Instrumental Rock
Major Members: Steve Leonard, Will Glover, Skip Mercier
Representative Albums: "The Penetration!: Best of the Pyramids", "Original Penetration! And Other Favorites
Biography
In early 1964, the Pyramids made the Top 20 with "Penetration," the last big national instrumental surf hit, and one of the best of its ilk. The Long Beach, California group achieved some notoriety for shaving their heads just as the British Invasion was attacking American shores. Their music wasn't all that special, though, aside from the majestically sleek, haunting groove of their big smash. They disbanded after recording one album and a few non-hit singles, divided between average surf instrumentals and clunky frat-rock vocal numbers; they also appeared in the quickie beach movie Bikini Beach. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
The main character of Pyramids is Pteppic (pronounced, and frequently spelled, Teppic), prince of the tiny kingdom of Djelibeybi (Pronounced: Jelly-Baby). Djelibeybi is the Discworld counterpart to Ancient Egypt.
Young Pteppic has been in training at the Assassins Guild in Ankh-Morpork for several years. The day after passing his final exam he somehow senses that his father has died and that he must return home. Being the first Djelibeybian king raised outside the kingdom leads to some interesting problems, based on the fact that Dios, the high priest, is a stickler for tradition, and does not, in fact, allow the pharaohs to rule the country (he earnestly believes that such mundane tasks are beneath them).
After numerous adventures and misunderstandings, Pteppic is forced to escape from the palace, along with a handmaiden named Ptraci. Meanwhile, the massive pyramid being built for Pteppic's father warps space time so much that it "rotates" Djelebeybi out of alignment with the space/time of the rest of the disc by 90 degrees. Pteppic and Ptraci travel to Ephebe to consult with the philosophers there as to how to get back inside the Kingdom. Meanwhile, pandemonium takes hold in Djelibeybi, as the kingdom's multifarious gods descend upon the populace, and all of Djelibeybi's dead rulers come back to life.
Eventually, Pteppic re-enters the Kingdom and attempts to destroy the Great Pyramid, with the helps of all of his newly resurrected ancestors. They are confronted by Dios, who, it turns out, is as old as the kingdom itself, and has advised every pharaoh in the history of the Kingdom. Dios hates change and thinks Djelibeybi should stay the same. Pteppic succeeds in destroying the Pyramid, returning Djelibeybi to the real world and sending Dios back through time (where he meets the original founder of the Kingdom, thereby re-starting the cycle). He then abdicates, allowing Ptraci (who turns out to be his half sister) to rule. Ptraci immediately institutes much-needed changes.
