Every Moment Has A Song

King Missile: “Jesus Was Way Cool” (1990)

King Missile is basically New York-based poet/performance artist John S. Hall and a revolving cast of musicians who come up with sympathetic settings for his droll, mostly spoken word narratives.

“Jesus Was Way Cool” was a big college radio hit for the band and one of their two best-known songs (along with 1992’s “Detachable Penis”, an unlikely MTV and alternative radio hit). Interestingly, it was at a 1991 concert that Hall joked to the audience that the title of their next single would be “Detachable Penis”. He later decided to go ahead and write the song.

The band first came to my attention when a girlfriend lent me a mixtape with the title “Way Cool Tape”, which not only served as my introduction to King Missile but to John Hiatt as well. Wish I could have a look at that tape today–I’d like to see what other treasures it may have contained.

When several years passed after their 1998 Failure album, I’d assumed the band broke up. Turns out John S. Hall was attending law school. He has since opened his own practice specializing in entertainment law.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/01/29/songs-you-may-have-missed-310/