His name might not be familiar to most Americans, but Peter Wyngarde was a household name at the end of the 1960s. He played the immensely popular Jason King on TV (in Department S and the Jason King spin-off), a foppish ladykiller - sort of a cross between James Bond and Oscar Wilde. Mike Myers borrowed Wyngarde's dandy sense of fashion for his Austin Powers character - the bushy hair, frilly sleeves and velvet coats.
It is beyond bizarre that in 1970, at the height of his fame, Peter Wyngarde would release one of the strangest albums in history. Considered offensive, it was yanked from UK shelves within hours of its release and didn't resurface into popular culture until the 1990s.
Wyngarde could have easily made a mint on some easy listening stuff, as most British celebs of his caliber were wont to do. No, sir. Wynarde (aka Petunia Winegum, as he was known in the gay community) recorded such "radio friendly" tracks as "Rape" and "Hippie and the Skinhead" which contained such lovely lyrics as this:
Billy was a queer, pilly, sexy Hippy,Say what? The whole album is like a descent into madness. Not the cool kind of madness like Syd Barrett, Lou Reed or Bowie.... more like Monty Python, but not funny.
He wore gear - frilly, hairy, zippy.
Mohair in the winter, less hair in the summer.
His Mac was black, scarf immaculate -
Tied loosely (knots interfered with promiscuity!)
I'd love to provide you with the entire album, but I think it's currently for sale on Amazon, so I'd probably get flagged pretty quickly. Instead, I'll post one particularly bad track from the 1970 LP called "Rape". Don't say I didn't warn you.