Toy Dolls
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The Toy Dolls are a British punk rock band. They formed in 1979, playing their first ever gig at Millview Social Club, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, on 20 October 1979. After a couple of gigs vocalist Pete Zulu left to form his own band. He was replaced by vocalist, Hud who himself left after a single gig, leaving The Toy Dolls as a trio with guitarist Michael "Olga" Algar to assume vocal duties. This was just the start of the revolving door of drummers and bassists that would characterise the Toy Dolls line-up over the years.
They quickly built up a local fanbase and were initially grouped with the Oi! scene that was emerging at the time, although many would say that despite having the singalong choruses that are typical of Oi!, they are better classified as pop-punk. Another reason they are associated with Oi! is that they were championed by Garry Bushell who was very involved with Oi bands like The Angelic Upstarts (who The Toy Dolls later supported on their first national tour). In 1980 a local businessman financed their debut single, "Tommy Kowey's Car" with "She Goes To Finos" on the B-side. The single quickly sold out its initial 500 pressing but the band couldn't afford to press any more, making the single a collector's item.
For Christmas 1982 they released their punk rendition of Nellie the Elephant, a classic children's song, which was a minor hit on UK Indie Singles Chart (#16). In 1983 they released their debut album Dig That Groove Baby, by which time with Bushell's help they were beginning to attract national press attention, and in 1984 they burst into the charts with their re-issue of Nellie the Elephant, which reached Number 4 in the UK charts and stayed in the Top 100 for no less than 14 weeks. The follow-up single "She goes to Fino's" only reached number 93 during April 1985.
The Toy Dolls have continued since then with ever-changing record labels and membership establishing fan bases in Europe, America and Japan releasing many albums and singles that lead to The Toy Dolls as we know them today.
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[edit] Critical Appraisal
Some say punk has to be political or angry but The Toy Dolls proved that it can just be a way to have fun with irreverent lyrics and song titles including such gems as "Yul Brynner Was A Skinhead", "My Girlfriend's Dad's A Vicar" and "James Bond Lives Down Our Street." Olga has been described as one of punk's most original guitarists (which is even more impressive as he is entirely self-taught). The songs are usually a mixture of frenzied guitar solos, Olga's cheeky lead vocals, singalong choruses, and humorous lyrics. As purveyors of light hearted and absurb themes, the Toy Dolls are often seen as heirs to the style of fast nonsensical punk first brought to prominence in the UK by The Shapes
[edit] Band "antics"
The band maintain several recurring traditions which continue to cement the band image since their first years:
- The band are rarely seen without their cartoonesque rectangular sunglasses. While they appeared bare-eyed on the One More Megabyte album cover, they usually include the gimmick ever since the group formed.
- Alliterations often occur on song titles. ("Peter Practice's Practice Place", "Fisticuffs in Frederick Street", "Neville is a Nerd", to name a few.)
- Albums usually include a cover version of a well-known hit song, usually sped up to the usual "punk tempo". Covers so far included "Toccata in Dm", "Sabre Dance", "Livin' La Vida Loca", "Lazy Sunday Afternoon" and "The Final Countdown", as well as parodies of other popular songs, such as "The Kids in Tyne and Wear (Kids of America)" and "the Devil Went Down to Scunthorpe (the Devil Went Down to Georgia)".
- The albums often start with a short intro usually introducing the album title with a catchy riff, and end with an outro, usually a slight longer song that variates the intro riff.
The drummer of Toy Dolls now owns a shop in Sunderland called Hotrats.
[edit] Discography
| Album | Year |
|---|---|
| Dig That Groove Baby | 1983 |
| A Far Out Disc | 1985 |
| Idle Gossip | 1986 |
| Bare Faced Cheek | 1987 |
| Ten Years of Toys | 1989 |
| Wakey Wakey | 1989 |
| 22 Tunes Live from Tokyo | 1990 |
| Fat Bob's Feet | 1991 |
| Absurd-Ditties | 1993 |
| Or-castrated | 1995 |
| One More Megabyte | 1997 |
| On Stage in Stuttgart | 1999 |
| Anniversary Anthems | 2000 |
| Our Last Album? | 2004 |
| Treasured Toy Dolls Tracks Live | 2006 |
