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You Can (and Should) Say Crap on the Radio That was Monkey Man's favorite interjection if he cued the wrong record or otherwise messed up on the air. But it was also his succinct way of describing the kind of predictably bland corporate music you could tune into just about everywhere except Pirate Cat Radio. The Monkey Man preferred to keep things simple and instinctive, spinning only what he and his fleeting moods liked. That included everything from the Velvet Underground, Dead Kennedys and the Specials to Naked Aggression, Nerf Herder and Sparks. Since Pirate Cat's very existence was a deliberate fuck-you to the FCC - a perfect test of whether or not there really is free expression, and genuine access to the airwaves, in this country - the Monkey Man insisted on heavy-rotating the Diesel Queens' probably offensive "Man Boy Love," Killer Pussy's "Teenage Enema Nurse" and anti-redneck rants from comedian Bill Hicks, stuff you don't often hear even on college radio. And since no one else dared, the Monkey Man took great delight in gratuitously and cathartically swearing at every opportunity, just like folks do in real life. For all his infantile and admittedly silly rebellion, the Monkey Man came across as a sincere fan of radical, populist rock & roll, in all of its ongoing mutations. He was certainly on a more adventurous and open-minded musical quest than condescending classic-rock DJs stuck in a narrow, all-white '70s-rock time warp. And the Monkey Man wasn't narcoleptically dull like so many monotone-mumbling, aw-shucks-humble anti-pro college-radio slackers. With his canned sound effects and pseudo-grave between-song admonishments ("If you like a lot of commercials, then you've tuned to the wrong radio station!"), the Monkey Man was as charismatic and exuberantly over-the-top as the old KHJ DJs, only hornier and more impatient. The Monkey Man had his quirks and strict rules. He'd crank out a lot of early Black Flag, but absolutely nothing from the period after the narcissistic Henry Rollins joined the band. He spun Vice Squad and X-Ray Spex, not once in a while like other punk DJs, but constantly, as if they were Britney Spears or the Rolling Stones - restoring some balance in the musical universe. He lavished airplay on two versions of "I Wanna Destroy You" - both the Soft Boys' original, with its delirious harmonies and anti-war lyrics, one of the best pop songs of the past 20 years (where were you, KRTH?), and the Circle Jerks' viciously indignant punk take. Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face" was the final tune the Monkey Man cast out onto the airwaves before shutting down Pirate Cat Radio last week. There was no special significance to the song selection, Monkey Man says. It just worked out that way, and besides he's always liked Billy Idol, even the uncool solo-period ballads. What motivated Monkey Man? "A lot of boredom," he says. -Falling James
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