"Marblehead Johnson" is a song by English

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

the Bluetones The Bluetones are an English indie rock band, formed in Hounslow, Greater London, in 1993. The band's members are Mark Morriss on vocals, Adam Devlin on guitar, Mark's brother Scott Morriss on bass guitar, and Eds Chesters on drums. A fift ...

, released as a standalone single in 1996. It peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart in late September 1996. It was also included on the band's 2006 compilation, ''A Rough Outline: The Singles & B-Sides 95 – 03''. The song was written as a tribute to

Bill Hicks William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian and satirist. His material— encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy— was controversial and ofte ...

Music video

The members of

spent the day wearing full prosthetic fat suits. The usually skinny guys carry on regular band activities like rocking out, having a kick-around, going for a drive, walking, making tea etc., but now as four hundred pound men. Frontman

Mark Morriss Mark James Morriss (born 18 October 1971) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman for The Bluetones. He is the older brother of bandmate and bass player/illustrator Scott Morriss. He has released four solo albums, worke ...

said they got the idea for the video while watching the

French and Saunders ''French and Saunders'' is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comedy duo and namesake Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders that originally broadcast on BBC2 from 1987 to 1993, and later on BBC One until 2017. It is al ...

sketch where the two comediennes play big fat men.

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

sports a

Liverpool Football Club Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

jersey over his padded fat suit. As well as donning the suits and masks, the boys also wore slip-on rubber fat hands to complete the illusion of them being overweight. Eds and

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

's suits also came with rubber

man boobs ''The Bob & Tom Show'' is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995. Originally syndicated by Premi ...

and fat bellies that can only be seen briefly in the making-of featurette.

Dom and Nic dom&nic is the working name of directors Nic Goffey and Dominic Hawley. They have been directing music videos and commercials since 1994. They have won numerous awards for their work, including the Gold Lion at the 1999 Cannes International Adv ...

, who were responsible for the Bluetones'

Bluetonic ''Expecting to Fly'' is the debut studio album by the Bluetones. It was released on 12 February 1996, knocking Oasis's ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'' off the number-one spot in the UK Albums Chart for a week. The album is certified Platin ...

promo, also directed this video.

Track listings

UK CD single # "Marblehead Johnson" # "The Simple Things" # "Nifkin's Bridge" # "Are You Blue or Are You Blind?" (not listed on artwork or disc) UK 7-inch and cassette single # "Marblehead Johnson" # "The Simple Things" Japanese CD single # "Marblehead Johnson" # "The Simple Things" # "Nifkin's Bridge"

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* https://archive.org/details/thebluetonesgetfatmakingofmarbleheadjohnsonfatsuits {{Authority control The Bluetones songs 1996 singles 1996 songs A&M Records singles Music videos directed by Dom and Nic Song recordings produced by Hugh Jones (producer) Songs written by Adam Devlin Songs written by Eds Chesters Songs written by Mark Morriss Songs written by Scott Morriss UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles