Starting out on the Lansing, Michigan coffee shop circuit, Pleasant’s cleverly written, gently sardonic folk songs earned him a cult following among his fellow Michigan State University students in the late ‘80s. When demand for a self-recorded cassette tape of his material started reaching into the thousands, he realized that his appeal was wide enough to justify a genuine studio recording.

His 1992 debut album Songs About Stuff quickly became a go-to for college DJs looking for something lighthearted to break up the angsty growl of early ‘90s alterna-rock. Song titles like “Small Time Drug Dealer” and “She’s in Love with a Geek” (“She doesn’t even know she’s breaking my heart/I’m ten times cooler and half as smart”) struck a chord with fans of humor-heavy groups like The Dead Milkmen and King Missile. Each subsequent Wally Pleasant album has yielded at least one college radio hit, with several cropping up on CMJ’s indie rock charts.Pleasant’s tunes also make regular appearances on Dr. Demento’s syndicated radio show, sort of the novelty-rock equivalent of cracking the weekly Top 40.

As one might assume, touring as a comedic act presents some hurdles not often faced by “straight” bands. Pleasant recalls one surreal performance in Fort Worth, Texas where his opening act was “a psycho puppet show thing. I had them join me in the middle of my show, along with a bubble machine and tripped out light show. Everything was fine until the puppets started throwing stuff at the audience, then mayhem ensued.” Then there was the gig at an Arby’s that regularly booked music acts. “There were probably 30 people there to see the show, along with confused fast food customers. I saw some older people on their way in and convinced the audience to act like we were all part of some freaky Arby's cult. As soon as the elderly couple walked in I started screaming about bowing down to the beef and cheddar, which they did. The couple left without ordering.”

Many joke-rock bands fade away once their shtick becomes played out, but Pleasant has endured by augmenting his goofy lyrics with deceptively skillful musicianship. His standard persona is a riff on the stereotypical coffee house strummer, but his catalog includes credible takes on blues, punk and ‘50s rock, among other genres. Pleasant isn’t exactly a one-trick lyricist either. Songs like “Out on the Road” from 1994’s Houses of the Holy Moley and “Lost Weekend Las Vegas” from Songs About Stuff temper the laughs with a genuine melancholy that offers a glimpse at the serious songwriter behind the mask. Still, Pleasant doesn’t mind being pigeonholed by the funny business. “I write songs and don't think about whether it's novelty music or otherwise,” he says. “Early rock ‘n’ roll music had funny lyrics.”

That early rock spirit also manifests itself in Pleasant’s irreverent attitude toward his supposed superiors, particularly self-important musicians. He’s skewered singers from Courtney Love to Henry Rollins to a generation’s worth of would-be Bob Dylans, some more lovingly than others. For instance, “The Day Ted Nugent Killed All the Animals,” the opening track from 1996’s Wally World, tells the rollicking tale of the day the Motor City Madman “killed ‘em all, big and small, so he could put their heads up on his wall,” complete with a climactic call-and-response tally of the victims. (“Racoons get in the garbage… Kill ‘em!/Baby seals are too cute… Kill ‘em!”) Pleasant’s biggest radio hit, the song came in at number 240 on CMJ readers’ 2003 list of the “Top 1000 Indie Rock Songs of All Time.” Even The Nuge himself became a fan, inviting Wally to appear on his weekly radio show. “I played the song and he was pretty okay about it. He said [killing all the animals] would take a day and a half.”

“Nugent” encompasses three recurring Wally Pleasant themes: humor, pop culture and the great state of Michigan. Explaining his homeland’s perennially high profile on the national music scene, Pleasant says, “People who have success and happen to be from Michigan didn't benefit from nepotism. It's not about who you know or who you're related to. The common thread from Motown, Madonna, The White Stripes, MC5, Bob Seger, Kid Rock, et cetera, is hard work.”

That hard work has slowed Pleasant’s output a little in recent years, as he’s started raising a family and working a day job. Still, a new album (reportedly entitled Exile on Wally Street) is rumored to be in the works for 2009. He’s also branched out into what he calls “custom songwriting”: send him a check, a subject and enough pertinent information to fill up a few verses, and you’ll get a Wally Pleasant song in your honor. “I've done about 30 of them,” he says. “Mostly for people getting married, and a couple songs for pets. I like to write songs even when I don't initiate the subject matter. I guess I'm a song writing whore.”

Check out Wally Pleasant’s work at www.wallypleasant.com.

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