Some anecdotes from the history of Too Much Joy:
• The band fed hamburger to
Steve Vai’s
vegetarian dog.
• Three of the band members were arrested on
obscenity charges and spent a night in jail for performing a
2 Live Crew "tribute concert" in
Broward County, FL shortly after that band was arrested. They didn’t think very highly of that group’s music, but were interested in performing a pro-
first amendment publicity stunt. Despite verbal confirmation from bands like
Red Hot Chili Peppers and
Sonic Youth, they were the only band to show.
• They were sued by the notoriously litigious
Bozo the Clown for including a
sample of Bozo saying "And then I found something in one of my pockets. It was about as big as your shoe, but it was shaped like a
rocket." They settled for $200 and removed the sample.
• When some
Secret Service men showed up in a club they were performing in,
Tim Quirk turned the chorus of "
That’s a Lie" into an impromptu anti-Clinton rant threatening the president and mentioning the presence of the Secret Service. After the show, the band was interrogated for an hour by the Secret Service. "Don’t leave town." "We’re on tour!"
• The band has letters from
Newt Gingrich thanking them for their help with the
1994 "
Republican revolution", A fan of the band, Jeff Holland, was working as a
Republican aide, and suggested an internal "theme song" during a strategy meeting of the Republican House delegation. He bolted out to his car, grabbed the CD
Cereal Killers, and returned to play the song "
Theme Song". Imagine this: 30 Republican Congressmen belting out : "To create, you must destroy! Smash a glass and cry, ‘too much joy!’" One person actually smashed a glass.
Real life has surpassed parody.
When Holland told the band, they demanded proof. He asked Newt’s office for some thank you letters, and they send him one for each member of the band. Holland gave the letters to them, and the band made national news when they circulated them. Newt’s office denied their existence, claiming it was a hoax.
Source: http://www.theavclub.com/avclub3608/avfeature_3608.html