Dickie Goodman

In June 1956, Goodman created his first record, "The Flying Saucer Parts 1 & II", which he co-wrote with his partner Bill Buchanan, and which was a four-minute rewrite of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio show.[2][3] This recording was the subject of a copyright infringement case against Goodman.[4] The court eventually ruled his sampled mix was considered a parody, and was an entirely new work. The song "The Flying Saucer" was officially released under the artist name "Buchanan and Goodman" and was Goodman's highest-charting single on Billboard, peaking at No. 3. Buchanan and Goodman followed up with five other records: "Buchanan and Goodman on Trial" (#80 in 1956), "Banana Boat Story"---in which the duo used a single song, the Tarriers' "Banana Boat Song", as a break-in spoof of broadcast commercials---"Flying Saucer the 2nd" (#18 in 1957), "The Creature (From a Science Fiction Movie)" (by Buchanan and Ancell) (#85 in 1957), and "Santa and the Satellite (Parts I & II)" (#32 in 1957).

With Mickey Shorr in 1959, Goodman recorded two singles under the name 'Spencer and Spencer', both of which relied much less on sampling and more on sketch comedy. "Russian Bandstand" was a re-imagining of the then-popular TV series American Bandstand set in a totalitarian Soviet Union. "Stagger Lawrence" imposed Lloyd Price's recording of "Stagger Lee" onto a spoof of The Lawrence Welk Show, borrowing heavily from an earlier Welk parody done by Stan Freberg. Neither recording with Shorr would be as popular as the recordings Goodman made with Buchanan.

Starting in 1961, Goodman released his pieces as a solo artist. He scored three Billboard Hot 100 hits based on the hit TV series The Untouchables: "The Touchables" (#60), "The Touchables in Brooklyn" (#42), and "Santa and the Touchables" (#99).

In 1962, Goodman spoofed Ben Casey with "Ben Crazy" (#44). In 1966, his spoof of Batman resulted in "Batman & His Grandmother" (#70).

In 1964, Goodman decided to try something different: rather than his usual "break-in" records, he recorded an entire album of parodies called My Son the Joke. The title was a take-off of the then-highly popular Allan Sherman records; unlike Sherman, Goodman's material was much more risque (such as "Harry's Jockstrap", to the tune of "Frère Jacques") and failed to chart.

During the late 1960s, Goodman recorded a mostly musical album featuring his wife, aptly entitled Dickie Goodman and His Wife Susan. Mr. Goodman sang one track on the record ("Never Play Poker with a Man Named Doc (or Eat at a Place Called Mom's)", paraphrasing Nelson Algren's novel A Walk on the Wild Side), and produced two break-in style pieces, with Susan singing the rest of the songs.

In 1969, Goodman parodied the political unrest on college campuses with "On Campus" (#45) and the first moon landing with "Luna Trip" (#95). Vik Venus' Goodman-like "Moonflight" reached an even higher No. 38 on 9 August 1969, one week after "On Campus" peaked. Goodman's records also inspired KQV morning disc jockey Bob DeCarlo to cut his own sample-spliced top 10 hit "Convention '72" as by the Delegates. Goodman himself spoofed political issues such as the Watergate scandal with "Watergrate" (#42 in 1973), the 1973 energy crisis with "Energy Crisis '74" (#33 in 1974), and Richard Nixon with "Mr. President" (#73 in 1974). Goodman failed to chart with a different version of "Mr. President" in 1981 after Ronald Reagan became president.

In addition to work under his own name, Goodman also produced for other acts. John & Ernest's "Superfly Meets Shaft" (#31 in 1973), while oriented more toward a black audience, retained Goodman's "break-in" format. An unusual act Goodman produced was the Glass Bottle; Goodman created the band primarily as an advertising ploy to promote actual glass bottles, which were going out of fashion due to soda companies beginning to use plastic bottles. The Glass Bottle recorded two singles, both of which were straight pop songs; "I Ain't Got Time Anymore" hit No. 36 in 1971. Also, in 1974, Goodman anonymously released Screwy T.V., an album of risque parodies of then-popular TV series. This album was even less popular than My Son the Joke, as many record shops kept in "under the counter", due to its cover featuring two nude models (reportedly Susan and Dickie Goodman themselves) seen from the rear.

In 1975, Goodman parodied the film Jaws with "Mr. Jaws" (#4 in 1975), becoming Goodman's biggest-selling record by achieving R.I.A.A. gold disc status in September 1975.[5] The record shot to No. 1 on Chicago's WLS, who played a customized version, featuring "This is Dickie Goodman at WLS" at the beginning.

Goodman's final chart record was "Kong" (#48 in 1977), spoofing the 1976 King Kong film remake, followed by others that failed to chart. Altogether, Goodman charted 17 hits, with five of them reaching the top 40. Goodman produced several other break-in records which garnered airplay and charted only in regional areas, usually Los Angeles and New York City, but in a few other areas as well.

Luniverse, Goodman's record label, featured works by other artists, including the Del-Vikings.[6]

Goodman's break-in records were spoofed by Albert Brooks in a comedy bit called "Party from Outer Space".

Goodman died in North Carolina in 1989 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.[7] He is survived by his two sons, Jon and Jed, and his daughter Janie. In 2000, Jon released The King of Novelty, a biography of Dickie's life and work, along with autobiographical material. The book, which also contains the most comprehensive chronology of Dickie Goodman's records, including CD re-releases, is still available and in print. Jon is in charge of his father's estate.

In July 2018, Jon Goodman placed his father's songwriting royalties up for sale on Royalty Exchange, eventually selling the rights to the library for $13,000. Goodman was reluctant to give up his rights but did so in hopes that the buyer would have more connections to be able to popularize the records in the Goodman library through film and television appearances.[8]

Jon Goodman continues to produce break-in records, mixing break-ins from both himself and Dickie's archival recordings with contemporary songs, on a YouTube channel under his father's name.[9]