My dad has an old vhs recording of an interview with the band, just after they released this album. Even in the interview Alvin was clearly de-realising, asking 'is my face real'? He claimed 'People are Strange' was based on a horrific trip he had, loading 10 tabs on both sides of his tongue. Simon said Alvin tried to take his face off, but Alvin kicked him before he could say much more. Alvin says it made him realise 'I'll never connect again, the tabs left me strange'. His overdose took place just a year later.
Lol like that time I saw a guy bug out because of drywall pattern poor fellow. That when the host said yeah your strange and we all laughed him on his way out. Down down 🐕 🐶 🐕
"Kids In America" is a lot darker after I saw that documentary about the Chipmunks' legacy. I'll never get that infamous scene out of my head, the interview with that 11 year old boy from '91 who says he got addicted to smack after seeing Theodore inject on stage. It ended with him flicking his arm and trying to get one of his veins to surface up while he wrapped a big rubber strap around his bicep. "I just tell my parents that they're spider bites."
Bob Schkeneck who worked for the record company PR said that when they pitched to the group that 'Destination Unknown' could be be re-recorded as a cleaner upbeat version and cut down for radio play single Theodore got so mad for their artistic vision being tampered with he threatened to bomb the HQ of the company over the phone. Needless to say this soured the already tense relation between the band and the label. This incident cut down the marketing budget significantly and tanked sales.
I always said that this whole band vocal range is absolutely mesmerizing, I still remember how my father told me about the AIDS concert and the incredible Chipminks performance, how shit got so heated after Alvin and Freddie made out live on stage, people started riots while Crocodile Rock was rumbling through everyone, dad passed away 4 years ago and his AVM records are one of the most emotionally charged items in my house, my son caught me listening this very same album with tears on my eyes last night, words couldn't come out of my mouth, he hugged me and we fell asleep to Girls Wanna Have Fun, I love my son Thanks for everything dad
Christ, forgot how much love they put into Walkin' On The Sun. Through all the pain, suffering, and Mocscow Mule infused rampages they really let Theodore go CRAZY with his vocal work on that track (and the interlude of course). Fun fact! The nastily modulated guitar riff was performed on a bootleg Casio by Carmen Alonso of Jem and The Holograms fame. Despite being a prolific drummer, she was known to experiment with synth production and dub every chance she had outside of touring. Pretty sure she was onsite by pure coincidence during the recording of Sludge Never Dies, might've been a schedule overlap for all we know! The ONLY reason she was credited as a collaborator, but not listed as a feature, was because her agent had a hunch that the Chipmunks were just a few inches away from teetering over the edge and bro wanted to minimize Raya's odds of getting roped into that bullshit.
I saw these guys open for Carcinogen in my friend's basement in Oakland back in '93. Alvin was huge into speedballing at the time and threw up all over the crowd and himself during Kids in America. someone who Simon owed money to showed up and tried to fight him on stage and we had to kick everyone out and their show stopped early. Carcinogen still went on and was fucking awesome though
The chipmunks did a concert in a city next to the town I lived in. I worked a shitty waitress job which I desperately wanted out of. I was working a 3 AM shift when the Chipmunks came in. The place was empty other than a few irregular sleepers. As soon as I came to their table, they began rattling out the most disgusting remarks about me. I could tell they were so stoned they couldn’t think straight, but it became apparent why the Chipettes separated from them so early in their career. I never gossip about celebrities, but now that they’re gone, I can assure anyone reading that they are grade-A misogynistic assholes. Regardless about how I felt about them, I did continue to wait their table. The few other waiters were sitting in the back and pretending to work, and I was never one to want to disturb others, especially when I hated this as much as they did. I forget what kind of shitty food they ordered, but it was all the same anyway. They were high as a kite and definitely didn’t care about the quality of the food they ate. They complained about the waiting time and shouted demands for coffee any second I left their eyesight. I know how their first producer, Ian Hawke, trained those guys to operate completely on coffee. They were maniacs, and ate like pigs. The tables were smeared with syrup, ketchup, and whatever cursed substance they could get on there by the end of their meal. They lingered until one of them began playing some annoying song on the jukebox, that barely even operated and just spat out crackly nonsense. They were terrible guys, but they had voices of angels. Their harmonizing made even the shitty jukebox sound decent. They left finally, rambling amongst themselves, Alvin flipping me the bird as he left. That week, I quit the job. While I hate the guys, I couldn’t help but feel terrorized by the thought of all the abuse they’d suffered in their early years and how much they relied on getting high.
