Is It...Man or Astro-Man?

     When I was compiling my shopping list for Jerry's Records I wrote down surf rock. I love surf guitar, but only have a superficial knowledge of surf bands and albums. Unfortunately, Jerry's had very few surf albums. However, while researching surf albums people kept referencing a band I'd never heard of, Man or Astro-Man. I assumed they were a weird band from the 60's, but it turns out they are a weird band that started in the 90's. I went on You Tube to see what they were about. Man or Astro-Man can best be described as Space-Age Surf rock. They wear jumpsuits and goggles and sample old science fiction movie clips in their songs. It was right in my wheelhouse; music for people who love MST3K. I bought the first album, Is It...Man or Astro-Man, on CD. It features song titles such as, "Invasion of the Dragonmen", "Sadie Hawkins Atom Bomb", "Escape Through the Air Vent" and my favorite "Eric Estrotica". The band credits are as follows:

Star Crunch- guitar, laserguns, Q-tips and rare obligatory vocals
Dr. Delecto & His Invisible Vaportron- bass, sterilized rhythm guitar, malpractice suits and the two step
Coco, The Electronic Monkey Wizard- alternate universe bass, percussion, banana consumption, sound bites of lower primate love, hand-held viewmaster, VCR ignition, bunny control, foreign language count-offs,and yelps of intense pain given to him, sometimes as punishment,
Birdstuff- hi-hat

     I can see where some might find this contrived and obnoxious, but I think it's fun. And the music is a high-speed joyride. I highly recommend this CD to my kids. I also bought MOAM's latest, DEFCON 5,4,3,2,1, on vinyl. The playing is good, but they have done away with the Space-Age kitsch; therefore the fun. The songs are more conventional rock songs and many of them have lyrics and vocals. I understand that they probably don't want to keep doing the same thing for twenty years, but I prefer their first album. I plan on checking out their other releases as soon as I can track them down. From what I could tell from You Tube, their other albums seem to be similar to their first. And the album cover for Destroy All Astro-Men!! is awesome.
     It continues to amaze me how much music I missed out on in the 90's. Not to say I didn't enjoy Gin Blossoms, Better Than Ezra, Oasis and Smashing Pumpkins, but wow. It has been a fun ten years playing catch up though. Peace.