I don’t know if it’s right to call the late 1960s song by Brute Force, “The Fuh King,” an influence on future button-pushing vehicles like South Park, but listen to the song once, and try to tell me that it isn’t something you could hear Matt Stone and Trey Parker writing for their show.
Brute Force has been the pseudonym for New Jersey born singer/songwriter Stephen Friedland since sometime in the 60s. As his own legend would have it, he was first drawn to the stage at the age of eight after watching his mother act in numerous plays at the Jersey City Jewish Community Center Theater. From there, he went on to write dozens of songs for well-known artists, and put out music under his own moniker. The most popular being the ditty about the “Fuh King,” that would probably appeal to just about anybody into weird counterculture relics, Mad Magazine, or sly mentions of curse words. Friedland’s biggest and most important fans, were The Beatles, who released his album on their Apple Records label after their mutual distributor declined to carry it. It would be the biggest success that Brute Force would experience, and by now has been largely forgotten, except for a group of people who want to see Friedland perform the song on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, no doubt with The Roots backing him. Check it out on Facebook.