Anyone remember the Sadistic Mika Band?

**Rob MacKillop** · 01-27-2021, 01:07 PM

I remember this broadcast

Jazz-funk-surreal-madness I never got into them, but thought they had potential. They soon went off into awful pop music. Pity.

**neatomic** · 01-27-2021, 02:16 PM

oh yeah...and despite whisperin bobs prelude, they never made many waves in the usa...they were produced by a fave tho-chris thomas- who did roxy music & the sex pistols

cheers

**citizenk74** · 01-27-2021, 03:35 PM

I shall remain puzzled by the title of the show (is it a spoof? Something lost in translation?) but I like the proto-fusion. Couldn't make out a word from the (?) host. Waiting for Stevebol's more informed take.

**44lombard** · 01-27-2021, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by citizenk74

I shall remain puzzled by the title of the show (is it a spoof? Something lost in translation?)

The story given on Wikipedia sounds almost too good to be true:

The programme derived its name from a Tin Pan Alley phrase from years before. When they got the first pressing of a record they would play it to people they called the old greys – doormen in grey suits. Any song they could remember and whistle, having heard it just once or twice, had passed the old grey whistle test.

**neatomic** · 01-27-2021, 06:34 PM

yeah ck74, the host was nicknamed whispering bob harris for a reason!! that was his schtick...he needed subtitles!

he get's racist in a way that he couldn't ever do these days, with his appropriately enough "time to noodle" remark... and the show does as well by changing old grey to old gley...for the japanese band...

incidentally sadistic mika band name was a take-off of the plastic ono band

cheers

**Litterick** · 01-27-2021, 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by citizenk74

I shall remain puzzled by the title of the show (is it a spoof? Something lost in translation?) but I like the proto-fusion. Couldn't make out a word from the (?) host. Waiting for Stevebol's more informed take.

“Whispering” Bob Harris replaced Richard Williams, who was quieter still. Whistle Test was required viewing in the 1970s, the only regular programme on British television to present rock and other adult contemporary music. Harris wrote a very good autobiography. He was also parodied on Rutland Weekend Television:

**Litterick** · 01-27-2021, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by neatomic

oh yeah...and despite whisperin bobs prelude, they never made many waves in the usa...they were produced by a fave tho-chris thomas- who did roxy music & the sex pistols

cheers

Mika Fukui (the singer) divorced Kazuhiko Kato (the guitarist) and married Chris Thomas (the producer). That was the end of the band.

**Litterick** · 01-27-2021, 11:48 PM

Originally Posted by neatomic

yeah ck74, the host was nicknamed whispering bob harris for a reason!! that was his schtick...he needed subtitles!

he get's racist in a way that he couldn't ever do these days, with his appropriately enough "time to noodle" remark... and the show does as well by changing old grey to old gley...for the japanese band...

cheers

That was the band’s schtick: Japanese culture as seen by the West; after all, it was their song title. And she takes photographs, like the stereotypical Japanese tourist. On the other hand, her knotted handkerchief is an appropriation of British working-class culture.

**Rob MacKillop** · 01-28-2021, 05:02 AM

The Old Grey Whistle Test was my university in my teens, where I encountered a lot of music you just could't find anywhere else. From experimental rock to jazz-rock to glam and punk, that programme was essential viewing.

The Sadistica Mika video just popped up on YT yesterday, and it brought back a few memories. The band could certainly play.

Neatomic - I confess I completely missed the racial slurs then and now. Times have changed, but I apparently am still not sharp enough to spot them. It just seems all so alien to me...but then again, I do come from Mars...

**grahambop** · 01-28-2021, 06:34 AM

I too used to watch it every week. I didn’t like everything, but it was great to see something other than the usual top-20 pop stuff.

I remember they even had Chick Corea and Return to Forever on it once, although I wasn’t into jazz then.

Re. the Mika band, I am sure they must have asked for the ‘Gley’ title themselves. Knowing the ethos of the programme (which was very respectful towards the musicians), I doubt the BBC would have done it otherwise.

**Lobomov** · 01-28-2021, 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by grahambop

Re. the Mika band, I am sure they must have asked for the ‘Gley’ title themselves. Knowing the ethos of the programme (which was very respectful towards the musicians), I doubt the BBC would have done it otherwise.

Thx Graham .. I actually thought this myself but decided against posting it

**dot75** · 01-28-2021, 07:30 AM

And John Peel's two hours a night....I still have the cassettes...

**Rob MacKillop** · 01-28-2021, 12:04 PM

Ah, Peelie!

**grahambop** · 01-28-2021, 01:16 PM

I heard John Peel play some Charlie Parker once, don’t remember him doing that very often.

**citizenk74** · 01-28-2021, 01:44 PM

Thanks for the clarifications, gentlemen. I appreciate it. Here in the States we had "Night Flight" and "New Wave Theater" for our off-the-wall musical shenanigans. Netflix (or was it Amaxon Prime?) had NF on a few months back. Brought back memories of getting home from the gig and decompressing on the weekends. Too old for that now!

**neatomic** · 01-28-2021, 02:29 PM

they issued a few of best of the old grey whistle tests on dvd...great fun!

cheers

**Rob MacKillop** · 01-28-2021, 03:12 PM

I was given that for a birthday or Christmas present. Some fun things on it.

**newsense** · 01-28-2021, 06:23 PM

Interesting - I had totally forgotten about this band, but the video appeared in my YT feed the day before this thread appeared.

Rob - what made you start this thread? Are our YT feeds somehow linked?

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