Jim, our Dubai correspond, commented last week about this feature that it's "great hearing obscure songs we would probably otherwise would never hear, some good, some bad but always interesting". Thanks for that, Jim. I feel the same way. Which brings us to... flobadobadobadob.
Yes, this week we're taking a listen to bands named after Bill and Ben, those peculiar stars of kids' TV who made their screen debut back in 1952... yet somehow were still being repeated 20 odd years later, while also being revived in the 80s (possibly) and then again as a ghastly 21st Century reboot.
Let's see if we can get through these Flowerpot Men before the Man who works in the Garden comes back from his lunch...
THE FLOWER POT MEN #1
John Carter and Ken Lewis were the songwriters from The Ivy League. They'd been Tossing & Turning around the charts for a couple of years when they decided to branch out and dip their green fingers into Beach Boys-esque psychedelia with the 1967 Top 5 hit Let's Go To San Francisco. Recorded by session musicians, there wasn't really a group called The Flower Pot Men at that time, but they cobbled one together for tours and later recordings. In the States, they were known as The Flower Men, to avoid any nasty drug references...
THE FLOWERPOT MEN #2
I can't find out much about these guys, other than that they came from the UK, their cellist Adam Peters can be heard on The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen, and they later changed their name to Sunsonic. Their most famous song, Beat City, was an integral part of the soundtrack to Ferris Bueller's Day Off... hence it's very important to 80s kids like yours truly.
THE FLOWERPOT MEN #3
OK, deep breath. In 1987, apparently, the BBC decided to revive Bill & Ben. I can't find any mention of this on their iffypedia page, and to be honest, I couldn't be bothered to dig any deeper. However, to promote the new show they commissioned a promotional song by The Firm (TV-pop "superstars" responsible for the Number One novelty hit Star Trekkin' as well as the slightly less annoying Chas 'n' Dave-esque Minder tribute, Arfur Daley... E's Alright). The resulting promo disc is apparently now as rare as hen's teeth (and even less desirable), and to be honest, it makes Star Trekkin' sound like Wuthering Heights. Still, for the sake of completeness...
Which Flower Pot Men would you be happy to see in your garden... and which are the Weeeeeed?
