Fish heads music5/10/2023 ![]() ![]() But this wasn’t Paxton’s only foray into the wacky world of new wave. “Fish Heads” aired for two consecutive weeks on SNL in 1980, and it later became a cable fixture during the early freeform days of MTV. “And then, God, they must have put it in the machine right away, and obviously they played it, because they came out five minutes later and said, ‘Come on back, we want to put it on next week’s show.’ And I’m suddenly in like Flynn.” And then finally they came out to take the 3/4-inch tape, one of those big honking f***ing things, and I started to get up with them to walk in the back, and they said, ‘Uh, no, you stay here.’ I was like Rupert Pupkin!” Paxton recalled in a 2010 interview with Bullz-Eye. “Ultimately, I took it to New York, and I literally had to wait in the waiting room at Rockefeller Center for two days before anybody would even see me. Paxton, cinematographer Rocky Schenck, and costumer Joan Farber shot the video with a Super 8 camera and hand-crank Bolex camera for about $2,000, and Paxton campaigned to get the video played on Saturday Night Live, long before the days of Digital Shorts. First, “Fish Heads.” This utterly bizarre but charming clip didn’t just star Paxton as the eccentric host of a tea party for decapitated, decomposing fishes - Paxton, who was close friends with Barnes & Barnes (aka musician Robert Haimer and Lost in Space actor Bill Mumy), also co-directed.
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