Name Dickie Goodman Also known as Dickie Goodman Role Musical Artist | Instruments Spoken voice Children Jon Goodman Years active 1956-1988 | |
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Born April 19, 1934Brooklyn, New York, U.S. ( 1934-04-19 ) Occupation(s) Musician, Songwriter, Producer Albums All Time Novelty Hits, Dickie Goodman Greatest Fables Nominations Juno Award for International Single of the Year | ||
Birth name Richard Dorian Goodman | ||
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Richard Dorian "Dickie" Goodman (April 19, 1934 – November 6, 1989) 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.
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Career
In June 1956, Goodman created his first record, The Flying Saucer Parts 1 & II, which he co-wrote with his partner Bill Buchanan, and which featured a four-minute rewriting of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio show. This recording was the subject of a copyright infringement case against Goodman. The court eventually ruled his sampled mix was considered a parody, and was an entirely new work. The song "The Flying Saucer" was officially released under the artist name "Buchanan and Goodman" and was Goodman's highest-charting single on Billboard, peaking at #3. Buchanan and Goodman followed up with four other records: Buchanan and Goodman on Trial (#80 in 1956), Flying Saucer The 2nd (#18 in 1957), The Creature (From A Science Fiction Movie) (by Buchanan and Ancell) (#85 in 1957), and Santa and the Satellite (Parts I & II) (#32 in 1957).
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 would be as popular as the recordings Goodman made with Buchanan.
In 1960 Jim Stag and Bob Mitchell as "Willie Winkly" and "Ned Nutly", a take-off on the popular NBC-TV news anchors David Brinkley and Chet Huntley, conducted the pseudo-interviews of John F. Kennedy ("John Finnerty") and Richard M. Nixon ("Nick Dixon") in the Goodman-like "Report to the Nation" Parts I and II.
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).
In 1962 Goodman spoofed Ben Casey with "Ben Crazy" (#44). In 1966 his spoof of Batman resulted in "Batman & His Grandmother" (#70).
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 #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" as by 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 of which were straight pop songs and one of which ("I Ain't Got Time Anymore," #36 in 1971) hit the top 40.
In 1975, Goodman parodied the movie 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. WLS played a customized version instead, with the line "This is Dickie Goodman at WLS" at the beginning.
Goodman's final chart record was "Kong" (#48 in 1977), spoofing the 1976 King Kong film remake, followed by others that failed to chart. Altogether Goodman charted 17 hits, with five of them reaching the Top 40. 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, featured works by other artists, including the Del-Vikings.
Death
Goodman died in North Carolina in 1989 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 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, which also contains the most comprehensive chronology of Dickie Goodman's records, including CD re-releases, is still in print and available.