Music Style The Beatles: We wish.

Musical Influences The Beatles, Chuck Berry. Later, ELO, 10 Years After, Hendrix...

Similar Artists Hmmm. Let's say, The Beatles.

Artist History A young, clueless human named Peter, living in Rochester, NY, received a guitar for Xmas, 1980. The following summer, he was contacted by The Supreme Goat, who bestowed upon him the name Billy Goat, and instilled in him the desire to write and record mediocre music. Bil recruited equally clueless human Jeff, dubbed him Nanny Goat, and together they recorded two really awful albums, WE'RE THE BILLY GOATS and GS BAAAAAA. Having listened to these monstrosities, The Supreme Goat slapped some talent into the two young Goats and added a third to their midst, Kanny Goat. The album MINDLESS RAMBLINGS was recorded over that winter and spring, and The Three gleefully recorded their usually shrill, sometimes quite ill-conceived, but occasionally brilliant work in four more albums over the next two years. Disaster struck midway through the recording of the album IN THE LINE OF DOODY in March, 1983: Nan's family moved to Scarsdale, New York, a well-to-do suburb of NYC. Bil and Kan completed ITLOD and continued their holy work alone for another year and 1.5 more albums, ON THE LAMB and the first half of RAMBUNCTIOUS. In June of 1984, however, a seemingly fatal blow was struck against The Billy Goats: Founder and Goat Who Did Everything Bil's family moved to the unbearable humidity of Richmond, VA. The Billy Goats seemed to be at an end as a musical force, although Bil completed RAMBUNCTIOUS by himself over the next year, and, having obtained a better means of recording his masterpieces, continued to do so. Fortunately, the concept of the Romp came into being, by which two or more Billy Goats would join together in one location, during which, among other things, more recording would take place. Nan moved back to Rochester not too very long after Bil left, but little was recorded by the Rochester-based Goats (with a few shining exceptions, most notably "Love Is Something" and "Can't Get Her Off My Mind," both of which were later rerecorded with Bil firmly at the helm). The Romps continued sporadically, eventually filling an album with Goatly Glory, entitled (surprise), THE ROMPS. Bil's solo recordings eventually begat the album IMPROMTUGOAT in 1987. Kan, left to his own devices, followed the siren call of Ice Hockey, and little has been heard from him since. It wasn't until early 1988 that Goatdom recaptured much of the heroism of its heyday. Nan drove down to visit Bil, and stayed for nearly two years. During this time, Bil and Nan recorded two albums, BAD SCENE and LEMON COLORED CHARACTERS, formed a live act with fellow ne'er-do-well JB Jeter under the name of The Fiendish Thingies, and lived together in joyous squalor. Having had quite enough of THAT, Nan returned to Rochester in 1989. The Romps continued unabated, however, once resulting in the only full-fledged Billy Goats concert in January of 1990 at a bar called Backstreets, in Rochester. Nan involved himself in a variety of other musical endeavors, most notably with the Hymie Lopez Experience, a band whose roster included Eric F. Trueheart Von Ghoat, a Goatly friend who had, over the years, drummed for The Billy Goats on several occasions, and become The Fourth Billy Goat. Nan later cofounded Salad Daze with his brother David, a band which received a modest amount of acclaim in the Rochester area. Bil continued his solo work, recording the as-yet unreleased album NEVER TOUCH THE LENS by the mid 90's, plus performing on several occasions with JB Jeter under the name of Peter & Jeter, but the rigors of married/divorced and child-rearing life took a toll on the creative juices, as well as recording time, of the hapless Goat. Great individual songs were being produced each time Bil and Nan got together, but singles do not albums make. In 1998, Bil drove up to record for a week at Nan's new place, a house in the neighborhood in which The Billy Goats had grown up in Rochester. The Two recorded the album POTENTIALLY INEPT, which would go on to break all Goat sales records, it being the only Billy Goats album to be sold through a major music retailer. Nan and Kan are now both married, the former with two children, putting that old familiar drain on the Musical Impetus, although Bil and Nan recorded the smasheroo "Don't Get a Tattoo" as recently as 2000. Bil continues to record under the name of Bilj Soat (hear some recent efforts at MP3.com/biljsoat), but the future of The Billy Goats is at issue. What lies in store for The Billy Goats? No one knows. All we do know is, all frogs must die.

Group Members Bil Goat: Guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals Nan Goat: Drums, bass, guitars, vocals Kan Goat: Tambourine, drums, vocals

Albums WE'RE THE BILLY GOATS, 1981; GS BAAAAAA, 1981; MINDLESS RAMBLINGS, 1982; BAAAAAA ON!, 1982; MOUNTAIN GOATS, 1982; HOOFIN' AROUND, 1982; IN THE LINE OF DOODY, 1983; ON THE LAMB, 1983; RAMBUNCTIOUS, 1984; IMPROMTUGOAT, 1987; FOR TOO MUCH FUN FOR ANY ONE GOAT TO HAVE, 1988; BAD SCENE, 1988; LEMON COLORED CHARACTERS, 1989; POTENTIALLY INEPT, 1998; LET IT BURN A HOLE?, 1999; THE ROMPS, 1999

Location Rochester, New York - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).