

Bizarre Albums
Tony Thaxton
Tony Thaxton explores the weirder side of music, celebrating and telling the story behind those strange albums that make you wonder how and why they exist. Doing deep dives on albums released by pro athletes, actors, fictional characters, and more. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bizarrealbums/support
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 28, 2020 • 18min
Morton Downey Jr. Sings
Morton Downey Jr. was a pioneer of what would come to be called “trash tv”. After his controversial talk show became a massive success, he tried to return to his roots by releasing an album. This is the story of Morton Downey Jr. Sings, from 1989.

Apr 16, 2020 • 18min
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Part Two)
The thrilling conclusion to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, from 1978.

Apr 14, 2020 • 21min
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Part One)
Robert Stigwood was on fire. He was the manager of the Bee Gees. He produced the films Grease and Saturday Night Fever. Those soundtracks combined sold over 70 million copies for his label, RSO Records. For his next project, Stigwood produced a jukebox musical film made up entirely of Beatles songs. The cast included some of the biggest stars of the seventies…The Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, and even Steve Martin. How could it possibly fail? This is the story of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, from 1978.

Mar 31, 2020 • 23min
Piledriver : The Wrestling Album II
Professional wrestling exploded in the 1980’s. Particularly the World Wrestling Federation. With one album already behind them, Vince McMahon decided it was time for his company to record a follow up. This is the story of Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II from 1987.

Mar 17, 2020 • 21min
Mother Earth’s Plantasia
A former writer for Gilligan’s Island named Joel Rapp, his wife Lynn Rapp, and a synthesizer pioneer named Mort Garson team up to release an album of music…for plants. This is the story of Mother Earth’s Plantasia from 1976.

Mar 5, 2020 • 17min
Bathtubs Over Broadway - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Part Two)
The thrilling conclusion to the soundtrack for the 2018 documentary Bathtubs Over Broadway.

Mar 3, 2020 • 19min
Bathtubs Over Broadway- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Part One)
Steve Young was a writer for David Letterman for over 20 years. While record shopping for a segment on the show, he stumbled into some mysterious, corporate souvenir records marked "internal use only". Little did he know, they would change his life. This was the subject of the 2018 documentary, Bathtubs Over Broadway. The film's soundtrack made many of these available to the public for the first time ever. This is the story of Bathtubs Over Broadway- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, from 2019.

Feb 25, 2020 • 19min
Mae West - Way Out West
Mae West. Actress, playwright, sex symbol…and 70 something year old rock and roll singer?!? It happened. With a teenage backing band. This is the story of Mae West’s Way Out West album from 1966.

Feb 23, 2020 • 15min
BIZARRE SINGLES: Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks - City of Crime
A free episode of Bizarre Singles from the Patreon.com/bizarrealbums page! This one is about the rap single released by actors Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, "City of Crime" from the soundtrack to their Dragnet movie from 1987.

Feb 4, 2020 • 19min
Pink Panther Punk
An animated opening movie title sequence spawned one of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time, The Pink Panther. In 1981, The Pink Panther released a so-called "punk" record. This is the story of Pink Panther Punk from 1981.