Spider-Man, Edited by Robert Moses Peaslee & Robert G
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From Web-Spinning Heroics: Critical Essays on the History and Meaning of Spider-Man, edited by Robert Moses Peaslee & Robert G. Weiner. 222-233. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2012. Finding the M ileu of the Spider-M an M u sic L P s MARK M CDERM O TT With the Broadway musical Spider-M an: Turn o⇣ th e D a rk sp in n in g th ro u g h th e n e w s c y c le at the tim e of this w riting, it is surely appropriate to explore som e of the previous cultural artifacts that set Peter Parker’s story to m usic. It is not hard to *nd musical interpretations of the web-spinner. -e them e song from the 1960s cartoon series rem ains one of the best-rem em bered of Am erican Saturday m orning TV them es in Am erica, having been covered by fellow Q ueens natives the Ram ones, referenced by Aerosm ith guitarist Joe Perry in his them e for the 1994 anim ated series, and heard throughout the three theatrical *lm s. -e fourth season of PB S’ Electric Company (1 9 7 4 -7 5 ) d eb u ted a series o f “S p id ey S u p er S to ries” sk its w ith a fu n k y th em e so n g o f th eir o w n . -e skits w ere spun o= into a juven ile-read in g-level co m ic b oo k, an d to an album on the children’s label Peter Pan R ecords, w hich later included Spider-M an in its “B ook and R ecord” com ic series on the Pow er im print. It is in the w orld of com m ercial pop m usic, though, that Spider-M an and the rest of the merry Marvel menagerie have gone mostly unrepresented. Since 1957, Marvel’s newsstand distributor — which was owned by DC Comics — would only handle eight titles each month (D an iels, 1 9 9 1 ; 8 0 -8 1 ). In th e 1 9 6 0 s, B atm an go t th e p rim e-tim e T V series, B ro ad w ay go t It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman, and D onovan’s num ber-one hit boasted, “Superm an or G reen Lantern ain’t got nothin’ on me!” (1966). Lucky is the collector who today *nds a 45 copy of the Traits obscure 1969 garage/psych record, “N obody Loves the Hulk” (QN S 101). Spidey *nally made his debut in the Billboard ch arts in 1 9 7 6 w ith a jazz-d an ce single b y R am sey L ew is th at asked the m usical question, “W hat’s the N am e of this Funk (Spider-M an)?” By the 1970s, though, Marvel had graduated from its cult status to the mainstream. After getting a new distributor, they *nally saw "e A m azin g Spider-M an outsell the Superm an titles. In 1971, M arvel won out in a stando= w ith th e C o m ics C o d e A u th o rity o v er th eir d ep ictio n o f th e consequences of drug abuse in "e A m azin g Spider-M an (“G reen G oblin R eborn!” 1:96-98). O n January 5, 1972, M arvel celebrated its cultural ascendancy w ith the “M arvel-ous E vening w ith Stan Lee” at Carnegie H all, in which Tom W olfe, French director Alain Resnais (H iroshim a M on Am our) and other “elites” proclaimed Lee’s eminence as a creator of modern culture. Among the sh o w ’s p articip an ts w as acto r R en é A u b erjo n o is, th en k n o w n fo r p layin g F ath er M u lcah ey in th e movie adaptation M*A*S*H (1 9 7 0 ). -e even t w as recounted in a B ullpen B ulletin appearing in Marvel comics cover dated July 1972: 222 e Spider-M an M u sic L P s (M CDERM O TT) 223 ITEM: January 5, 1972! Mark that date in your memory-book, faithful one — ’cause that’s the night th e b atty B u llp en g o t it all to g eth er at C arn eg ie H all, in th e h ectic h eart o f N ew Y o rk C ity ! As we told you last month, the whole magilla was called “A M ARVEL-OUS E VENING WITH S TAN LEE” — and it was a way-out compendium of music, magic, and madcap Marvel mayhem! Smilin’ STAN himself was Master of Ceremonies — presiding over the frantic goings-on while images of mighty Marvel superheroes Pitte d a c ro ss a g ia n t m o v ie sc re e n . A trio o f o u r tita n ic a rtists g o t in to th e act, too, as Jazzy JOHNNY R OMITA H a p p y HERB T RIMPE, a n d B ig JOHN B USCEMA d id se n sa tio n a l sk etch es o f C ap tain A m erica, o l’ G reen sk in , an d -or — which in turn were projected onto that selfsam e screen . (-ere w as a passel of our cavortin’ characters in actual attendance, too, including Spidey, D aredevil, D oc D oom , and even J. Jonah Jam eson him self!) -e stan ding-room -on ly crow d exploded w ith applause, also, at the roster of fam ous nam es w ho had gathered to pay hom age to the m adness that is M arvel: W orld-fam ous *lm d ire c to r ALAIN R ESN AIS tran slated a few o f th e S ilver S u rfer’s so lilo q u ies in to h is n ative F ren ch ; an d th ere w ere also a few pungent paragraphs about our heroes which were intoned by radio personalities ALEX B EN N ETT and EARL D OUD, b y a c to rs REN E A UBERJONOIS a n d CHUCK M CCAN N (y o u ’v e se e n th e la tte r a zillio n tim es as the ‘H i G uy’ neighbor on the other side of the m edicine cabinet in those R ight G uard com m ercials), and neo-journalist TOM W OLFE, re sp le n d e n t in re d , w h ite , a n d b lu e a s h e re a d a b o u t — you guessed it — Captain America. As for the music mentioned about, most of it was provided by the far-famed CHICO H AM ILTO N PLAYERS — but some more Marvel Madmen got into the act, too, as Hectic HERBIE a n d B a sh fu l BARRY S MITH p lu n k e d a c o u p le o f w ild e le c tric g u ita rs w h ile R a sc a lly ROY T HOMAS b e lte d o u t a ro u sin’ ro ck er o r tw o ! -en, for the grand *nale, just about everybody in the blam ed Bullpen crowded onto stage to sing the Merry Marvel Marching Society theme-song — while, not to be outdone, dozens of cheering fans rushed onstage as well, and the show closed am id a revel of handshaking and autograph signing all ’round. And that was that! All in all, it was a wildly successful evening — and not necessarily the last of its kind, either! And, if there were a few bleary eyes and sore throats among the Bullpenners come the morning of the 6th — well, that’s show biz, people!” [“B u llp en ,” 1 9 7 2 ]. In d eed , in th is era, S tan L ee o r o n e o f th e B u llp en B u lletin w riters w o u ld b o ast th at M arvel was “gonna take over the world” by expanding into other media. W ith live-action television projects still som e years aw ay, M arvel’s *rst cro ss m ed ia fo ray cam e fro m th ird p arties w an tin g to exploit the com ics in the m edium of rock con cept album s. In 1 9 7 2 an d 1 9 7 5 , tw o L P s w ere released th at attem p ted to re-im agin e S p id er-M an’s sto ry as a com bination of audio dram a and pop m usic; a rock opera com ic book, even. N early 40 years later, and despite interest from both com ics and m usic fans in these audio artifacts, it’s uncertain whether som eone at M arvel cam e up with the idea, or the record com panies involved brought the concept to the publisher.