David Thomas, of art rock band Pere Ubu, said that the Cramps were "so thoroughly co-optive of the Ghoulardi persona that when they first appeared, Clevelanders of the generation were fairly dismissive."
Thomas credits Ghoulardi for influencing the "otherness" of the Cleveland/Akron bands of the mid-1970s and early-1980s, including the Electric Eels, and The Mirrors, the Cramps, and Thomas's own groups, Pere Ubu and Rocket From The Tombs, declaring:
"We were the Ghoulardi kids." (Akron's Devo aren't included on Thomas' list, but they were formed in the same era as the other groups and shared a similar esthetic.)
In 2002, Cleveland-area indie band Uptown Sinclair featured a Ghoulardi-derived basketball referee in the slapstick music video for their song "Girlfriend."
The most obvious Ghoulardi kid, Anderson's son, film director Paul Thomas Anderson, named his production entity "The Ghoulardi Film Company."
Before he was an announcer for ABC in the 1970's and 80's, Ernie Anderson was best known for the "love" in "The Love Boat," or as the host of a big television hit in Cleveland.
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