"Gabba Gabba Hey" is a
catchphrase associated with the punk rock band the
Ramones. The phrase is included in the song "
Pinhead", which contained the lyrics: "Gabba gabba we accept you, we accept you, one of us". The song ends with: "Gabba gabba hey, gabba gabba hey!....".
The slogan comes from a scene in the 1932 motion picture
Freaks, in which the title characters chant the line "Gooble, gobble, we accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us!" that the band viewed at an art house cinema on a rare day off when an outdoor event they were to perform at was canceled due to weather.
In Allan Arkush's film,
Rock 'n' Roll High School a character in a
pinhead mask would appear on stage carrying a large sign with the phrase "Gabba Gabba Hey" at the Ramones concert in the
The Roxy. Afterwards, according to Monte A. Melnicks' biographical book
On the Road with the Ramones, the band felt it necessary to the live experience and a roadie, usually Mitch "Bubbles" Keller would appear on stage in a
pinhead mask, hand the sign to Joey Ramone and perform a dance on stage, colloquially referred to as the "jerk dance." In later years, Keller updated the "pinhead" with a brightly colored, mismatching, and polka-dotted dress sewn together for him by an employee of the
Ritz. Sometimes there were celebrity guests who would don the mask and/or costumes on stage such as
Eddie Vedder. The pinhead would usually...
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