Bad Music History

The year was 1989. The eighties were just coming to an end. Heavy with menace, the nineties were just around the corner. At the Victoria Palace, Lupino Lane was entrancing London with `Me And My Girl'. At Ascot a year of Royal victories. Walt Disney had done it again with `Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'.

And in an unassuming radio station in the otherwise ordinary central Illinois town of Peoria, Travitt Hamilton and Jim Allenspach were contemplating a new radio series. One that would take a look at the hideous underbelly of the music industry, and throw a harsh light upon it, for all to see. Hear. You know what I mean.

Several names were bandied about, all centering on the two words that they just could not shake: "BAD MUSIC". It was mutually agreed upon that the name of the show would be "Excursions Into Bad Music", and that its primary focus would be the tracks of horrible racket culled from various old Doctor Demento albums, as well as Travitt's Golden Throats Vol. I cassette.

As an additional twist to the show, the mysterious personality of "Anastasia Krupnik" was added to the line-up. Originally the name of the heroine in a series of children's books by Lois Lowry, the name was picked from a promotional sticker that Travitt had stuck on his class binder. The general idea behind adding Anastasia's name was that, by posing as emissaries for the elusive Miss Krupnik, we would be acting upon "orders" and therefore could not be held responsible for any negative reactions that listeners might have during the program.

"Excursions Into Bad Music" was officially launched in the fall 1989 schedule of WRBU, Bradley University's student radio station. Almost immediately, it was soundly ignored by the general listening public, mostly because it was broadcast in the late morning/early afternoon on Fridays, a time which students often used to play a boisterous game of quoits on the tree-lined campus walk.

Slowly, however, the format began to pick up listeners. Why, I even remember meeting someone who actually admitted to listening to the show on a regular basis. (I never saw that particular individual again, as I recall. Hmm.) Thanks to the exciting and witty repartee between the two DJ's, "Excursions Into Bad Music" became one of the jewels in the crown of WRBU's Friday line-up (runner-up only to the classic rock show that immediately followed Bad Music).

Time passed, and after a couple years of doing the show, Mr. Hamilton eventually, regrettably, graduated. His departure left a large gap in the Bad Music line-up, which was almost immediately filled by Mr. Kevin Crumrine, Bad Music afficionado and former WRBU hardware wizard.

During the run this second Bad Music cast, several other WRBU DJ's displayed their proficiency at spinning the Bad Music discs. Dave Lennie & Jeff Laird became particularly proficient at mixing classic rock tunes with Mr. Rogers soundbites. And Daniel Rench, with his near-legendary "Vinyl Madness" show, became possibly the first person in recorded history to play the Atari-produced "Missile Command" album on a radio station. These and many more like-minded souls banded together with the Bad Music DJ's, to ensure the Bradley campus would never be safe turning on their radios.

This Bad Music line-up ran another year, playing godawful tunes like there was no tomorrow. Eventually, of course, there turned out to be a tomorrow, and both DJ's graduated Bradley in the spring of 1992. Bad Music, it seemd had run its course.

Even more time passed. Mr. Allenspach, a graduate student in a prodigious Eastern school, began to collect more and more unusual music. Eventually, he couldn't stand it any more, and produced the first of several Bad Music tapes.

These tapes kept alive the Bad Music flame among the fans who were still anxious to hear some truly awful recordings. They became more and more elaborate works, with unusual artwork, strange soundbites interspersed between the music, and other strange multimedia offerings.

The most recent Bad Music collection is also one of the most impressive: an actual compact disc of Bad Music, painstakingly recorded on home equipment by Mr. Allenspach. Recent breakthroughs in CD technology make it possible for anyone, at home, to produce a CD of his or her favorite music. Leave it to the Bad Music Foundation to find a horrible, unintended use for this technology!

Now, in 2001, Bad Music seems more alive than ever. Thanks to the efforts of people like legendary DJ Irwin Chusid and his program called "Incorrect Music", the sound of Bad Music is still on the airwaves.

We look forward to servicing the general public, by providing even more examples of what people should not do, when they go into a recording studio, turn on the tape machines, and excitedly pop their first syllables into the microphone. Bad Music may make the listener groan in agony, but hopefully the lesson is learned.

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