Although 1989 doesn’t seem so long ago, it’s difficult to imagine Milwaukee band The Frogs’ album, It’s Only Right and Natural, being released today. They wrote songs that were (seemingly) overtly pro-gay and appeared in blackface. Yet, what exactly were The Frogs: conceptual art project or agitprop or social satire set to music? Were they offensive? Were they funny? Just plain smart asses? Who was their intended audience?
Jimmy Flemion, playing guitar and wearing a pair of oversized bat wings, and his brother Dennis, on drums, recorded catchy songs, distracting the casual listener from first-person lyrical content that included race, religion and sexuality. The brothers drafted a revolving lineup of bass players that included locals Jay Tiller (Couch Flambeau), Brian “Beezer” Hill (The Nerve Twins) and Damian Strigens (Testa Rosa). Tiller gave a cassette tape of Frogs material to Steve Albini, who in turn passed it on to Gerard Cosloy who released It’s Only Right and Natural on Homestead Records in 1989. (Sadly, Dennis Flemion would drown in 2012.)
Afterward, The Frogs became a cult band with high-profile fans, including Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Sebastian Bach and Billy Corgan. Thirty years later, the End of All Music label has reissued the album.
The influence of David Bowie and The Beatles is evident in the classic arrangement and killer hooks. But it is the subject matter and titles like “Gather ’Round for the Savior #2,” “I’ve Got Drugs” and “Been a Month Since I Had a Man” that got the most attention. An excursion down the YouTube rabbit hole reveals a band that might easily be parodying and paying homage to classic rock in the same song.
When Beezer Hill was asked to join “Tour de Gay,” he said, “I couldn't believe what I was hearing. For one thing, this recording was much more low-fi than the previous record and was obviously done in their home on a four-track recorder. It was the most outrageous lyrical content I’d ever heard. I thought to myself, ‘This is gonna be a mixed review record or a shit-storm of hate-provoking art.’”
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