Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay

I'd heard about this record years ago, and it sounded pretty good. I finally picked up a copy the other day, and -- sweet jesus -- this thing is better than anything I could have hoped for. It could be the single best record I own.

Start with Muhammad Ali spending 40 minutes discussing tooth decay. Add appearances by celebrity guest stars like Frank Sinatra and Richie Havens, a bunch of kids, and some truly wooden dialog straight out of a dental textbook. Throw in a song that doesn't make any sense. And if that isn't enough for you, top it off with narration by Howard Cosell.

It was more than enough for me. A sugar high is nothing compared to what I felt listening to this treasure. One track isn't enough. You want to listen to the whole thing straight through, like I did, and you want to do it twice to catch all the details. Then you want to play it in your car. Your walkman. Your bathroom -- while brushing and flossing your teeth, of course. One thing is for sure, I'll never look at ice cream the same way again.

Oh, and one more thing -- check out this amazing artwork from the back cover featuring trippy cartoon versions of Ali and the gang relaxing in Brother St. John's organic garden. Far out!

nyscof (nyscof@aol.com) says:
It's too bad that organized dentistry used Ali in this way.

Fluoride is neither a nutrient nor essential for healthy teeth. After 60 years of water fluoridation reaching 2/3 on public water supplies and virtually 100% via the food supply, tooth decay is a national "silent" epidemic - mostly in the poorer neighborhoods that usually are fluoridated.

American children were never fluoride deficient. They were and still are dentist deficient. Dentists are gung ho about throwing fluoride chemicals at low-income families; but very few of them will allow them in their dental chairs.

On November 9, 2006, the American Dental Association advised their dentists, but not the public, that fluoridated water is not to be added to infant formula because just a little too much fluoride permanently damages and discolors children's permanent teeth. Not surprisingly, with the spread of fluoridation across the country, tooth-damaging dental fluorosis has increased; but low-income folks have to wait for their cavities to fester and spread to enable emergency room treatment and ten times the cost of a simple filling and forget about getting treatment for elective cosmetic dentistry to cover up those fluorosed teeth.

For more info
Fluoridation 101
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof

Fluoridation News Releases
http://tinyurl.com/6kqtu

Tooth Decay Crises in Fluoridated Areas
http://www.fluoridenews.blogspot.com/

Fluoride Action Network
http://www.FluorideAction.Net (12-04-2006)

Phil McRevis says:
You know kids used to be able to listen to a record and "imagine" the action. Little did Ali know that Mr. Tooth decay would be run out of town by Mr. Fat Ass. Besides, I can't belive all you people failed to notice Frank Sinatra sitting in the middle of a bunch of kids giving the "fight the power sign". Frank always did things his way but The Man will not like this one bit. It would have been much better if Frank had pimp slapped the kid who asked him "how do like that, ol' blue eyes?" (11-29-2006)

sd says:
The seriously odd (but strangely catchy) title song made the Oxford American sampler this year. I'm kind of disappointed to hear that the rest of the album is about tooth decay. I thought it might be a surrealist masterpiece. Well might still be. (11-13-2006)

Eeriebblum (brettblumfield@brettblumfield.com) says:
Judging from the back cover art, I get the envision that the only way to fight Mr. Tooth Decay is to have a famous heavyweight boxer take young children to a tree that grows fresh asses. Those are supposed to be peaches? I never saw a peach that looked just like my ass. I guess the message here is: "Eat an ass today, and you'll put Mr. Tooth Decay....away!" (10-15-2006)

Andrew says:
After Ali defeated Tooth Decay I expected him to yell, "I want Cystic Fibrosis! I WANT CYSTIC FIBROSIS!" (10-07-2006)

Nai (Kawaii_Nai@Otakumail.com) says:
I had this album. I was watching something that mentioned the Liberty Bell and the song popped in my head. So, I searched Google for "Who put the crack in the Liberty Bell Ali" just to see what would come up. I am happy find others that had and remember this album. Next time I visit my Mom, I'm go to forage around the basement to see if I can find that album. - Thank you. (^_^) (09-09-2006)

John says:
Frank had to have been drunk..Can you imagine someone actually took the time to market, record and sell this stuff? (07-31-2006)

muhammed ali jr (trk 2nv) (turkish_rome0@hotmail.com) says:
muhammed ali i envy u and i promise ull hear ma name as being a great boxer like u
rember gokhan (07-24-2006)

muhammed ali says:
come on guys lets take tooth decay down town! (07-19-2006)

carrot shneb says:
what the f*****g hell is that, i mean really how much did they have to pay the poor b*stard?! (06-06-2006)

dreamshoes (dreamshoes@yahoo.com) says:
We brought this home from a flea market, and I'm now obsessed with finding a copy of the *follow-up*, mentioned in comment by Fritz on this site. "...Mr. Tooth Decay" does surface from time to time on Ebay. But so far my web searches for "May the Brush be With You" have only found a few references to its existance and sometimes list the artists, but so far I haven't found a copy for sale anywhere, or even an image of the cover. Anyone?? (04-28-2006)

Smunter says:
I'm going to clean my teeth now!! And for christmas I'm going ask my Papa for a giant toothbrush to put in my back pocket, so I'm always ready!! (01-19-2006)

John (email@ragersworld.com) says:
I have this album and even got it autographed by Ali after one of his practice rounds back in the late 70's. It was just before a big fight at the Capital Center in Maryland just outside of DC.
I remember him signing it and when he handed it to me quickly, I got hit with a bunch of sweat drops and thought it was so cool.
Maybe I will put it on eBay some day and see what it goes for. (12-14-2005)

MC says:
Where can I get this record? Did they release a cd version as well??? Someone pls help!

Fan of ALI (11-11-2005)

Fritz says:
I just picked up what looks like a *follow-up* to this album called "May the Brush Be With You." It has a number of the Ali tunes from the original, plus Jimmy Carter (!), Billie Jean King, Pat Boone, and more. Haven't given it a spin yet. The cover art is seriously f*cked in the head. Like the original, I guess. (10-23-2005)

JoeSchlitz says:
I had a friend in school who had this album - haven't heard it in 20 yrs. Man, what a trip. Ali, radical as he was, singing about tooth decay of all things.... just surreal. (10-03-2005)

C. Terentius Rufus says:
I didn't realize until just now how much I really miss the late Howard Cosell. (08-21-2005)

Jeff (jhillst79@yahoo.com) says:
Can anyone tell what they're saying in the second line of the chorus? Sounds like "Just because he likes to (scrap?) and maybe sometimes (???)"

Also, the sleeve insert on my copy says there was a follow-up album called "Ali and His Gang vs. Fat Cat the Dope King and His Sidekick Peter Pusher". Was that record ever made? (07-31-2005)

RIGHTSIDEUP (tubbyfoster@yahoo.com) says:
I was 4-5 when my parents brought this record home to me one night. The fight song used to get me very wound up. Finding this on the net has really brought back the memories, and uh yeah, I still get psyched when I hear the tune! (06-06-2005)

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