Deadeye Dick, the alternative rock trio behind the collegiate novelty smash "New Age Girl," were swiftly branded one-hit wonders. The group came together in New Orleans in 1991, with Caleb Guillotte on vocals and guitar, Mark Miller on bass, and Billy Landry on drums; they borrowed their name from a Kurt Vonnegut novel. Delivering new wave-inflected guitar pop tailored to campus crowds, they built a regional audience through Southeast tours and by self-producing a full album's worth of songs before signing any contract. One track, the hippie-chick satire "New Age Girl," caught on locally and earned radio play in New Orleans and Atlanta, prompting a deal with the independent Ichiban label, better known for soul and blues than rock. Ichiban issued the band's debut, A Different Story, nationwide in 1994, and placed "New Age Girl" on the soundtrack of the hit comedy Dumb and Dumber. The single broke nationally late that year, climbing into the pop Top 30 and saturating college and alternative airwaves. Its novelty appeal, however, led many listeners to view Deadeye Dick as momentary sensations, so the follow-up singles "Perfect Family" and "Marguerite" drew scant notice. A second album, the slightly rootsier Whirl, arrived in 1995 but met the same outcome, after which the band split. Guillotte and Miller stayed active as producers on the New Orleans scene.
