Hee Haw (EP)
Hee Haw is the second release and first EP by the Australian post-punk band The Boys Next Door (later renamed The Birthday Party). The Hee Haw EP was released in 1979 by the independent label, Missing Link Records.
Background
By 1978-9 The Boys Next Door were the most experienced and musically-mature of Melbourne’s punk and post-punk bands. The core members – Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Phill Calvert and Tracy Pew – had been joined by Rowland S. Howard on guitar in 1978. The Boys Next Door released an album (Door, Door) on the Mushroom label in 1979 (recorded in separate sessions in mid-1978 and early 1979).
After the release of Door Door, The Boys Next Door transferred to the independent label, Missing Link Records, and took on label owner Keith Glass as their manager. Cave said, "We played [Hee Haw] to Michael Gudinski of Mushroom Records and he wasn't really interested." The tracks for the Hee Haw EP were recorded during July and August 1979 at Richmond Recorders in Melbourne, engineered by Tony Cohen. The five-track EP was released in December 1979. The artwork on the cover and insert sheet was done by Marcus Bergner.
Hee Haw
Hee Haw is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 21-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being that Hee Haw was far less topical, and was centered on country music and rural culture. Hosted by country artists Buck Owens and Roy Clark for most of the series' run, the show was equally well known for its voluptuous, scantily clad women in stereotypical farmer's daughter outfits and country-style minidresses (a group that came to be known as the "Hee Haw Honeys"), and its cornpone humor.
Hee Haw's appeal, however, was not limited to a rural audience. It was successful in all of the major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Other niche programs such as The Lawrence Welk Show (which targeted older audiences) and Soul Train (which targeted African-American audiences) also rose to prominence in syndication during the era. Like Laugh-In, the show minimized production costs by taping all of the recurring sketches for a season in batches, setting up for the Cornfield one day, the Joke Fence on another day, etc. At the height of its popularity, an entire year's worth of shows would be taped in two separate week-long sessions, then individual shows were assembled from edited sections. Only musical performances were taped with a live audience; a laugh track was added to all other segments.
Hee Haw (album)
Hee Haw is a compilation LP gathering together early recordings from Australian post-punk band The Birthday Party. It includes all the tracks from the original Hee Haw EP and from the band's self-titled first album.
