“Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song)” (1978) – The Dickies * Written by Mark Barkan and Richie Adams * 45: “Banana Splits” / “Hideous” / “Got It at the Store” * Produced by John Hewlett * Label: A&M * Charts: UK singles (#7)
The Dickies, from San Fernando Valley, presented themselves as punk parodists, but when you listen to any one of their zippy tracks all the way through, they inevitably treat you to a moment of sublime realization that they’re celebrating their subjects—not mocking them. On this rip-through of the late sixties kiddie show theme (which had reached #69 in Billboard in ’69), for example, two guitars harmonize over the song’s moody VIIb chord, propelling the whole thing upward as an offering of thanks to the trash culture gods. Their hooky approach and stage presence had more in common with UK bands like the Damned and the Rezillos than with anything else going on in LA; not surprisingly, they’d hit the British Top Ten (#7) with “Banana Splits” while never charting in the US. (The Banana Splits show indeed ran on British tellies for summer programming during the early seventies.) In 2010, the record turned up in the Kick-Ass movie soundtrack.