I would be remiss if I didn’t let loose a “thbbbt” over the fact that that Berke Breathed, the creator of the comics Bloom County and Outland, announced earlier this week that he was retiring from comic strips to focus on writing kids’ books. Breathed’s deadpan Bloom County was a pretty gigantic influence on my evolving sense of humor during its Reagan-era heyday, and the fact that he brought the New Jersey goof-core band Mucky Pup to millions of giggling adolescents when he included a flexi of their song “U Stink But I Love U” in the collection of Bloom County strips Billy and the Boingers: Bootleg only adds to his stature in my book. Above, Mucky Pup’s clip for “U Stink” debuts on the Adam Curry-hosted Headbanger’s Ball; after the jump, another take on the song from a high school talent show ca. 1989.
Seriously, how come no one in my high school ever pulled stuff like this at our talent shows? ACK!!
Bloom County’s Berke Breathed Is Retiring [PopWatch]
Mucky Pup – U Stink But I Love U [YouTube]
Billy and the Boingers [YouTube]
first dune and now bloom county. idolator has officially turned into my best friend circa junior high today.
Ho…
Lee…
SHIT.
MY band in high school covered this song too – along with another track, “Hippies Hate Water”.
Wow – having flashbacks…
I’m hoping my mother has kept all of the sketches of the pre-Boingers outfit Deathtöngue I created with colored pencils as a youth.
wow, freaking Mucky Pup!
I discovered them in college when a drunk girl i was hitting on took me out to her car to make out. She slid in one of their cassettes, which in retrospect is kind of bizarre ‘make-out music,’ but i digress. I don’t remember which album it was, but it had the song ‘She Queffed’ on it, which i of course found hilarious. The girl was super-hot, btw–a total rocker chick that was like a straight Joan Jett. God, how I miss college…
I’m still sad I had to throw away my Billy and the Boingers tee because it had gotten too many holes in it.
This makes the third time he’s retired to do children’s books. He quit Bloom County, came back a few years later to do Outland, quit that, and came back again a few years later to do Opus. I feel like he’ll be back again at some point.