I wanted to post about the passing of Neill Kirby McMillan Jr. on Feb 7 at age 66 years of a heart attack but we were in Portugal and it wasn't possible to put all I wanted in his obituary on a Samsung iPad. McMillan wanted to be a punk rocker in Britain but after busking over there he returned to the USA, had an epiphany and became Mojo Nixon. He first came to attention by forming a duet with fellow musician Skid Roper and put out a song lampooning MTV called Stuffin' Martha's Muffin. Mojo and Skid were very popular along the College Radio circuit and eventually caught the attention of MTV, especially after they released this song (A later version with the band the Toadliquors):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJNHczitzcsMojo went on to do a bunch of shorts for MTV until he was banned for the video, "Debbie Gibson is Pregnant With My Two Headed Love Child" where he refers to Rick Astley's penis as his teen tiny two inches of terror.
On the same album Debbie Gibson was recorded, he did another song about Elvis called 619-239-KING which was a real phone number for Elvis sightings. I saw an interview with him telling crazy stories about people calling that number with their sightings.
Mojo and Skid parted ways and Mojo started the Toadliquors. There was nothing Mojo wouldn't lambast. Drunk Divorced Floozy (Diana Spencer), Don Henley Must Die, Bring Me the Head of David Geffen, Destroy All Lawyers, he had no filter. A true American Oscar Wild who should have been a million times more famous than he was. He and Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers were good friends and co wrote Baby's Liquored Up which I've posted the Beat Farmers' version here. During the '80s which was full of Mister Mister, A Ha and Hair Metal with Rolling Stone magazine deciding punk was invented in Minnesota by dirty white boys called The Replacements and Husker Du, Mojo was one of the few that brought rebellious Rock and Roll to the forefront until Grunge came along. He helped out a struggling band called The Dead Milkmen when their gig got cancelled in San Diego. They had no money so Mojo put them up, buying them Hungry Man TV dinners and a couple of bottles of whisky. The Milkmen paid homage to him in their song, "Punk Rock Girl." Here they are performing live in San Diego and you'll never guess who shows up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S75XbroG9DgMojo retired from touring and became a DJ on the radio in Cincinnati. He then hosted a political radio show on Sirius called "Lyin' Cocksuckers." For the last few years he was a DJ on Sirius Outlaw Country and once a year in the Spring he hosted Mojo Mayhem at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas. There he played this Piece De Resistance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMkdvY2Z2XkRIP Mojo. Only 362 days older than me.