Toy Dolls are an English punk rock band formed in 1979. Departing from the angry lyrics and music often associated with punk rock, the Toy Dolls worked within the aesthetics of punk to express a sense of fun, with songs such as “Yul Brynner Was a Skinhead”, “My Girlfriend’s Dad’s a Vicar” and “James Bond Lives Down Our Street”. There is often alliteration in their song titles (e.g., “Peter Practice’s Practice Place”, “Fisticuffs in Frederick Street”, “Neville Is a Nerd”, “Quick to Quit the Quentin”). They are probably best known however for their sole UK hit, a punk-rock cover of “Nellie the Elephant”.
Their albums usually include a cover version of a well-known hit song, usually sped up to the usual punk rock tempo. Covers have included “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Toccata in Dm”, “No Particular Place to Go”, “Sabre Dance”, “Livin’ La Vida Loca”, “Lazy Sunday”, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, “She’s So Modern” and “The Final Countdown”. They have also recorded parodies of popular songs, such as “The Kids in Tyne and Wear (Kids in America)” and “The Devil Went Down to Scunthorpe (The Devil Went Down to Georgia)”. Their albums often start with a short intro with a catchy guitar riff, and end with an outro, which is usually a slightly longer variation of the intro riff. Kazoos are also prominent in many of their songs.
Most of the band members have nicknames, and are rarely seen without their cartoonish rectangular sunglasses (although they appeared bare-eyed on the One More Megabyte album cover).