John S. Hall
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John S. Hall is the founder of King Missile (Dog Fly Religion), King Missile, and King Missile III. After a couple of years of pounding away in the lower east side poetry scene, Mr. Hall formed King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) in 1986 to liven up his spoken word performances. From 1987-1991 he recorded three albums with that band, as well as a solo album, for the Shimmy Disc label, making a mark on the college radio charts with a number of spoken-word-with-music hits, including "Wuss," "Take Stuff From Work,""The Sandbox," "Rock and Roll Will Never Die," and "Jesus Was Way Cool." Although none of this went unnoticed by the major labels, John is fond of saying, "'Jesus' got me signed to Atlantic Records."
John recorded three more albums with King Missile for Atlantic, including 1992's "Happy Hour," which spawned the Beavis & Butt-head faves "Detachable Penis," and "Martin Scorsese." A new album, entitled The Body Has a Head, was released in September 1996.
He has performed and/or read his work all over the United States, as well as London, Germany, and the Netherlands. He has recorded over fifty spoken word pieces with music, mostly as vocalist and lyricist for the band. John appeared in the PBS special, The United States of Poetry, which aired in February 2004, as well as an MTV "Spoken Word Unplugged" segment. A collection of his work, entitled Jesus Was Way Cool, has been published by Soft Skull Press, and a selection of his work was featured in a poetry anthology published by St. Martin's Press.
