Episode 318: Swamp Music

	Dinosaurs
Air Date	February 26, 1993
Written by	Mark Drop
Director	Tom Trbovich

Spike, who can't stand Robbie's choice of music, decides to expose Robbie to a whole different world and different style of music by taking him to the Swamp Shack. The swamp and this club are home to blue-hued mammals who have been restricted from contact with dinosaurs and lead difficult, depressing lives. Initially fearful of this different species, Robbie is completely taken with this new music and band members Howlin' Jay and his son, Sonny. Their repertoire includes "I'm a Mammal."

Robbie plans to bring this new sound to the dinosaurs, who he believes will go crazy for it. Howlin' Jay is reluctant due to his previous contact with dinosaurs ("The Lizard"), but Robbie and Sonny take a demo of their music to Ty Warner, the head of Volcanic Records. Warner isn't interested in mammal music but changes his mind after listening to the tape and signs Howlin' Jay and his band. Meanwhile, Robbie introduces Howlin' Jay and Sonny to the Sinclair family, and Earl and Jay bond over the perceived idiocy of their sons.

However, Robbie discovers that Volcanic Records has hired pop singer Perry Llewelyn (a Perry Como take-off) to record "I'm a Mammal" and the bands' other songs, with Warner insisting that they need a mainstream dinosaur to make the music palatable (and profitable) to the Pangaean public. Robbie has to break the news to Howlin' Jay that they have been ripped off again by dinosaurs. Sonny is aghast and tells his father that he was right about dinosaurs and that he's never leaving the swamp again. Howlin' Jay is disturbed to hear Sonny making the same complaints he's always made about dinosaurs and decides their best option is to start their own record label, created for and run by mammals. As a sign of possible further bonding, Earl arrives with an accordion (the cable was on the fritz and he was feeling low) and starts a jam session with the band.

Guest Stars[]

Kevin Clash (Howlin' Jay), Steve Whitmire (Sonny), Julius Carry (Mudbelly), Jon Polito (Ty Warner)

Notes[]

Taped on December 14, 1992.
This is one of two episodes where Charlene Sinclair does not appear, the other being "Earl's Big Jackpot".
This is one of the few episodes to have new footage during the end credits, instead of a still from a previous scene. Other episodes to do this include "License to Parent," "Changing Nature," "Earl and Pearl", and "Georgie Must Die."