Modcult

Slap Happy Humphrey

Slap Happy Humphrey had its real debut on The Aiyoku Jinmin Battle Royal compilation, put out by Alchemy in the summer of 1992, with the song “Gyakkosen” (“Light My Eyes”). The concept of the band was to do noisy covers of the songs by Morita Doji, a singer active in the late ’70s - early ’80s. All of her works had gone out of print, and I never even heard her name mentioned anymore. It came as a total surprise when her song “Bokutachi no Shippai” (“Our Failure”) was used in 1993 as the theme song for a TV series, becoming a hit, with sales of 800,000, and leading to CD reissues of her whole back catalog. Slap Happy Humphrey had recorded two more songs, “Chiheisen” (“Horizon”) and “Sentimental Dori (Street)” for a PUblic Bath single in the fall of 1992 (it was released in April of 1994), and plans were made for a full CD, but in the midst of the Morita Doji “boom,” it would have been overkill, so recording was put off for over a year.

Small problem, they forgot to ask permission and so the disc was recalled.

Oh and the name?

P.S. The name Slap Happy Humphrey is a conflation of ’70s English band Slapp Happy and giant professional wrestler Happy Humphrey. It has no meaning. [Translation by David Hopkins]

The full liner notes are here.

Paging Dr. Merlin Mann...

Q: What do James Bond, Boba Fett, and one of the Snarkout Boys have in common?

A: According to AV Club Commenters, when going to sleep, these formidable fellows all simply picture a clock showing the time at which they’d like to rise. Then, without fail, they wake up at that time, NO ALARM CLOCK NECESSARY. Scholars hold that when Boba Fett invented this technique a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, it was referred to by his fellow bounty hunters as a “life-hack” and was highly admired.

Introducing the Modcult Shopping Guide by Cargo

Let’s get these. Hand-made? In Maine? Customizable? And not super expensive? And awesome? Is this the most criminally slept on shoe company in the world or am I the only person who has never heard of Quoddy Trail Mocassins?