Saturday, August 31, 2013

W.O.C.K On Vinyl - The Mosquitoes / Gilligan's Island

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Before things get too serious here at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song / album at the end of each month, that could be categorized as being either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.
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One of my all-time favourite episodes of Gilligan's Island is entitled 'Don't Bug the Mosquitoes'  (Season 2, Episode 12, aired Dec 9, 1965).
'The Mosquitoes', featuring Bingo, Bando, Bongo and Irving, were billed as America's next big rock band. 
The British-invasion-influenced Mosquitoes fled the states for some much needed r 'n' r as the group's overzealous fans grew to be too much. Can you imagine Mosquito-mania? As a result, 'The Mosquitoes' found themselves on what was believed to be a deserted island, where the group could escape the non-stop Beatlesesque fan frenzy. However, The Mosquitoes quickly learned that they were not the only inhabitants of the small Pacific island. 

The shipwrecked castaways of the S.S. Minnow had been living on the island since their planned three-hour luxury cruise was ruined by a severe tropical storm. Desperate to return home, the seven stranded castaways attempted to lure The Mosquitoes to immediately take them back to civilization. The mop-top quartet agreed to do so, but only after their no-deadline period of island rest and relaxation was completed. However, Gilligan and company were not prepared to wait-out The Mosquitoes downtime. The end result, like every predictable episode of the sixties sitcom, was another aborted rescue.

The Mosquitoes were played by:
-Bingo (Les Brown, Jr.)
-Bango (George Patterson)
-Bongo ( Ed Wade)
-Irving (Kirby Johnson)

Three of The Mosquitoes (excluding Bingo) were actually members of The Wellingtons, an Illinois based folk trio that actually performed the theme song for the first season of Gilligan's Island ("The Ballad of Gilligan's Island").


While researching the sitcom's Mosquitoes, I was keen to know if there had been a real band called The Mosquitoes.  The closest I could find was an American band in the mid-80's with a slightly different spelling called 'The Mosquitos'

The Mosquitos - 1985 - That Was Then, This Is Now [mlp]
Long Island, New York. The Mosquitos released a 5 song EP of fine 60's influenced pop entitled "That Was Then, This Is Now!" on the Valhalla label in 1985 and then disappeared. The Mosquitos, who took their name from the band that appeared on an episode of "Gilligan's Island", were known for their blistering live shows (anybody have any mp3's or cd-rs?) and for writing the song "That Was Then, This is Now" that the regrouped Monkees turned into a Top 20 hit in 1986. 

The Mosquitos were:    Vance Brescia, (vocals/guitar), Steve Prisco (lead guitar/vocals), Iain Morrison (bass/vocals), Mitch Towse (drums), and Tony Millions (keybard/vocals).
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So, this month's WOCK on Vinyl post easily fits the Crazy / Korny categories and I felt compelled to share this hilarious episode of Gilligan's island with you. I just love the outfits and character types that The Mosquitoes portrayed on the show, and am sure you'll get a Buzz out of 'em too.
Posting consists of the 1985 Mosquitos MLP (MP3/256kps) and both audio and video files for the show sement where the Mosquitoes perform their new hit "He's A Loser" on Gilligan's Island.
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Don't Bug Me Link (50Mb)  New Link 31/10/2015
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5 comments:

  1. thank you for this, Gilligan's island was one of my favourite shows .. when i was so much younger .. but i'm older than that now but i still get a laugh when its on.

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  2. Do you have anything from The Honey Bees?

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    Replies
    1. If you are referring to The Honey Bees in the show (Ginger, MaryAnne and Mrs Howell) then I could capture their short minute of fame during this episode, but unsure if The Honey Bees were a real band at the time. Do you have any info?

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  3. I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new
    stuff you post.

    Ben Sherman Watches
    Henleys Watches

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  4. One of my favorite shows and episodes.
    I always loved the songs on that
    episode and use to have on cassette
    and listen to them over and over.
    wish they had released a cd of those
    and other songs by both groups.

    ReplyDelete