Dickie Goodman

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 was 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. 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 courts, however, ate up the profits (Source: Dick Clark's: 25 years of Rock and Roll. 1981)

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.

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). 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 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" 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 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.[5] The record shot to No. 1 on 11 October 1975 on Chicago's WLS,[6] who played a customized version featuring "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 seventeen 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, also featured works by other artists, including the Del-Vikings.[7][8] 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".

Goodman died in North Carolina from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[9] 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 available and in print.

• Dickie Goodman discography at Discogs
• WWW.DICKIEGOODMAN.COM