Janitor

[eroloran]

As I tell most people, my '80's were very different from your '80's. Fantastic

[romejeme]

0:58 oh my genitals oh my genitals

[lilisigel]

Strange song, I like it. :-)

[mavericdragon]

Wow!, I have this on cassette tape, from KTRU 91.7fm, here in Houston, Tx. A late night batch of jams, this being one, unknown, now re-discovered, by accident...Thank you.

[MrGatorguy22]

Where can I download their stuff?

[DaDa2Phlux]

" Man... the man-i-pu-la'tor..."

[murcuryvapor]

Thanks for this...love this record.

[avalanchealonso]

Boom, boom, boom! Oh, my genitals! Oh, my genitals. . .Who's your mother, who's your father!? Oh, my genitals! Oh, my genitals. .

[sprinklesonaplane]

it sounds like they're saying genitals not janitor... "oh my genitals"

[sprinklesonaplane]

@sprinklesonaplane oh, they are.. ok nvm

[RainPoetry]

Props to KROQ for playing this and other "weird" music. Expanded my mind back in the 80s. The masses just consume what the corporations feed them these days...

[sorcervs]

@RainPoetry pretty sure the 80's was right before the "machine" took control of what was popular on a global scale

[duqmiguel]

Had Albert Einstien lived long enough, this would have been his favorite tune.

[erinearthling]

whoa. beautiful! i love this song and this is such a sweet video to go with it. congrats, miss gallant!

[RoxieBunnie]

OMFG!!!  THANK YOU!! The memories of the most awesome song!!

[MsLooBird]

I haven't read the whole thread, so I don't know if someone already told the story of the song, but she met one of her band mates at a party and she asked what he did for a living and he said he was a janitor, but she thought he said 'oh my genitals'. They music was pretty loud.... and a song was born. I grew up on all this great music.

[WannaBeatle]

very interesting to say the least, but very entertaining.

Denise, is Gallant your birth or married name?? I'm a Gallant, too

[mondocaneman]

I remember them back in the day! Can somebody post their show from Saturday Night Live?? anyone here remember that show? I think John Belushi invited them to play at SNL, he also invited Fear...and the rest is history...

[BudStrong]

This band is one of my all-time favorites. They smoked Fear and Black Flag when I saw them at the Olympic Auditorium. I even still have the 45 rpm singles of "Janitor" and "Gidget Goes to Hell." (Oh, original KROQ, showcase of talented anticulture acts like Suburban Lawns, Jim Carroll, and the Plasmatics, where are the likes of you now?)

[BudStrong]

Kind of nice to know the lyrics now, after trying to make them out for THIRTY FUCKING YEARS

[SueNamiii]

@BudStrong I loved the Olympic! I wonder if anyone has any video footage shot there, or the Cathay?! Probably Video Louis does, I'll have to ask him. Miss those AWESOME venues!

[JWROWE3]

One of the first videos I remember seeing on MTV... and I believe my response was.."What the hell?!?!?" Ah, originality...where did it go???

[JamesMajdali]

this song... is so amazing. uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu­uuunf

[wintersgrace]

FUCK! Back when music was good and ORIGINAL!!!

[mrbug825]

Genitals? I had this teacher that use to call his Quizes, Quizicles.

You'll never guess what he called his Tests.

[KDub1963]

Hey Denise...this is SO great!! It's so sad that video production has become so uncreative and really bland, but for a exceptions here and there. The Suburban Lawns and all the great music from this time bring back So Cal memories. A friend sent me via a Facebook message and it just came flooding back. Super duper thanks a mucho...

[penguintunes]

Denise! Thanks so much for this. I never tire of revisiting this band and this wasn't up last time I looked. Su is So!

[AdobeGillis]

Well, this is where Gwen Stefani got her vocal style.

[TheLiamDude]

@AdobeGillis If only we could say that that was true.

[TheLiamDude]

I can almost promise you that 20,000 of these views are mine.

[wheelworker1]

i was lucky to have seen this band play along with redd kross, X, weirdos, 45 grave bags...Today music in LA is really lame. and I'm not old, just no really good band scene

[KDub1963]

@wheelworker1 It is lame, and it's very hard to find anything of some talent and originality. We can thank the music industry and the way they have structured it for what gets shoved down our throats and passed off as anything. Much like the film industry putting bean counters in positions that require creativity and insight and enthusiasm for the medium. And so what gets spit out then - Yep . . . schlock. Really pitiful.

[SueNamiii]

@wheelworker1  Wow, that must have been an amazing show! Where'd you see all those great bands in one show? Olympic Auditorium? no... Cathay? Bags, as in Alice Bag Band?

[vtaguy1]

I haven't heard this song in 30 years. It is so fantastic, I had tried to find it but never knew what it was called or who sang it. Thanks for posting and for the lyrics as well.

[YoBroMan]

I was just becoming a teenager in 1979, and growing up in SoCal there was such a diverse music scene for the next few years. I remember Huntington Beach and TSOL, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies...then there were LA bands like Missing Persons, Suburban Lawns and The Plimsouls.

Man...that was a really great time. :)

Yo!

[KDub1963]

@YoBroMan Brutha you said it!! So Cal was GREAT back in those days. Getting to see all these bands--music was so great, original and creative. I'm really glad for having lived it then...

[kickfostermac]

I LOVE THIS!! I missed out by being born 15 yrs too late.

[ponyboy1129]

I always thought she was saying

"and you wonder, does it matter, antimatter?"

"I guess everything is relative"

[badsign1980]

under water? does it matter?anti matter? in nuclear reactors the uanium is under water because is so hot and its the heat it produces that poduces energy, but it creates anti matter so it dosent matter if it is under water because it will stay reacting for 100000... smart lyrics oh my genitals

[radioactive144]

This is great, the way I remember it. Thank you for posting.

[FierceIndian07]

WTF is this trash?

[murfdasurfer]

@FierceIndian07 Its not your Lady Gag Gag Crap you listen to thats for sure.

[FierceIndian07]

@murfdasurfer ill slam ur surf board across ur damn head where it split ur board n half, shut up lol

[murfdasurfer]

@FierceIndian07 like I said Lady Gag Gag has some hit records just for your puny mind. LOL

[sjbeacher]

@FierceIndian07 It is way above your head! You weren't even a thought on the screen when this came out! Stick with the crap you listen to.

[ExactLeigh]

oh my genitals?!??? wasnt expecting that lol

[qwertzxcvb1000]

shit man this is their song

[gumby2412]

tHEY just don't make em like they use too...THANKS for the post!!!

KROQ Flash backs are the BEST!!!!

[hackman55able]

Classic song, was a staple on KROQ back in the 80's. Jamming video.

[Dpesh7]

i need this album

[DragonRule55]

this band fckin rocks

[dannym6four]

SHE LIVED IN LA ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO I FEEEL SO SORRY FOR WHAT I CALL THE NEW GENERATION but goddamn the eighties were fun jeez i miss those days but mostley the NIGHTS!!!!

[andyxfish]

i showed this to some friends of mine and they lost their minds!

[XxBowieTipxX]

Makes me want to cause a nuclear meltdown. This song reminds me that I'm in the modern world.

[latitudetwenty]

Wow very cool Denise! Thanks for putting it up. I've always wondered why Su stopped performing. I've seen a lot of great ones but none better than her. I wish there was more footage of her dancing on youtube, she was captivating.

[dsmoen]

Wow, I've really missed the Suburban Lawns. Finally found a copy of their album because I missed Green Eyes and Flying Saucer Safari more than I missed Janitor, and the latter's easier to find.

[AlbertMondback]

Win.

[getalotta]

Great tune... this was an anthem when I was in Junior High

[Giselle62]

haven't heard it in almost 30 years--i once met a man, very funny, who said

'it's all relative" after every sentence i said---and you know what? 85% of the time he was right

[stogref]

Great song, love it! Thanks for posting it! 8)

[ScottAln05]

Most excellent!

[ocbfd]

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee­eee

[Lynnsongart]

She sure was.....different. This was punk, man. I'm just now discovering SB after buying a New Wave Theatre DVD set. What a trip! Was she really 13 when she did this, and what is she doing now?

[Video4dvd]

I believe I remember the group met each other at Long Beach State.  This was post college, so my guess is that she was at least 23 then, but I think really older, but I never asked. They already had a big hit before this - Gidget Goes To Hell

Denise

[Skulldini]

@Video4dvd Well not a BIG hit ( nationwide Billboard Top 40 ). I dont think the mainstream was ripe for this group, or others like them, at that time ( there was no way they were going to have a hit in the era of Micheal Jackson, Duran Duran, Def Lepard, Madona,.. etc. ),.. and by the time it probably was ( 92-6 ), they were long defunct.

[TheLiamDude]

@Lynnsongart DUDE! WHERE DID YOU GET THE DVD SET FROM??!! I've been looking for one for months!!!

[Druffmaul]

@Lynnsongart "Was she really 13 when she did this"

You might be thinking of Unit 3 With Venus, from close to the same time/place as this.

[IVIIIVV]

@Lynnsongart She was a student at Cal State Long Beach in CA, (do the math) when I was. I know I wasn't 13 then.

[iandre]

JANITOR: [Lyrics from the album.]

All action Is reaction Expansion Contraction

Man the manipulator Under-water Does it matter

Anti-matter Nuclear reactor Boom boom boom boom

Who's your mother? Who's your father?

I guess everything's relative [2x]

I'm a janitor Oh my genitals

I'm a janitor Oh my genitals

Oh my genitals I'm a janitor

(repeat)

[uglyblackjohn]

Who knew?

(Besides you?)

Thanks

[BudStrong]

Serious thanks. Now, after some thirty years during which time the song has rarely left my head, the maddening lyrical blanks have been filled in. I googled my ass off in vain for these lyrics a while back!

[hiscraft]

okay - Been dying to know - after she says - "all action is reaction - expansion - contraction"

what the hell is she saying after that???

(love this no matter what she's saying - lol)

[Video4dvd]

I think it is "man the manipulator"

Denise

[qwertzxcvb1000]

@Video4dvd I think its just "man manipulator" or "men manipulate all". peace and herb (Boom boom boom boom y'all)

[qwertzxcvb1000]

@qwertzxcvb1000 oh guess i was wrong

[ponyboy1129]

@Video4dvd All action is reaction Expansion Contraction Man the manipulator Underwater Does it matter Antimatter Nuclear reactor Boom boom boom boom I guess everything's irrelative I'm a janitor Oh my genitals I'm a janitor Oh my genitals Oh my genitals I'm a janitor All action is reaction Expansion Contraction Man the manipulator Underwater Does it matter Antimatter Nuclear reactor Boom boom boom boom I guess everything's irrelative I'm a janitor Oh my genitals I'm a janitor etc.

[OfficerMarisa]

I woke up at 4am and for some reason, HAD to hear this song which I have not heard in 20+ years... Thanks for uploading this!

[SparkyBearing]

when I have this song play on my pod, I feel like going a little higher and a little further...

[Lengsel7]

I'd love to hear Beavis and Butthead review this video.

[Beadbud5000]

VERY COOL!

[gadhaffi]

hard time sittin still here

[knifecut]

someone should clean up HILLARY's "KENETIC"

[roshXdaXfrosh]

♥

[Stevenimich]

That's good shit!

[madrereus16]

boom boom boom!

[kelif73]

This was one of the great forgotten LA bands of the early 80's. "Flying Saucer Safari," "Mom and Dad and God," "Gidget Goes to Hell" etc... Good luck finding those songs. Where is Su Tissue now? Anyone know?

[AllShaftnoHead]

she lives in LA still

I have all of the songs...two albums, an ep, and a couple other items of note...

:))

[Govtflu]

Dude... send them my way!! Love old 80s look up Brian Briggs 'See you on the other side' for an LA 80s blast from the past

[latitudetwenty]

Does she really live in LA? She sure seemed to go into hiding after 'Something Wild'. Not to brag but I also have two albums and the ep (Salon de Musique) plus the singles 'Gidget goes to Hell' and 'Janitor' with the picture sleeves!

[psychopompo]

i like this!!!!

what the hell is?  a new band or old?

:)

[DeniseGallant]

The video was done Jan 1980.

Yes, they do live on, don't they

Denise

[LivingDog94]

LOL! I use to think that they were singing "Oh my genitals!" ... maybe that's where mike judge got the game show idea? It doesn't matter, anti-matter.

[Video4dvd]

They are singing Oh my genitals and oh my janitor. I believe

the story has to do with a janitor who worked at San Onofre

Nuclear plant that was suing because of genital problems he

blamed on radiation.

[SkankinDrunk]

What? How do you people come up with this shit?

The Wikipedia article is correct. When Su met Brian Smith she asked him what he did for a living. He said "I'm a janitor" and she thought he said "oh my genitals"

Frank Ennui was there and wrote the song based on that.

[Jeff41a]

@Video4dvd - That is not the story at all. This is what actually happened:

The lyrics of "Janitor" were derived from a real-life conversation between Sue McLane and friend Brian Smith. According to Brian, the two were conversing in a loud room when they first met:

"She asked me what I did for a living. I said 'I'm a janitor,' and she thought I said 'Oh my genitals.' [Richard Whitney] overheard this and wrote the song."

[spadge321]

who's your mother,, who's your father she sings ,, and it also sounds like she sez ,, you fuck off,,

she great ,, i love this chick,, and they band too !!

[thombone]

TRUE ART. <---period

[makingfunogyou]

crazy I love it