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In 1984, their re-issue of "Nellie the Elephant" reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart and stayed in the chart for 14 weeks.

In 1983, they released their debut album Dig That Groove Baby. Around the time the band signed to Volume, Olga moved to Newton Hall, in north Durham, which led to the song "Livin' on Newton Hall".įor Christmas 1982, they released their punk rendition of " Nellie the Elephant", a classic children's song, which hit No. 1 in the UK Indie Chart. The single quickly sold out its initial pressing of 500 copies, but the band could not afford to press any more, making the single a collectors' item. In 1980, a Sunderland businessman financed the Toy Dolls' debut single, "Tommy Kowey's Car" with "She Goes To Fino's" on the B-side. One reason they are associated with Oi! is that they were championed by Garry Bushell, who was very involved with Oi! bands such as Angelic Upstarts (whom The Toy Dolls later supported on their first national tour). They were initially grouped with the Oi! scene, and have also been classified as punk pathetique. In 1984, Zulu returned to the line-up as bassist/backing vocalist, but departed again less than a year later. Flip left in 1983, marking the beginning of a revolving door of drummers and bassists that would characterise the Toy Dolls line-up over the years (with Olga as the mainstay and only original member). James later returned to the band from 1985 to 1988 as bassist. Scott left the band in 1980 and was replaced by Dean James for four months over the summer of 1980. After Hud's departure, the Toy Dolls became a trio, with guitarist Olga assuming permanent vocal duties. After just a few gigs, Zulu left to form his own band and was replaced by Paul "Hud" Hudson on vocals for one concert. Scott" Scott and bassist Phillip "Flip" Dugdale. The Toy Dolls formed as a quartet featuring vocalist Pete "Zulu" Robson guitarist Michael "Olga" Algar (born 21 September 1962, South Shields, England) drummer Colin "Mr. Michael "Olga" Algar of The Toy Dolls on stage in 2005 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). Kazoos are also prominent in many of their songs. 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. 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)". 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". Their albums usually include a cover version of a well-known hit song, usually sped up to the usual punk rock tempo. They are probably best known however for their sole UK hit, a punk-rock cover of " Nellie the Elephant". 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”). 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".

Toy Dolls are an English punk rock band formed in 1979.