“They’re the funniest comedy recordings you can find,” says Matt Cameron, drummer for the Seattle rock band Soundgarden. Like bands such as Nirvana, Faith No More and Alice in Chains, Soundgarden includes devotees of crank classics such as the so-called Red Tapes, named after the now deceased bartender of the Tube Bar, who is called upon to page fictional characters such as How Jalikakick. “There’s that element of pure spontaneous genius that a lot of comedy doesn’t have,” says Cameron. “And when we’re touring there’s so much pent-up frustration, some brutal crank calls is what everyone needs.”
Barry Alfonso, a Tennessee-based songwriter, has been making and collecting crank tapes since the early ’80s. “They’re popular because they’re real,” he says. “Real people caught behaving in a way people aren’t supposed to-getting angry, acting greedy, being defensive.” By his estimate, he has sent out hundreds of tapes to places as far away as Norway, Ireland and Australia. “This may be,” he says, with a zealot’s hyperbole, “the last underground art form.”
That status may change with the Jerky Boys, whose album, released in March, is quickly pushing the abrasive sobriquets “liverlips” and “jerky”-used-like"pal"or “mack”-into the national consciousness. Six years ago, New York construction worker Johnny B. (the Boys do not use their real names) began calling up help-wanted ads and bullying whoever answered: “That’s right tough guy,” he tells a construction company, “I’m da best, I can work circles around you, f–face.” He goes on to tell a painter, “Hey fruit cake, I paint my toenails, the walls, everything, I’m silly … what do you say we get together and paint each other up?” After one well-circulated tape by Johnny and partner Kamal, both in their late 20s, caught the ear of Select Records president Fred Munao last fall, the two have now chiseled something resembling a career out of their prank calls. Working out of Kamal’s tiny East Village apartment, they dial up dozens of classified advertisers and spew everything from blunt threats to lurid accusations. Generally speaking, the conversations quickly find their level hemorrhoids, say-and wallow there until the other party hangs up.
“We’re not out to hurt anybody,” says Johnny B. “There are lines we don’t cross. We just want to make people laugh.” The legality of taping pranks, especially to numbers listed in classified ads, is blurry. “It’s a very gray area,” says John Bonomo, spokesman for New York Telephone, “and it’s difficult to police and monitor these calls.” According to Select Records, most of those caught on the Jerky Boys tape have signed releases, and none has complained. The call to fame, even such tarnished fame, is evidently a powerful one. And the call, rest assured, is probably a prank.
