According to the Bureau County Republican, Thayer used "a total of eight generations (overdubs) of tape on each song - five instrumental overdubs and three vocal overdubs. The newspaper added, "Thayer played the drums, piano, organ, bass guitar and lead fuzz guitar and sang two background vocals and one lead vocal in his two arrangements."
The two songs that Thayer recorded that day were "Movin' Groovin' Fairy Tale" and "If Death Don't Get You (Then The Government Will)."
At the time, Thayer told the Bureau County Republican that the song "If Death Don't Get You" was about the saying "You only have to do two things in life - pay taxes and die." He added that it was "mainly about the plight of the factory worker." He jokingly said that "Fairy Tale" was about the plight of his love life.
Despite recording all the parts himself, the single was credited to Howie Thayer and His Psycho-Electric Happening and was released on his own Psychedelic Sounds label.
Thayer had graduated from La Moille High School earlier that same year. While in school, he had been a drummer in a teen combo, the XKE's, along with Larry Lucas, Steve Westerlin, Jim Ewalt and Dale Edlefson. After graduation, Thayer had started working as a disc jockey at a local radio station. When the single was released, the local paper mentioned that "he will be playing the two songs occasionally on his sock show on WZOE radio."
In a 2018 conversation, Thayer confirmed many of the details of the recording. He added that he had 1,000 copies pressed at the time and sold out. He also mentioned, at one point you could buy the record at Clickner's in Princeton, Illinois, where the owner had provided Thayer with a special rack to display his single.
Thayer would return to RoFran Enterprises in Urbana two more times in 1968 according to the RoFran studio log (March 9th and September 5th). The result was another single, likely recorded in the same manner as the first.
Again both song were written by Thayer - an instrumental, "Bazap!," backed with "Side 2," a tragic love story referencing LSD and suicide among other things. Once again, the single was credited to Howie Thayer and His Psycho-Electric Happening and released on Psychedelic Sounds.
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It is difficult to imagine how people in north-central Illinois responded to these records in 1968. Thayer remembers "Bazap!" getting some airplay on WSDR in Sterling, Illinois at the time - another radio station where he had worked.
Whatever the reaction, these two singles would prove to be Thayer's entire recorded output as a musical performer. His radio career, on the other hand, was just beginning. From 1967 to the current day, Thayer has worked at more than 50 different radio stations throughout the country. At some point along the way, he legally changed his first name to "Dr." In 1992, he earned a doctorate degree from Florida International University, officially making him, Dr. Dr. Thayer.
In 2004, Thayer bought a radio station: 96.7 FM-WZPH in Zephyrhills, FL - "The Zephyr." The format of the station is strictly "oldies" with no commercials whatsoever. As a result, it holds a world record for playing more than 3.5 million songs in a row. The streak was sadly broken on October 10, 2024 when Hurricane Milton destroyed the station. Dr. Dr. and the Zephyr however are back on the air in 2025!
In addition to radio, Dr. Dr. is also a math teacher and a body builder... he might even be the Incredible Impressive Hulk.