HOW DOUG'S "TOO BAD"

GOT ON THE NORM SHOW

By KAREN BLISS -- Jam! Music

Doug And The Slugs' namesake, Doug Bennett, and Norm Macdonald, star of The Norm Show, have never shared a drink but they do share Canadian citizenship, the same dry humour, and Bennett's 1980 hit, "Too Bad". The song is the theme music to Macdonald's new ABC-TV sitcom.

"Norm's done some things in town here," says the Vancouver-based Bennett during a phone interview Monday. "I've never met him and now I call him Norm. Apparently, he's seen the band over the last couple of years and really enjoyed it. When he got the television show, his manager phoned up and said he'd like to use the song, so we said 'Sure.' I wish I could say we'd partied and did rehab together, but we haven't."

Bennett says the inspiration behind the 20-year-old "Too Bad" was "revenge motivated with a sense of humour". He remembers the Vancouver Police telling him in the early-'80s they used to sing the song to anybody they apprehended.

"I wish the show Cops had been around then," he muses. "It would have been pretty funny to see them singing that to the guys with their faces blacked out."

He is proud, however, to have the song associated with a sitcom that is causing controversy for its political incorrectness. A recent episode, for example, outraged the Social Workers Of America Association. (Macdonald plays a social worker on the show.)

"I laughed a couple of times," says Bennett. "And I think to make me laugh is pretty difficult. He's definitely the kind of guy where you have to like that deadpan thing or you don't. I like people like Steven Wright. It's not Steven in the intellectual sense but it's the same kind of humour."

He says he didn't have to know the premise of the sitcom before agreeing to licence it.

"You don't really care because they're offering you money," admits Bennett, who owns the publishing to the song and has released all the Doug And The Slugs albums through his own Tomcat Records. "The money's probably a lot less than an American songwriter would get because it really wasn't a hit, so we cut a deal that was probably lower . The nice thing is, you're getting paid in American dollars so there's great compensation right there and then. Secondly, it's a good things for the resume."

The band's resume consists of some 10 albums, three of which -- Cognac And Bologna, Tales From Terminal City and the best of package, Slugcology 101 --have been reissued on compact disc (distributed by St. Clair Entertainment or via www.dougandtheslugs.com) with more to follow this year. Bennett is currently writing material for a brand new album, due for release in the fall. A single will go to Canadian radio in the summer.

Doug And The Slugs has been going in various incarnations since 1977 and continues to play over 80 dates a year. Bennett hopes that with the success of The Norm Show, Warner Bros. will release Slugcology 101 in America and perhaps tour there. "I think what will happen is there'll be enough interest so that I could hire somebody who's 25 years younger to go out and tour as a tribute," he quips.

Maybe there's a cameo in his future too.

© Property of Canoe Jam! April 13, 1999