The Totally Rockin’ History of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem – Collider

After so many years on our big and small screens, as well as in our hearts, the Muppets are part of the zeitgeist. You'd be hard-pressed to find a person, young or old, who doesn't know about Kermit, his complex relationship with Miss Piggy, or his long list of iconic felt friends. Why then is Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem so shrouded in obscurity? The band has appeared in every major incarnation of the Muppets, from the very beginning, but with the exception of fan-favorite Animal, very few know their names or history as the Muppet's house band.

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, or just "Electric Mayhem" as they're often known, is a rock band made up of resident musicians of the Muppet Theatre. The band is usually made up of lead singer and keyboardist Dr. Teeth, bassist Floyd Pepper, saxophonist Zoot, lead guitarist and singer Janice, drummer Animal, and trumpeter Lips. Now with the band starring in their own spin-off series on Disney+, here's everything you need to know before watching The Muppets Mayhem.

RELATED: 'The Muppets Mayhem' Review: Dr. Teeth and Company Are Ready to Rock

After the success of Sesame Street which began in 1969, Jim Henson and his company featured their Muppet characters in TV segments during the early '70s, namely on Saturday Night Live. This gave Henson a taste for a more adult brand of Muppet entertainment, which encouraged him to branch out while simultaneously continuing with his children's educational programming on Sesame Street. The Muppet Show would be aimed at an adult audience, focusing on sketch comedy, and began with a TV pilot titled, The Muppets Valentine Show. The 1974 half-hour special guest-starred Mia Farrow and reintroduced '50s and '60s Muppets such as Kermit and Rowlf to a new audience.

This was then followed up by another pilot, The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence in 1975, in which the Muppets parodied the rapid growth of sex and violence on TV. Sex and Violence marked the very first appearance of Electric Mayhem, including all its usual members sans Lips. The band's introduction doesn't get much more rock 'n' roll, but America wasn't ready for such a raunchy puppet show just yet. Although this was successful in rebranding the Muppets as more adult in content (something that has since been replicated in 2015's sitcom The Muppets and 2018's The Happytime Murders) it failed to get the show picked up by ABC or any other American broadcaster at the time.

The Electric Mayhem band members were designed by creator Jim Henson and his team, including Michael K. Firth, Bonnie Erickson, Don Sahlin, and Dave Goelz. Henson and Goelz were among the original Electric Mayhem performers, which also included Frank Oz and Richard Hunt. The band resembled and represented the idea of popular bands of the '70s as a whole, and Henson and his team even based individual band members on specific musicians of the time. In look, name and character, Dr. Teeth is inspired by the American singer-songwriter Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., better known as Dr. John. This six-time Grammy winner was a celebrated New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B musician until his death in 2019.

Dr. Teeth and his band are also partly inspired by Elton John, with Gato Barbieri serving as inspiration for saxophonist Zoot and Janice Joplin directly influencing the Muppet Janice in style and in name. Karen Falk, the Jim Henson Company's historian and archivist, stated, "At that time, Jim had a strong interest in the counter-culture movement (as evidenced by his experimental film Youth '68) and sought to reflect that in the composition of the band. One proposal from about 1970 says that the band would do songs like 'Sunshine' from Hair. In fact, they are all dressed to out-hair the Hair cast." Floyd Pepper was inspired by the Sgt. Pepper-era John Lennon, and Animal is based on The Who's Keith Moon, making Electric Mayhem the world's greatest supergroup in essence.

After ABC and all other American networks passed on both pilots, British ATV producer Lew Grade agreed to co-produce The Muppet Show with Henson, debuting the series in syndication in 1976. This marked the return of Electric Mayhem as well as the first appearance of several beloved Muppet icons such as Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and even Miss Piggy. Needless to say, The Muppet Show was a major hit over its five-season run, growing in popularity as a vaudevillian sketch-variety show. In it, Electric Mayhem took on the role of the show's house band and occasionally the pit orchestra, even welcoming guest members such Don Knotts and Hal Linden to perform with them.

During The Muppets: Sex and Violence, one musician is seen among the band who never again played with Electric Mayhem. His name was Jim. Jim was a banjo player, designed to look like Muppets-creator Jim Henson, and was usually seen as part of his other band, The Country Trio. The trio, made up of Jim, Frank and Jerry were all modeled on their respective performers, and featured in various variety shows throughout the 1970s as well as The Muppet Show. Only one Muppet musician ever joined Electric Mayhem after its debut and managed to remain a permanent member to this day, though, and his name is Lips.

During The Muppet Show's fifth and final season, the band welcomed its trumpeter Lips, who was inspired by Louis Armstrong. Performer Steve Whitmire recalls, "I wanted to do this Louis Armstrong kind of voice and at that point and time, there was some question as to whether or not we would offend African American people by this white guy doing a black voice as a trumpet player." As a result, Lips was kept quiet for decades. Dave Goelz stated in 2013 that "Whitmire has been frustrated that for thirty years he hasnt really found a character hook for Lips the trumpet player." Goelz continued to state that a few months prior to the interview, Lips was required to state "but we don't have any instruments" and in a moment of clarity, Whitmire finally discovered Lips' character and way of speaking. "The character was born after 30-odd years in labor."

The Muppets went from strength to strength, branching off into multiple movies including The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan throughout the '70s and '80s. In 1990, the band welcomed another short-lived member, during their appearance in The Muppets at Walt Disney World. Clifford first appeared the year prior, in The Jim Henson Hour where he was the bass player for Solid Foam. When playing with Electric Mayhem at Walt Disney World, Clifford took on the role of auxiliary percussionist. Clifford was a guest alongside Kermit on The Arsenio Hall Show to promote their most recent production, where he revealed he likes to be spanked and admitted that his career choices were to join either the Muppets or Milli Vanilli (with whom Clifford shares a resemblance). Although Clifford would not play with Electric Mayhem more than once, he went on to find success as the host of Muppets Tonight in 1996.

In 1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol Electric Mayhem played the role of the Fozziewig's Christmas party band, with Animal struggling to limit himself to slow Victorian-era music. They then appeared as the pirates' entertainment aboard the ship in 1996's Muppet Treasure Island and performed in the Poppyfields in 2005's The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. In the latter, they arrive late to perform backup for the Wicket Witch of the West as a result of their beaten-up tour bus, a common occurrence for Electric Mayhem's modes of transportation.

Speaking of buses, the band's 1966 International Harvester Loadstar Carpenter debuted in The Muppet Movie in 1979 and featured in that year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, solidifying its iconic status. It returned in 1999's Muppets From Space, having been updated from its classic '70s style to feature '90s appropriate CDs on the ceiling instead of 45s. After this, the original bus was auctioned on eBay for $50,000 along with a Brian Henson-signed letter of authenticity. A search was conducted by Disney in 2010 to find the original bus, so it could be featured in the 2011 movie The Muppets, but it was soon discovered to have been destroyed. A recreation was used for the reboot.

After the critical, commercial and awards success of The Muppets, ABC learned from its mistakes in the 1970s and produced an adult Muppets sitcom, this time in the workplace mock-documentary style of The Office and Parks and Recreation. It also harkened to 30 Rock in premise, as it featured the Muppets' behind-the-scenes life working on Miss Piggy's celebrity talk show. Electric Mayhem served as the show's band, and the series debuted their new wheels, a psychedelic Volkswagen Microbus. It's this new bus that features heavily in the marketing for their new Disney+ spin-off series The Muppets Mayhem, and serves as their primary mode of transport for a large portion of the new series.

After decades of being reliable supporting players in the Muppets universe, The Muppets Mayhem, which is now streaming on Disney+, finally puts the spotlight directly on the band. Current Dr. Teeth performer Bill Barretta is also a co-creator of the show, and Goelz, as he has done since the beginning, plays Zoot.

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The Totally Rockin' History of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem - Collider