · 1994
Louder And Funnier (Standard Transcription And V-Discs)
Spike Jones And His City Slickers · 1990
Radio Days
Spike Jones & His City Slickers* · 1990
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