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| Perhaps it was his work as a session drummer with Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, and others that inspired SPIKE JONES (b. Long Beach, CA, Dec. 14, 1911; d. LA, CA May 1, 1965) to earn a living by spoofing popular songs and writing original pieces of silliness. This predecessor of Weird Al Yankovic's formed The City Slickers, a band of talented musical comedians, in the early 40's, and they quickly became popular with "Der Fuehrer's Face" (1942) and other ridiculous songs that employed equally ridiculous instruments: bells, goats, whistles, anvils, breaking glass, etc. They had several top-ten hits in the 40's, and successfully moved into TV and film in the 40's and 50's.
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