The Jellyfish

When the king is half-undressed

This isn’t the story of the band Jellyfish or their effect on me as a teenager. It’s just pictures of that band wearing their colorful, psychedelic, Ren-Fen elf outfits and footage of them playing some seriously catchy pop songs before they imploded into obscurity.

I loved this band as a teen. I loved their songs “The King is Half-Undressed,” “Baby’s Coming Back,” and “New Mistake.” I’m grateful to have seen them play twice, because as obscure ’90s bands go, they’re kind of legends now.

My friends and I first saw them play at a Phoenix, Arizona musical festival in April 1991. Our local college rock station, KUKQ, put it on. It was called Birthday Bash. Social Distortion, Meat Puppets, and They Might Be Giants also played. We loved all those bands, so the Jellyfish got dwarfed by the Meat Puppets’ wild stage energy and Social D’s neck-tat intensity.

Two months later, on 6/12/1991, we saw Jellyfish play their own headlining show at Mesa Ampitheatre. They were touring to support their debut album, Bellybutton. As I always did back in my teens and still often do in my forties, I stood right at the foot of the stage, beneath the lead singer, and watched him play. The thing is, he didn’t just sing. He sang and played drums. I’d never seen someone play drums while standing, just like I’d never seen anyone sing while drumming standing in a jester outfit. I was mesmerized. It remains one of the more unusual setups of the hundreds of shows I’ve experience. Unfortunately, I didn’t save my flyer or concert ticket.

I clearly recall my 16-year-old mouth laying open, as I watched him drum and the other elfs frolic around the stage, belting out their underground pop confections. Although others stood around me, the crowd was diffuse, but those who were there watched intently, too.

My fandom was brief, because the band’s catalogue wasn’t big, and the early ’90s were filled with so much great music that my new loves like Soundgarden and Smashing Pumpkins quickly displaced The Jellyfish and consumed me. But their choruses and those crazy outfits stayed with me. No one dressed like that during the 90s. Maybe that was a good thing, but you gotta love the Jellyfish for their musical talents and their schtick. They mixed pop music with Muppetish psychedelia in a way no one has before, and they’re a cult band now. Brief lives do that.

You can read about the band’s tumultuous existence here.

Mostly, I hope you enjoy their music: