The Hole truth and nothing but the truth, sort of. Over the years I have enjoyed collecting fun facts from here and there. Some of them are absolutely true, others are obvious misrepresentation of Hogstory. You be the judge….
IT’S A FACT! Hard to believe, but HOLEHOG! was not an overnight sensation. When they played their first gig in Austin, Minnesota, the bartender unplugged the p.a. after only two songs, saying, “I’m gonna play the jukebox.” Audience members were actually applauding him.
IT’S A FACT! Despite their popularity the Hog does not get recognized everywhere they go. Road manager, Clive Hurlington relates this story;
We were on our way to Alabama or someplace. We stop for gas at this truck stop. Well, the entire band decides they want to get out and go snack shopping. You know, Ho Ho’s, beef sticks, and shit like that. So anyway, it’s against my better judgment, and I tell ’em so. They just ignore me and go inside. I’m looking in the window, from the gas pump, expecting pandemonium to break out at any moment. Here’s every member of HOLEHOG!, browsing Ding Dongs and right in the middle of normal people! A couple of minutes go by and I start to see them come out of the store, one by one with snacks in hand. Not one person looked at them twice or realized who had been in the store!
IT’S A FACT! Not much thought goes into writing a HOLEHOG! song. Veteran off-Broadway producer, Hank Boswell says the 1988 rock opera, “Hog It Up!” was written in a couple of hours. “They would just, like, see people selling hot dogs in the street and start singing, ‘Sweaty Hot Dogs’ over and over and there was a song.”
IT’S A FACT! HOLEHOG! shows remain celebrity-free. Ever since 1970, when New York Times writer, Bud Semen, falsely reported that Buddy Hackett never missed a HOLEHOG! show, the band has had a reputation of attracting the rich and famous to their shows. In reality, the exact opposite is true. According to long time roadie, Chuck Smallmouth, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone famous at a show. Not even a local weatherperson.”
IT’S A FACT! The Hog’s biggest fan base is in Europe. According to Bonn Bonn Express, their single, ‘Rainbows And Leotards’ outsold David Hasselhoff’s ‘Greatest Hits’ 2 to 1 in it’s first week on the charts.
IT’S A FACT! There has never been an official HOLEHOG! fan club. Despite the glut of HH sites on the internet and the seemingly mandatory bumper sticker on the car of anyone under the age of thirty, HOLEHOG! has never had an official fan club. When asked the reason for this, manager Roger Cloopey said, “Hog fans don’t need a club to know they are fans.”
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