Subterranean Jungle with Flipped Out Phil
Subterranean Jungle was a radio show that aired on CRFM/CKUT from 1985 to 1999 and was hosted by Flipped Out Phil.
Here is the intro to the show that we dug up.
In summer 2024, an unnamed CKUT staff member was picking up some used records from a local slanger named Donald Côté who noticed the CKUT t shirt worn by our wax hungry staffer.
One thing led to another and Donald ended up sending in several cassette tapes – recorded directly from the FM airwaves back in the late ’80s – which we have posted below. Take a listen and a read back in time for a taste of this influential radio program and what it meant to an anonymous listener out there soaking in the air waves.
CKUT 90.3FM · The Subterranean Jungle
“All I can say is that in the late 80’s, early 90’s, vintage stuff for us 20 year olds was the 50s and 60s. The music of that era was very popular, as well as the cars and restaurants that took you back in time with the “diner” look… Chrome, neon signs, pastel colors and linoleum everywhere. Just look at the popular films of that time, like American Graffiti, Back to The Future, La Bamba and a lot of other biopics concerning other popular musicians of the time (like Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, fats Domino). Even soundtracks to popular movies were filled with music from that era…We were also going to repertory cinemas like The Palace and Du Parc to see old B movies, especially John Waters films featuring Divine and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, not forgetting to bring at this screening my newspaper, umbrella, spray bottle and bag of rice… I remember my best friend was going to the countryside on weekends and trying to spot old juke boxes, pin ball machines and Coca Cola vending machines. He knew if he could find clean ones, he would fix them up and sell them at a profit to bars, restaurants and even people who would decorate their homes with that stuff. Miami was becoming popular again with its art deco architecture and pastel colors…
We were all craving to hear rock n roll, especially garage rock and obscure bands of the 50s and 60s. There was even a couple of bands in the local Montreal scene who would have that “vibe”, like The Gruesomes and Deja Voodoo…And then I discovered a band from Toronto, “Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet” who would play really good “surf rock” like The Ventures… They became somewhat popular when they did the music for the TV show “The Kids In The Hall”…
So late ’89 I moved to Saint-Henri in an apartment I shared with two of my friends. This was right above where the restaurant Joe Beef is located today and it was a huge place on two floors, 2503 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest. The Corona theater was right in front but was completely boarded up and abandoned. It was a very “funky” neighbourhood… My roommates and I were going to university and of course we were broke…and all craving for good music, discovering new and old obscure sounds, movies and books. To satisfy this craving we had weekly cultural newspapers like The Mirror, Le Journal Voir, and college radio. At that time only CKUT was broadcasting on the FM band as a college radio station and CIBL as a community radio station. Only those two stations would provide “underground” sounds and interesting music from communities that were just not represented on the regular radio stations. So we were always switching back and forth from these two stations until we heard something that interested us. There were exceptions on CHOM with radio shows on Sunday (or was it Saturday?) evening like Benoit Dufresne’s “The New Music Foundation” and late Friday evening with “The Metal File” hosted by Claude Rajotte.
Which brings us to the time I discovered The Subterranean Jungle. One evening, bored and looking for cool music on the radio, I tuned into CKUT and heard a obscure garage rock song I did not know. I was curious and left the radio dial where it was…When it finished, instead of another song, it was this weird advertisement for a B movie from the 50s and following that, a DJ comes on and he had this voice, typical of DJs from the 50s would have…DJs like Wolfman Jack, Dick Biondi and The Real Don Steele…and this just kept going on for two hours!! I think…maybe more. I was hooked right away! This DJ was bringing me back in time, 20, 25, 30, 35 years back in time!! But it was very hard to track down all those records he was playing, and like I wrote before, we were all pretty much broke…So the only way to listen to this music was to actually record the show on old 4 track cassettes I would find. When I knew the show was coming on, I would have our tape deck connected to the tuner, made sure the levels were right and press record as soon as the show started. This way, I could have DJ Flipped Out with me everywhere I went, on my walkman or my boombox. Only the tapes you have here survived all the years since, and I am especially sad to have lost a tape I made of his Halloween special show…that one was legendary! I hope you will enjoy these radio shows that make you travel in time, and I am glad I can share this with all of you… Thank you Flipped Out Phil!!“
– Donald Côté, 2024
Scans below taken from our archives.
1986 CFRM (pre-CKUT) Summer Schedule.
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