Revenge of the Nurds is the First 45 on vinyl released in 1982 by Dawayne Bailey.
+++ Dawayne’s Note +++
I’ve been a Frank Zappa fan since I was a kid. When I left Kansas in Sept 1980 for Hollywood, CA – I called Zappa’s drummer and asked if he would autograph my Zappa records on my way through Albuquerque, NM – he agreed as long as I wrote him a song before i got there – so I wrote one on the drive to LA – when I got to his place in Albuquerque – I played him the song I wrote and he agreed to record it as a single. His name is Jimmy Carl Black and the song was called Albuquerque Bound – it was a lyric about his leaving LA for a new city and a life change – he loved it and recorded it. Then I went on to LA and got to work playing gigs and recording and meeting new people.
Being a Zappa fan and now a writer of a record released by Zappa’s drummer – I became an instant member of the Zappa collecting community. Through that – I met a guy who worked for Zappa – a movie archive master named Gerald Fialka – Gerry worked for Zappa and saw an ad for Jimmy Carl Black’s new 45 which I wrote.
Gerry called me and we became great friends – Gerry then also became my personal manager and helped me get gigs around Hollywood and did promotional work for me to get my foot in the Hollywood door.
He then suggested I record my very first solo 45 single to get the ball rolling in the music industry. So since he was gonna pay for the manufacturing and recording, I got to work and thought of a unique title for a solo 45.
This was 3 years before there was a movie created by 20th Century Fox movie studio called Revenge Of The Nerds – so i didnt get my idea from them at all.
In fact, after my 45 was released – Gerry had a friend of his who wrote reviews for an LA newspaper called The Los Angeles Herald Examiner – do a review of my record and he published it in the newspaper along with a photo of the picture sleeve of the record – I believe the movie studio saw that and got the idea for the movie – but who really knows for sure.
Anyway – at that same time I had been hired by Gerard McMahon to join his band and record his new solo album on Full Moon / Warner Brothers in 1982 – the same year and same recorded label that Chicago was on when they recored and released Chicago 16.
At that same time I was also playing in a band called Hotshot with Janis Liebhart – Curt Sharkey – Phil Bloch – so I asked them to help me record the 45 along with a friend of mine from Wichita who had also moved to LA in 1980 to further his own career – he was also Frank Zappa’s harmonica player and we had him record on the B side – The Captain Beefheart Ceremonial Shuffle.
That song was originally written by me for Jimmy Carl Black – he decided not to record it so I did my own version. It’s just a tribute to Captain Beefheart who went to high school with Zappa in Lancaster, CA back in the mid to late 1950s.
So we recorded the record and at the same time I was recording and playing gigs with Gerard McMahon.
Gerard also has me record guitar parts for various movie soundtracks he was contracted to create – we did songs for the Steve Martin movie called The Lonely Guy and a few others.
Then I did a tv show for NBC called Fantasy – we backed up singers Clint Holmes and Ann Jillian. Then I got a call from the engineer who helped me record the Nurds record – he asked if I wanted to audition for Bob Seger.
So as soon as the Gerard album came out and my Nurds record was released – I was on my way to tour and record with Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band.
So I never really got a chance to promote my first solo 45 or Gerard’s album because I was touring non-stop with Seger. That was all of 1983.
Then in 1984 – I ended up playing in a band with Donna McDaniel – John Keane on drums and Jason Scheff on bass called Donna & The KIds.
Then in 1985 I formed my own band back in Wichita called Private Parts – then in 1986 my band recorded and released our CD called Dancing The Marmara and a few months after that – Chicago called and I broke up my band before our CD was released and joined Chicago for the next decade of my life……..
So between moving to Hollywood in 1980 where I also guarded the creature E.T. working for Steven Spielberg on the side – on up to 1986 when I joined the band Chicago – a LOT of stuff happened along the way – including working with Bette Midler when she heard a song I wrote called Alien Love which she wanted to record for her solo album in 1984.
The entire decade of the 80s was a crazy time but it all started with me dreaming of all sorts of crazy stuff and ended with touring the world with Chicago and in 1989 – we did a co-tour with The Beach Boys that was a huge success.
But in 1982 – I did this little solo record that was never really heard by anyone – not until now – 3 years after that a major movie came out with the same name and I never really received much response for my own Revenge of The Nurds – but it was a fun record to write and record.
I actually have live tapes of some gigs I played in late 1984 in Wichita with a band called This Side Up – I wrote lots of songs for them that they recorded that no one has ever heard.
Songs called Take Me To Your Dreams – Live The Way You Please – Walkin On Your Lifeline – The Young Cowboy – Your Surprise – Now Or Never – The Loving End – I Know How To Love You – and many others.
We also performed an extremely rare live version of Revenge of The Nurds – the one and only time I have ever performed that song for anyone – anywhere.
Side A “Revenge of the Nurds”
Side B “The Captain Beefheart Ceremonial Shuffle”
