GREEN JELLO

Green Jellÿ started life as Green Jellö, a four piece comedy-punk band, in Kenmore, New York 1981. It was founded by Bill Manspeaker (Moronic Dicktator) and Joe Cannizzaro. They began the band with the idea of starting "The World's Worst Band". he name (made up by beloved band friend Mark Potter) was chosen because lime-flavored Jell-O was widely regarded as the worst Jell-O flavor, which Bill believed reflected the band's talents. The band began playing punk shows around Buffalo, New York, known for acting 'crazy' onstage. The band was so technically inept at playing their instruments that Joe (then playing bass) had to color-code his bass so that he could learn songs by color.

In 1984 Green Jellö opened for The Ramones at a Buffalo State College summertime outdoor free concert, and the band (who as the opening act had their equipment set up in front of the Ramones' gear) were pelted by the audience with the usual Jell-O, whipped cream and pudding. In the end, not only were Green Jellö in a mess, but so too was The Ramones' equipment, who were unimpressed. Years later in an interview with New York Rocker magazine, Joey Ramone singled out Green Jellö as the worst (and messiest) band to ever open for the Ramones. Of course, Green Jellö took this as the highest praise.

They also opened up for legendary NY Dolls under the name "Kenmore Dolls'. Johnny didn't have much to say about the show except "What the hell is a Kenmore Doll?"

After the local success in Buffalo, many of the members relocated to Hollywood, CA. In 1987, while working at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd, they reformed the band, and quickly became a fixture in the Hollywood underground scene. In 1988, Bill and the band met GWAR, and an instant friendship was formed over their mutual love of costumes and props. After the initial meeting, Green Jellö decided to ditch their uncomfortable and dangerous papier maché / chicken wire costume heads in favor of the more user friendly foam rubber heads that GWAR had been making. They garbage picked cushions from abandoned Hollywood couches and carved their new characters such as "Shitman" (a giant, walking corn-filled poop monster), "Cowgod", "Rock n Roll Pumpkin", and "Satan's Ham." The band's live show became an over-the-top adventure in absurdity, now consisting of usually 20 members onstage.

The band began to tighten up musically, enlisting drummer Danny Carey (later in Tool), as well as bassist Bill Tutton (King Dot), guitarists Marc Levinthal (Pippi Rockstocking), Steven Shenar (Sven Seven), C.J. Buscaglia (Jesus Quisp) and Bernie Peaks (Bernie Vicious), along with bassist Rootin' Bloomquist. The band also had 6 vocalists, including Bill Manspeaker (Moronic Dictator, Shitman, Marshall "Duh" Staxxx), Joe Cannizzaro (Dunderhead), Keith Matherne (Keni Logginz), Gary Helsinger (Hotsy Menshot, Piñata Head), Greg Raynard (Reason Clean, Toucan Son of Sam) and Maynard James Keenan (Billy Bob). The band also had two female backup singers/floor tom drummers, Kim O'Donnell (Sadistica), and Caroline Jester (Jella Tin). Kim O'Donnell also designed and created all the artwork, covers, comics, and logos for the band.

In 1991, the band approached BMG subsidiary label Zoo Entertainment, and claiming they were the "World's First Video Only Band," offered to make the entire project (all music, videos, artwork, etc.) entirely on their own for the unheard-of sum of $50,000. Zoo signed them on the spot. The only problem was, it had been a bluff, and the band had never made a "video album" before. After buying a video camera, some wood and some lights, the band set out to learn on the job, and in Fall 1992 delivered their third album, the long-form video-only Cereal Killer. Consisting of music videos for each song, as well as a behind-the-scenes feature, the video album slowly gained a reputation in underground (although it would eventually go on to sell over 100,000 copies). Their break came when a radio station in Seattle, Washington, KXRX, played "Three Little Pigs" as a joke, but instead the station's phones lit up and it became a local hit. This caused Zoo to issue the EP Green Jellö SUXX, consisting of four songs from Cereal Killer, which in turn led to the "The Three Little Pigs" becoming a hit on "The Box" (A pay-per-play cable-TV jukebox network). By early 1993, the song was gaining airplay around the country, and after appearing on MTV Headbanger's Ball, everything exploded. MTV added the video and the full-length audio album Cereal Killer Soundtrack was finally released in April 1993.

The video for "The Three Little Pigs" was directed by Fred Stuhr (who also directed Tool's "Sober" video), and it featured a claymation rendition of the classic fairy tale with modern twists, such as pot-smoking pigs, an appearance by Rambo, and a Harley Davidson-riding wolf. The video was an instant hit on MTV and was #17 for most of the summer of 1993 in the US[12], receiving both an MTV music award and Billboard m