Dickie Goodman
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| Birth name | Richard Dorian Goodman |
| Also known as | Dickie Goodman |
| Born | (1934-04-19)April 19, 1934 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 6, 1989(1989-11-06) (aged 55) North Carolina, U.S. |
| Genres |
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| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Spoken voice |
| Years active | 1956–1988 |
Richard Dorian Goodman (April 19, 1934 – November 6, 1989),[1] known as Dickie Goodman, was an American music and record producer born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for inventing and using the technique of the "break-in", an early precursor to sampling, that used brief clips of popular records and songs to "answer" comedic questions posed by voice actors on his novelty records. He also wrote and produced some original material, most often heard on the B-sides of his break-in records. He died from suicide by gunshot on December 6, 1989.
In June 1956, Goodman created his first record, "The Flying Saucer Parts 1 &II", which he co-wrote with his partner Bill Buchanan, a four-minute rewrite of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio show.[2][3] This recording was the subject of a copyright infringement case against Goodman.[4] The court eventually ruled his sampled mix was considered a parody and thus an entirely new work.[citation needed] The record "The Flying Saucer" was officially released under the artist name "Buchanan and Goodman" and was Goodman's highest-charting single on Billboard, peaking at No. 3. Two months later, it was re-released as "Back To Earth". Buchanan and Goodman followed up with five other records: "Buchanan and Goodman on Trial" (#80 in 1956) (originally called, "Public Opinion"), "Banana Boat Story" (in which the duo used a single song, the Tarriers' "Banana Boat Song", as a break-in spoof of broadcast commercials), "Flying Saucer the 2nd" (#18 in 1957), "The Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie)" (by Buchanan and Ancell) (#85 in 1957), "Santa and the Satellite (Parts I &II)" (#32 in 1957) and "Frankenstein Of `59" / "Frankenstein Returns" (Feb. 1959). Both Buchanan and Goodman attempted to continue with the break-in approach after their breakup, but only Goodman had sustained success. Buchanan's later collaboration with Brill Building legend Howard Greenfield was not as successful.
There were some lawsuits filed against Buchanan and Goodman for the use of unlicensed materials. The couple had operated their business from a telephone booth at a pharmacy. While the couple got richer, the court cases ate up the profits. [5]
With Mickey Shorr in 1959, Goodman recorded two singles under the name "Spencer and Spencer" , both of which relied much less on sampling and more on sketch comedy. "Russian Bandstand" was a re-imagining of the then-popular TV series American Bandstand set in a totalitarian Soviet Union. "Stagger Lawrence" imposed Lloyd Price's recording of "Stagger Lee" onto a spoof of The Lawrence Welk Show, borrowing heavily from an earlier Welk parody done by Stan Freberg. Neither recording with Shorr was as popular as the recordings Goodman made with Buchanan.
Starting in 1961, Goodman released his pieces as a solo artist. He scored three Billboard Hot 100 hits based on the hit TV series The Untouchables: "The Touchables" (#60), "The Touchables in Brooklyn" (#42), and "Santa and the Touchables" (#99). Also in '61 Dickie Goodman released several of his own self-performed Halloween-themed songs with Rori; eventually these were released as an album, with the most successful track being "Horror Movies", about favorite pop culture movie monsters. The song has recently experienced new interest, released as background music in several films and venues, including Adam Sandler's Hubie HalloweenonNetflix, Amazon Prime series The Lake, Disney/HULU series Extraordinary and Universal Orlando's Halloween Nights.
In 1962, Goodman spoofed Ben Casey with "Ben Crazy" (#44). In 1966, his spoof of Batman resulted in "Batman & His Grandmother" (#70). He also released a full album, The Many Heads Of Dickie Goodman, which included most of most of his break-ins up to that point.
In 1963 while working at 20th Century Fox Records, Dickie Goodman's JFK tribute album (John F Kennedy The Presidential Years) was composed of Kennedy's famous speeches and became the #8 Album Of The Year in Billboard and is archived by The Henry Ford Museum.
In 1964, Goodman decided to try something different: rather than his usual "break-in" records, he recorded an entire album of parodies called My Son the Joke. The title was a take-off of the then-highly popular Allan Sherman records; unlike Sherman, Goodman's material was much more risque (such as "Harry's Jockstrap", featuring his wife Susan, to the tune of "Frère Jacques") and failed to chart.
During the late 1960s, Goodman recorded a mostly musical album featuring his wife, aptly entitled Dickie Goodman and His Wife Susan. Mr. Goodman sang one track on the record ("Never Play Poker with a Man Named Doc (or Eat at a Place Called Mom's)", paraphrasing Nelson Algren's novel A Walk on the Wild Side), and produced two break-in style pieces, with Susan singing the rest of the songs.
In 1969, Goodman parodied the political unrest on college campuses with "On Campus" (#45) and the first Moon landing with "Luna Trip" (#95). Vik Venus' Goodman-like "Moonflight" reached an even higher No. 38 on 9 August 1969, one week after "On Campus" peaked. Goodman's records also inspired KQV morning disc jockey Bob DeCarlo to cut his own sample-spliced top 10 hit "Convention '72" under the name the Delegates. Goodman himself spoofed political issues such as the Watergate scandal with "Watergrate" (#42 in 1973), the 1973 energy crisis with "Energy Crisis '74" (#33 in 1974), and Richard Nixon with "Mr. President" (#73 in 1974). Goodman failed to chart with a different version of "Mr. President" in 1981 after Ronald Reagan became president.
In addition to work under his own name, Goodman also produced for other acts. John & Ernest's "Superfly Meets Shaft" (#31 in 1973), while oriented more toward a black audience, retained Goodman's "break-in" format. An unusual act Goodman produced was the Glass Bottle; Goodman created the band primarily as an advertising ploy to promote actual glass bottles, which were going out of fashion due to soda companies beginning to use plastic bottles. The Glass Bottle recorded two singles. Both were straight pop songs. "I Ain't Got Time Anymore" hit No. 36 in 1971. Also, in 1974, Goodman anonymously released Screwy T.V., an album of risque parodies of then-popular TV series. This album was even less popular than My Son the Joke, as many record shops kept it "under the counter", due to its cover featuring two nude models (reportedly Susan and Dickie Goodman themselves) seen from the rear.
In 1975, Goodman parodied the film Jaws with "Mr. Jaws" (#4 in 1975), becoming Goodman's biggest-selling record by achieving R.I.A.A. gold disc status in September 1975.[6] The record shot to No. 1 on 11 October 1975 on Chicago's WLS,[7] who played a customized version featuring "This is Dickie Goodman at WLS ..." at the beginning. "Mr. Jaws" also charted top ten in Great Britain and won a JUNO award in Canada.
Goodman's final chart record was "Kong" (#48 in 1977), spoofing the 1976 King Kong film remake, followed by others that failed to chart in the Top 100. "Hey ET", based on Spielberg's movie E.T. the Extraterrestrial, was Dickie Goodman's last release to reach Billboard's Bubbling Under chart (Top 200). Altogether, Goodman charted seventeen hits, with five of them reaching the top 40. Joel Whitburn's Billboard Top Pop Singles listed Dickie Goodman's Billboard ranking at #1 (17 in the Top 100) for Comedy and Guinness World Records certified Dickie Goodman for the most Billboard Charted comedy hits (17).[8] Goodman produced several other break-in records which garnered airplay and charted only in regional areas, usually Los Angeles and New York City, but in a few other areas as well.
Luniverse, Goodman's record label, also featured works by other artists, including the Del-Vikings.[9][10] Some of his other labels were Eldorado (mostly used for singers like Joann Campbell), All Star (also used for singers and bands), Novelty, Comic, Cash, Rainy Wednesday, Oron, Ramgo (created with his new partner, Bill Ramal), M.D., JMD, Shark, Wacko, Extran and Goodname.
Goodman's break-in records were themselves spoofed by Albert Brooks in a comedy bit called "Party from Outer Space."
Dickie Goodman was posthumously awarded a Grammy for his original first hit record "The Flying Saucer" on RHINO's CD set Brain In A Box (2000).
Goodman died in North Carolina from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[11] He is survived by his two sons, Jon and Jed, and his daughter Janie. In 2000, Jon released The King of Novelty, a biography of Dickie's life and work, along with autobiographical material. The book also contains the most comprehensive chronology of Dickie Goodman's records, including CD re-releases. The entire repertoire is now available from Jon Goodman Publishing on all of the major music download and streaming sites.
| Date | Record title | Billboard chart peak |
|---|---|---|
| July 25, 1956 | "The Flying Saucer (Back to Earth)" | 3 |
| November 7, 1956 | "Buchanan & Goodman on Trial" / "Crazy" | 80 |
| "The Banana Boat Story" / "Mystery (In Slow-Motion)" | — | |
| July 13, 1957 | "Flying Saucer the 2nd" / "Martian Melody" | 18 |
| December 14, 1957 | "Santa and the Satellite" | 32 |
| 1958 | "The Flying Saucer Goes West" / "Saucer Serenade" | — |
| 1959 | "Flying Saucer the Third" / "The Cha Cha Lesson" | — |
| 1959 | "Frankenstein of '59" / "Frankenstein Returns" | — |
| Date | Record title | Billboard chart peak |
|---|---|---|
| March 1959 | "Stagger Lawrence" / "Stroganoff Cha Cha" | — |
| May 18, 1959 | "Russian Bandstand" / "Brass Wail" | 91 |
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