NEM#247: John S. Hall (King Missile): Daily Poet

John has released at least fifteen albums, more than half of these under the name King Missile, but even this name covers three different bands, since John until recently didn’t play any instruments, so his music is always collaborative with one or more music writers. Apart from his various musical projects, he’s published around 50 books of poetry and publishes poems every day on his Facebook page.

We discuss “Her Cock is True” from the yet-to-be-released King Missile album Quest for Fire (with music by Stephen Tunney, aka Dogbowl), “Eating People” by King Missile III from The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (2003, music by Bradford Reed), and “Sensitive Artist” by King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) from Fluting on the Hump (1987). End song: “Garden” by You, Me and This Fuckin’ Guy from Garden Variety Fuckers (2020, music by Azalia Snail and Dan West). Intro: “Detachable Penis” from Happy Hour (1992). We also get to hear how he writes his daily poems; the poems from the day we recorded that John brings up are here.

Watch the big-time video For “Detachable Penis.” Other notable classic KM songs include “Jesus Was Way Cool,” “Wuss,” and the poem (which you can watch him recite) “Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die.” Here’s the re-make by King Missile III, “Jesus Was Way Cool (Millennium Edition).“

Some of John’s other recent musical projects include Silk Cut (with King Missile’s Rebecca Korbet), Unusual Squirrel. His “solo” album Real Men (1991) was a collaboration with Kramer.

Watch John do a full poetry show. Watch him performing in 1995 with Kramer and just a bit from 2016 with Dogbowl and even more recently with Dogbown and Rebecca Korbet. Watch him live with Unusual Squirrel. Watch a King Missile gig from 1994.

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