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SUPERMAN'S SONG : THE STORY OF CRASH TEST DUMMIES

By Stephen Ostick

Published by Quarry Press , Kingston , Ontario 1995

This book is a soft cover in fine condition with 203 pages with black and white photographs and illustrations.

CONTENTS

Preface     

A Pact with Satan      

Surprise Local Act Delights

Lovett and Leave It    

The Buzz

Bad Brad  

Portraits of the Artists as Young Dummies   

Living in Record Time

Faster Than a Speeding Hit Single

AAA and Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Comin' Back Soon

Acknowledgements

Credits

FROM THE COVER ==  Featured on David Letterman's Late Show and Saturday Night Live, honored with multiple Grammy and Juno Award nominations, Crash Test Dummies have become international stars, selling over five million records in North America, touring Europe to packed houses. The band has crashed head-on into an industry that has never heard anything like this before.

Led by enigmatic singer-songwriter Brad Roberts, whose rumbly baritone voice seems better suited to a church choir than to a rock band, their songs defy pop stereotypes, foregoing the instant hook for the careful build-up of lyrical intensity.

 Like Neil Young and The Guess Who, Crash Test Dummies first performed in Winnipeg's community clubs before moving on to Toronto, New York, and London.

"They've got Brad Roberts' voice, which is really unusual and fetching in such a way. They've got the songs he writes, which are very well crafted and have an interesting lyrical' approach .... When you've got a band of that stature, it's going to be great. You'd almost have to be a dummy to mess it up." — Adrian Belew, King Crimson

 "It's unusual, music like that starting so far north. It was very laid back, very soulful, and I said, This is cool." ---- Barry Beckett, Muscle Shoals .

 "The only hot thing to come out of Canada all last winter." — Paul Geitner, Rolling Stone

" Their songs quirky, literate and sometimes even existential don't pop standard. Even the esteemed novelist-in-hiding Salman Rushdie is an admitted fan.” — Nicholas Jennings, Maclean'

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT === Crash Test Dummies are a Canadian folk rock/alternative rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada widely known for their 1993 single "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm".

The band is most identifiable through Brad Roberts (vocals, guitar) and his distinctive bass-baritone voice. During its heyday, the band consisted of Roberts, Ellen Reid (co-vocals, keyboards), Brad's brother Dan Roberts (bass guitar, backing vocals), Benjamin Darvill (harmonica, mandolin), and Mitch Dorge (drums, percussion).

Today, only Brad Roberts and Ellen Reid have appeared on every album with the other members being busy pursuing their own projects. However, the full band (minus Ben Darvill) reunited for a show in October 2010. Brad Roberts, Ellen Reid and Stuart Cameron continued to tour throughout 2010/2011.

Beginnings: 1988–1991 === The origin of the Crash Test Dummies is tied to the history of two Winnipeg nightspots, the Spectrum Cabaret and the Blue Note Cafe, owned by Curtis Riddell. In the mid-1980s, Riddell joined with Brad Roberts to form the decidedly less-than-serious bar band Bad Brad Roberts and the St. James Rhythm Pigs.

Over time, the band evolved into the Crash Test Dummies, a name suggested by a friend of the band who was in medical school. Ellen Reid and Benjamin Darvill became permanent additions. The bass player is Dan Roberts, Brad's brother. Riddell was replaced by Vince Lambert, who was fired and replaced by Mitch Dorge just before the release of The Ghosts That Haunt Me.

After signing with BMG Records, the band signed with manager Jeff Rogers (Swell).

Mainstream success: 1991–1999  == The band first began to achieve commercial success in Canada with the release of The Ghosts that Haunt Me in 1991. The album eventually reached sales of 400,000 in Canada, largely due to the overwhelming popularity of the hit single "Superman's Song", which earned the band the 1991 Juno Award for Group of the Year.

 The band did not receive much international recognition until the 1993 release of their second album, God Shuffled His Feet. Particularly instrumental in increasing the band's exposure in the American market was the appearance of a new type of radio format, adult album-oriented alternative rock (AAA).

The result was that by mid-1994 the album had passed the platinum sales mark (one million) in the United States and had also earned the band three Grammy nominations and three more Juno nominations. To date, God Shuffled His Feet has sold more than five and a half million copies worldwide.

 In January 1995, the band released "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" (a cover of XTC's 1992 track) as a single and on the soundtrack of the Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels comedy Dumb and Dumber. The single, credited to The Crash Test Dummies and Ellen Reid, charted at No. 30 in the UK singles chart and was a No. 4 hit in Canada.

 In 1996, the Dummies' third album, A Worm's Life, was released to mixed critical and moderate commercial success.

Give Yourself A Hand, the Dummies' fourth album, was released March 23, 1999. The album showcased a new sound for the Dummies, as it featured Ellen Reid singing lead vocals on three tracks, and Brad Roberts singing in a falsetto on several others. The whole sound of the album was much more electronic than the previous recordings. Once again, the lead single ("Keep A Lid On Things") was a top 10 hit in Canada.

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