The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It was so 1960s.

It was also “so 1970s.”

And late 1980s.

And the 200os.

Anyone who thinks there is NO WAY a band from the 60s can sustain itself for 60 years, we offer three words: The Rolling Stones.

That said, you would be forgiven if you’ve never heard of the band that also went by The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos because they weren’t exactly the Beatles, but if you have heard of them, and more to the point, were “into” the group, you might wonder how anyone hasn’t heard of them. Most pop music historians regard The Bonzo Dog Band as the most successful group to combine rock music and comedy after the Mothers of Invention with whom they were sometimes compared. And it isn’t happenstance that we mentioned the Beatles just now because the band’s biggest hit, “I’m The Urban Spaceman” from 1968 was produced by Beatle, Paul McCartney and Gus Dudgeon, and went on to become a Top Five hit single:

The band formed by a group of British art students in the 1960s took its name from a 1920s-era British cartoon character created by George Studdy. Musically, The Bonzos originally combined elements of old timey music hall, traditional jazz, and psychedelic music with vaudevillian routines and avant-garde art, but by the time they debuted their album in 1967, they were tilting further toward pop and rock. In 1968, the Bonzos appeared on the comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set, and the public noticed!  Their brief appearance in the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour movie heightened their visibility with the public, but it’s also how Paul McCartney came to produce their song (under the pseudonym Apollo C. Vermouth).

Collectively, the Bonzos were quite funny, but much of their musical success had to do with the fact that each member of the band was a capable musician and songwriter. Over the next few decades, the band broke up, reunited, reorganized, and staged occasional reunions. Things went sideways when a former business associate trademarked the band’s name without their knowledge, and a protracted legal battle ensued that lasted all the way into 2019 – but ultimately, the band prevailed in court. That same year, band member, Neil Innes, passed away, the second band member to die (Viv Stanshall had died in a house fire in 1995).  They were missed by fans who appreciated the group’s well-developed sense of the absurd, and not surprisingly, that humor had also influenced Monty Python’s Flying Circus which had collaborated with individual Bonzo Dog Band members.

To our knowledge, the last release from the band was New Tricks, a collection of remastered original recordings that introduced the band’s zaniness to a new generation.

Image: We’ve not learned why the band included two Irish Wolfhounds on the cover art of their second album, The Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse,  which is under copyright with  the label, Liberty Records Imperial Records (or with the graphic artist(s), so we’re not able to share it here, but when we find purebred dogs on album art, especially uncommon breeds, we do like to share it!!  The photo seen here was taken by © Dragonika | Dreamstime