The Super Bowl will be played this weekend, but at least one super fan is going to miss it. Mojo Nixon, the gleeful psychobilly singer, died Wednesday at age 66. Few things in life thrilled Mojo more than football, something we learned from his 1995 song "Not As Much As Football." In that tune, the comic troubadour listed several things he loved just a little bit less than the sport, including: Richard Petty, spaghetti, meatballs, bigfoot trucks, shooting ducks, Dale Earnhardt, and Montreal.
Obituaries of Nixon emphasized what Rolling Stone called his "supremely weird yet singular career," which reached its commercial apex when the novelty song "Elvis is Everywhere" hit the U.S. charts in 1987. (The record was a product of Nixon's long-time collaboration with musical partner Skid Roper.) While describing Nixon as a social satirist and comedian is not exactly inaccurate, it minimizes a career spanning decades that produced a catalog of eclectic yet distinctive—and purely American—songs. Yes, Mojo Nixon was funny. But he could also be arch, critical, and on occasion brilliant.
