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Description
It's the greatest rock n' roll band of all time, with the only drummer wilder than Keith Moon. My earliest memories of the Muppets came from "The Great Muppet Caper", and my immediate favorite characters were The Electric Mayhem. As a 3-4 year old kid, Dr. Teeth and his band were the epitome of cool. And, after watching the aptly named 2012 movie "The Muppets", I realize that I still think these guys are about as cool as cool can be.
The band members are:
Keyboards- Dr. Teeth, the pimpy-looking green dude, who is furthermore the band's founder and frontman. I've really come to appreciate the coolness of Dr. Teeth in the past year, and he's now one of my absolute favorite Muppets. I mean, look at the guy. He's so fucking cool. Purple shades, fuzzy top hat with a feather, fur vest, gold tooth... a genuine pimp. Dr. Teeth actually all but disappeared for a considerable time from the Muppet roster after Jim Henson's death, as Henson was his original voice provider and handler, and Henson had always considered Dr. Teeth an especially difficult character to perform, as he was the only Muppet who required two handlers (his arms were so long another puppeteer had to maneuver them when Teeth played piano), and his voice was considered the most difficult (of Henson's) to produce, being a very gravelly kind of New-Orleans-jazz-negro twang. Only in new Muppet productions, such as the "Bohemian Rhapsody" video, and the recent movie, has a definitive new Dr. Teeth voice been established. Dr. Teeth is loosely based on Dr. John, a famous pianist.
Bass- Sgt. Floyd Pepper, the self-proclaimed "king of cool". My earliest memory of Floyd (apart from The Muppet Caper) was a random segment on the "Muppet Babies" cartoon from the 80s in which Floyd, as a puppet, and not a cartoon, appeared on a TV screen singing Ringo Star's "Act Naturally" (which was also my introduction to the song). From that moment on, I always thought this guy was so fucking cool. Floyd actually saw the least air time in season 1 of "The Muppet Show" out of all the band. However, after his original handler left the team, Jerry Nelson took over the role and really established a character for Floyd- one of a sarcastic, laid-back, far out, and even egotistical rock guru. He also took on the role of Animal's "keeper", as Nelson and Frank Oz (Animal's handler) worked well together. From season 2 on Floyd's character became increasingly more prominent among the Muppet cast, and of all of the Electric Mayhem, he and Animal are the only 2 band members who have remained pivotal cast members throughout the 90s and thereafter. Floyd is inspired not only by the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper" but, being pink-skinned, is also a Pink Floyd.
Guitars- Janice. Janice's character was actually pretty funny, although a lot of the humor went over my head as a kid. She's basically a parody of a naive, impressionable, and slightly dumb "valley girl" who is trying to get down with the rock scene, much like her namesake, Janis Joplin. She was famed for scenes in the Muppet movies in which a crowd of people would all be talking and then suddenly become quiet, whereby Janice would be left talking alone, and always in the middle of some very embarrassing revelation. After being handled and voiced by actual women for the first couple seasons of "The Muppet Show", she was taken over and redefined by Richard Hunt, and has remained voiced by a dude since. Unlike Dr. Teeth, Janice remained a reasonably central member of the cast until recently (she has no individual spoken lines in the new Muppet movie), leading me to ascertain that she may currently be without an adequate voice.
Saxophone- Zoot. Zoot was actually originally written to be a kind of burned-out, 50-year-old musician, and, in season 1 of "The Muppet Show", was not only Janice's boyfriend, but had many spoken lines as well. However, as with many others in The Electric Mayhem, after season 1 he received a new handler, David Goelz, who established the more popular Zoot identity, which is that of a cool old kat who spoke little and preferred to let his sax do the talking. Floyd effectively took over Zoot's role in the Electric Mayhem with his emergence as a more prominent character in season 2, thus rendering Zoot what he effectively is today- the band member you'll always forget about. He's based on legendary sax-player Zoot Sims.
Drums- EVERYBODY knows who's on the drums. And I don't care how cliche it may be to call Animal my favorite Muppet, but he is. He's so fucking badass. Sometimes, everybody likes a character because that character really is just that cool. Animal IS actually supposed to be a humanoid (like the other band members), he's just an exaggerated parody of the hairy, mindless, primitive rock n' roller. Animal literally has sharp teeth and a mane and a unibrow, and he becomes so violent and uncontrollable when drumming that he needs to be chained to the stage. Animal is also incapable of forming complete sentences, and generally picks one or several words and just mindlessly shouts them in repetition. His whole character is actually hilarious when you consider it fully. I stick with the theory that he's inspired by Keith Moon, "The Who's" drug-addled, savage, and uncontrollable former drummer. The other oft espoused identity is Mick Fleetwood, of "Fleetwood Mac"... I don't know about that... Billy Joel once insisted in an interview that Animal was inspired by Liberty DeVito, although Henson and the Muppet team actually flatly denied that one.
Vocals- Floyd actually performed lead vocals for most songs. Dr. Teeth and Janice frequently contribute backup vocals, and both sometimes take over as lead vocalist. Animal usually contributes a few shouts.
I've always had a profound respect for puppeteering, an animation style which, like "claymation", has regrettably witnessed a severe decline from their golden years in the 70s and 80s over the past several decades. this can only be due primarily to the emergence of the overrated and less-than-impressive CGI animation. The amount of labor, skill, and creativity required in order to produce works in puppetry and claymation is, to me, infinitely more impressive, and more deserving of respect and admiration, than some geek farting around with some animation program on his computer. Jim Henson Studios, in particular, really pushed puppeteering to its limits and beyond. In movies like "The Dark Crystal", every "living thing" that appears in the movie is a puppet, and a genuinely imaginative creation that transcended the limitations of established worlds and creatures. I can only hope, with the success of the new Muppet Movie, that animation forms like puppeteering and claymation may find their niche in the world again, and that characters like Dr. Teeth and his freaking awesome rock band will once again become household names.

Description
It's the greatest rock n' roll band of all time, with the only drummer wilder than Keith Moon. My earliest memories of the Muppets came from "The Great Muppet Caper", and my immediate favorite characters were The Electric Mayhem. As a 3-4 year old kid, Dr. Teeth and his band were the epitome of cool. And, after watching the aptly named 2012 movie "The Muppets", I realize that I still think these guys are about as cool as cool can be.
The band members are:
Keyboards- Dr. Teeth, the pimpy-looking green dude, who is furthermore the band's founder and frontman. I've really come to appreciate the coolness of Dr. Teeth in the past year, and he's now one of my absolute favorite Muppets. I mean, look at the guy. He's so fucking cool. Purple shades, fuzzy top hat with a feather, fur vest, gold tooth... a genuine pimp. Dr. Teeth actually all but disappeared for a considerable time from the Muppet roster after Jim Henson's death, as Henson was his original voice provider and handler, and Henson had always considered Dr. Teeth an especially difficult character to perform, as he was the only Muppet who required two handlers (his arms were so long another puppeteer had to maneuver them when Teeth played piano), and his voice was considered the most difficult (of Henson's) to produce, being a very gravelly kind of New-Orleans-jazz-negro twang. Only in new Muppet productions, such as the "Bohemian Rhapsody" video, and the recent movie, has a definitive new Dr. Teeth voice been established. Dr. Teeth is loosely based on Dr. John, a famous pianist.
Bass- Sgt. Floyd Pepper, the self-proclaimed "king of cool". My earliest memory of Floyd (apart from The Muppet Caper) was a random segment on the "Muppet Babies" cartoon from the 80s in which Floyd, as a puppet, and not a cartoon, appeared on a TV screen singing Ringo Star's "Act Naturally" (which was also my introduction to the song). From that moment on, I always thought this guy was so fucking cool. Floyd actually saw the least air time in season 1 of "The Muppet Show" out of all the band. However, after his original handler left the team, Jerry Nelson took over the role and really established a character for Floyd- one of a sarcastic, laid-back, far out, and even egotistical rock guru. He also took on the role of Animal's "keeper", as Nelson and Frank Oz (Animal's handler) worked well together. From season 2 on Floyd's character became increasingly more prominent among the Muppet cast, and of all of the Electric Mayhem, he and Animal are the only 2 band members who have remained pivotal cast members throughout the 90s and thereafter. Floyd is inspired not only by the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper" but, being pink-skinned, is also a Pink Floyd.
Guitars- Janice. Janice's character was actually pretty funny, although a lot of the humor went over my head as a kid. She's basically a parody of a naive, impressionable, and slightly dumb "valley girl" who is trying to get down with the rock scene, much like her namesake, Janis Joplin. She was famed for scenes in the Muppet movies in which a crowd of people would all be talking and then suddenly become quiet, whereby Janice would be left talking alone, and always in the middle of some very embarrassing revelation. After being handled and voiced by actual women for the first couple seasons of "The Muppet Show", she was taken over and redefined by Richard Hunt, and has remained voiced by a dude since. Unlike Dr. Teeth, Janice remained a reasonably central member of the cast until recently (she has no individual spoken lines in the new Muppet movie), leading me to ascertain that she may currently be without an adequate voice.
Saxophone- Zoot. Zoot was actually originally written to be a kind of burned-out, 50-year-old musician, and, in season 1 of "The Muppet Show", was not only Janice's boyfriend, but had many spoken lines as well. However, as with many others in The Electric Mayhem, after season 1 he received a new handler, David Goelz, who established the more popular Zoot identity, which is that of a cool old kat who spoke little and preferred to let his sax do the talking. Floyd effectively took over Zoot's role in the Electric Mayhem with his emergence as a more prominent character in season 2, thus rendering Zoot what he effectively is today- the band member you'll always forget about. He's based on legendary sax-player Zoot Sims.
Drums- EVERYBODY knows who's on the drums. And I don't care how cliche it may be to call Animal my favorite Muppet, but he is. He's so fucking badass. Sometimes, everybody likes a character because that character really is just that cool. Animal IS actually supposed to be a humanoid (like the other band members), he's just an exaggerated parody of the hairy, mindless, primitive rock n' roller. Animal literally has sharp teeth and a mane and a unibrow, and he becomes so violent and uncontrollable when drumming that he needs to be chained to the stage. Animal is also incapable of forming complete sentences, and generally picks one or several words and just mindlessly shouts them in repetition. His whole character is actually hilarious when you consider it fully. I stick with the theory that he's inspired by Keith Moon, "The Who's" drug-addled, savage, and uncontrollable former drummer. The other oft espoused identity is Mick Fleetwood, of "Fleetwood Mac"... I don't know about that... Billy Joel once insisted in an interview that Animal was inspired by Liberty DeVito, although Henson and the Muppet team actually flatly denied that one.
Vocals- Floyd actually performed lead vocals for most songs. Dr. Teeth and Janice frequently contribute backup vocals, and both sometimes take over as lead vocalist. Animal usually contributes a few shouts.
I've always had a profound respect for puppeteering, an animation style which, like "claymation", has regrettably witnessed a severe decline from their golden years in the 70s and 80s over the past several decades. this can only be due primarily to the emergence of the overrated and less-than-impressive CGI animation. The amount of labor, skill, and creativity required in order to produce works in puppetry and claymation is, to me, infinitely more impressive, and more deserving of respect and admiration, than some geek farting around with some animation program on his computer. Jim Henson Studios, in particular, really pushed puppeteering to its limits and beyond. In movies like "The Dark Crystal", every "living thing" that appears in the movie is a puppet, and a genuinely imaginative creation that transcended the limitations of established worlds and creatures. I can only hope, with the success of the new Muppet Movie, that animation forms like puppeteering and claymation may find their niche in the world again, and that characters like Dr. Teeth and his freaking awesome rock band will once again become household names.