Showing posts with label the 90s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the 90s. Show all posts

Sunday, December 22, 2019

STOP WHINING ABOUT MARIAH CAREY'S "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS' HITTING NUMBER 1


Mariah Carey's seasonal favorite, "All I Want For Christmas", final hit Number One on the Billboard charts. It is the longest a song has taken to hit Number One in Billboard history. It was first released on her 1994 Christmas CD. Why it has now made it to Number One came about because of several factors. It is played heavily by radio stations when they go to "all Christmas" this time of year. When it was released in the mid-90s, Christmas music was considered "un-cool" by radio. That changed about 2001 or so. Another factor that lead to the song hitting Number One is the tracking of downloads and song streaming. Last year at this time, Dean Martin version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" was Number One on downloads.



However, there is a group of old, white men on social media, who believe Mariah's Phil Spector-ish Christmas tune hitting Number One is a sign of the end of the world. This group of racist, woman haters are up in arms about this landmark moment in pop music history. They are constantly attacking the song as being "awful" and "unlistenable." They then make the claim that the reason it became a hit is because "most current music is awful." OK Boomers, whatever.

These same men (Yes, it is ALL men complaining about this - when they are not complaining about Greta Thunberg being Time's Person of the Year) were cheering last year when Dean Martin was Number One on the downloads chart with "Baby It's Cold Outside." Why can't they be happy about this too? They also are attacking Ariana Grande over using the tune of "My Favorite Things" for her recent hit.

Why don't they direct their hatred toward the people responsible for that "Christmas Shoes" song? They deserve to be waterboarded.

Of course, opinions, like this one, is why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!   

Saturday, October 27, 2018

HORROR MOVIE MUSIC IPOD PLAYLIST


I'm going to start off this post by telling you something that the snobby "timeless love song/Great American Songbook" crowd doesn't want you to know. One of their favorite "standard" songs, that was a favorite of our grandparents and parents, was introduced in a HORROR FILM.

The song, "Stella By Starlight," first appeared in the 1944 film The Uninvited, about a woman named Stella, who is possessed by a ghost. In the movie, Ray Milland plays a composer, who tries to woo Stella by composing the song for her on a piano, while she stands by an open window.  The song has been recorded by many artist since it was first introduced, but most of those familiar with the song would probably never guess it was from a horror film. The Uninvited was also groundbreaking in that it portray ghost and the paranormal as serious, instead of a criminal gimmick or for comedy purposes.

I brought up ghost and comedy, because one of the biggest songs of the 80s, was from a comedy about ghost and demons. Of course, that was Ghostbusters. That song dominated radio in the summer of 1984, but some would say Ghostbusters is a comedy not a horror film.

That is why this is a Ipod playlist, because 1)) doing a really educational "countdown-of-the-greatest-ever" post would lead to hairsplitting and Internet bickering about what I should consider a "real" horror film or horror comedy or a mystery thriller or science fiction movie or an original composition for a horror film or using a previously recorded song. So, I'll just give a playlist with the movie the song was featured in and you can decide for yourself what category it belongs in, 2) I haven't done one in a while, and 3) it's quick and easy.

I have left out orchestral scores, in favor of pop & rock songs, featured in the film. Some were hits before the film came out or "oldies" used to memorable effect in the film. I tried to give the name of the original version or version in the film, if I use a substitute, I'll mention why.

Stella By Starlight - Andre Previn (This is a piano instrumental, as in the movie) - The Uninvited - 1944
The Blob - The Five Blobs - The Blob 1958
The Web - Abie Baker - The Brain That Wouldn't Die 1959
Bird Is the Word - The Rivingtons - The Crawling Hand 1963
Look For a Star - Gary Miles - Circus of Horror 1960
Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte - Al Martino - Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1964
My Son, The Vampire - Alan Sherman - Vampire Over London 1952/My Son The Vampire 1964
That's The Way It's Got To Be - The Poets - Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster 1966
That's All That I Need You For - The Birds - The Deadly Bees 1966
Shadows - The Electric Prunes - The Name of the Game Is Kill 1968
Green Slime - The Green Slime - The Green Slime 1968 (The title of the song, movie and the band are all Green Slime)
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack - Play Misty For Me 1971
Season of the Witch - Donovan - Season of the Witch 1972/Dark Shadows 2012
Ben - Michael Jackson - Ben 1972
Tubular Bells  - Mike Oldfield - The Exorcist 1973
Popcorn - Hot Butter - Shriek of the Mutilated 1974
Daybreak - Harry Nilsson - Son of Dracula 1974
Science Fiction/Double Feature - Richard O'Brien - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Time Warp - Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn & Cast - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Sweet Transvestite - Tim Curry - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult - Halloween 1978
I Love The Nightlife - Alicia Bridges - Love At First Bite - 1979
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival - American Werewolf in London -1981
Moondance - Van Morrison - American Werewolf in London - 1981
Blue Moon - The Marcels - American Werewolf in London - 1981
Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) - David Bowie - Cat People - 1982
Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus - The Hunger - 1983
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Junior - Ghostbusters - 1984
Weird Science - Oingo Boingo - Weird Science - 1985
Wanted Man - Ratt - Weird Science - 1985
Tesla Girls - Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark - Weird Science - 1985
Pretty Woman - Van Halen - Weird Science - 1985
Blue Kiss - Jane Wiedlin - Night of the Creeps - 1986
The Stroll - The Diamonds - Night of the Creeps - 1986
Teen Beat - Sandy Nelson - Night of the Creeps - 1986
Good Times - Inxs with Jimmy Barnes - Lost Boys - 1987
People Are Strange - Echo & The Bunnymen - Lost Boys - 1987
Who Made Who - AC/DC - Maximum Overdrive -1986
For Those About To Rock - AC/DC - Maximum Overdrive - 1986
Dream Warriors - Dokken - Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - 1987
Into the Fire - Dokken - Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - 1987
Youth of America - Birdbrain - Scream - 1996
Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Scream - 1996
Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass? - Buck Owens - House of 1000 Corpses - 2003
Turn Around, Look At Me - The Lettermen - Final Destination 3 - 2006
Nights In White Satin - Moody Blues - Dark Shadows - 2012
I'm Sick of You - Iggy & the Stooges - Dark Shadows - 2012
Ballad of Dwight Frye - Alice Cooper - Dark Shadows - 2012



Tuesday, October 3, 2017

R. I. P. TOM PETTY


"Somewhere, somehow somebody Must have kicked you around some.
 Who knows, maybe you were kidnapped, Tied up, taken away and held for ransom.
 It don't really matter to me Everybody's had to fight to be free.
 You see you don't have to live like a refugee.
 I said you don't have to live like a refugee."

Thursday, March 16, 2017

TEN ANNOYING, SHORT-LIVED, POP MUSIC GENRES



This post started off as a comparison of two sub genres of rock music. The problem was, as I tried to do some research on the subject, I found very little information or music on-line about it. So I just decided to mix it into a post about several other genres.

If you are on social media, you would assume, from reading all those stupid memes that your un-hip friends post, that Millennials listen to the worst music ever made. In doing some research for this, I found that the hipsters and Millennials are actually into some very interesting and technical, experimental music.

Also, I've noticed these memes usually come from one of three places 1) a country radio station or redneck humor Facebook site, 2) a classic rock - AOR radio station Facebook site or a 3) right-wing political - talk radio Facebook website. All three have an agenda.

Let's look back at the history of rock and roll and see if we can find any trends, that those who criticize the current music scene, bought into that could be scene as vomit inducing.



10. Rural Norwegian/Scandinavian accent novelty songs (70s - 80s): The Wurzels, Da Yoopers and the Bananas at Large. It started in the 50s with a comedian named Harry Stewart, who recorded under the name Yogi Yorgenson. His stuff was kind of fun. Then, in the 60s, came Stan Boreson and Doug Stetterberg doing parodies of popular songs with some rural Norwegian/Scandinavian humor, still okay. That was all. Then, the rural Norwegian/Scandinavian, sort of was revived by a group from England called the Wurzels, who did recorded a parody of "Brand New Key" as "Combine Harvester." Technically, their music was a British rural variation, but the elements were there such as beer and farm implements. In the 80s, some groups out of Minnesota and Wisconsin, began recording original songs, most of these were about two subjects: deer hunting and farting. The redneck crowd like these songs and, if you are in country radio you get request these songs. Ugh.


9. Acapella - Doo Wop Revival (80s - 90s): The Nylons, Take 6, 4 P.M, All-4-One, Boyz 2 Men, New Edition. It started with the Nylons and their covers of Steam's "Kiss Him Goodbye (Na Na Na Hey Hey)" and The Turtles' "Happy Together." It didn't immediately take off, but then New Edition gave us a cover of "Earth Angel," to coincide with its use in Back To the Future. From then on, all boy band (really they are vocal groups not bands, but that is what people call them) had to do some acapella variation of a doo wop, oldies hit or country hit. Even when they covered a song, with musical backing, there would be at least a few bars of acapella. I think Boyz 2 Men had a whole acapella CD. The last hurrah (and best song of this trend) was The Straight No Chaser version of the "Twelve Days of Christmas."  


8.  American Ska - Punk (90s): Save Ferris, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Real Big Fish. In the early 80s, the Ska - Punk movement came out of England with bands like The Specials, The Untouchables, English Beat and Madness had some great songs. In the 90s, some American bands tried to revive the sound. The problem with these bands were their songs were usually too fast or just bad. Save Ferris (great name for a band) committed the ultimate sin by doing a cover of a song from the 80s that I HATE, "Come On Eileen." I also thought Reel Big Fish's "Sell Out" was one of the worst songs ever.


7. Big Band - Timeless Standards Revival (90s - Present): Squirrel Nut Zippers, Cherry Poppin Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Michael Bubble, Puppini Sisters. This can be blamed on the short lived popularity of swing-dance. There has always seemed to be a push to bring back the Big Band era and the music of the pre-rock and roll era ever few years, but in the late 90s and early 2000's it almost succeeded. The groups doing original songs were on Alternative radio, where they sounded out of place. The more Timeless stuff helped kill off light AC and, when given its own radio format, it was the same songs over and over. Worse was how major stars (Rod Stewart, Michael Bolton, Bobby Caldwell, Paul McCartney, Carly Simon) recorded CDs of the "Timeless songs" and became un-cool.

6. American Blues Revival (Late 80s - early 90s): Omar & the Howlers, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jeff Healy Band. This is the subject that has caused me not to post in a while. I was going to compare the music of the late 60s British blues revival with the American blues revival of the late 80s. When I was in college, the local AOR station seemed to play a huge glut of these American blues revival bands. Out of all of the stuff being played, I only liked about three songs, "Bad To the Bone" & "Who Do You Love" by George Thorogood and "Smoking Gun" by The Robert Cray Band. There was also a tone of local blues bands around. I always preferred the late 60s British blues of Led Zepellin, Cream, Fleetwood Mac and Ten Years After. There was something made their interpretations of the blues different. Maybe it was help from acid, pot, Alistair Crowley and that person Robert Johnson met at the crossroads, but their blues was like atomic thunder from outer space. A new generation discovers it every year. The American blues revival of the 80s has largely become the in-house music of chain barbecue restaurants like Rib Crib and Famous Dave's. Here is the thing that caused my lengthy lack of post. Doing research on those bands was impossible, because I could find very little information about them on the Internet. I could track down very little of the music. I looked in an old Gold Disc AOR catalog from the 90s at work and only found a few names I remembered. Most of the groups had names like Jimmy Fudbucker and the Skillet Lickers. The only thing I found was a comment on the message board that summed up why these groups didn't have the impact of the British groups of the 60s. This person said "It lacked the feeling and soul that the blues is supposed to have. They made the blues bland and boring." 
 

5. Mummers String Bands (50s): Ferko String Band, Nu-Tornados, Quaker City Boys. If you wondered what in the world that photo at the top of this post represented, here it is. Sadly, I have to blame this one on one of my broadcasting media heroes: Dick Clark. The Mummers Parade has been a New Years Day tradition for over a century in Philadelphia. In the 50s, it was aired live on TV. This was also when American Bandstand was broadcast from Philadelphia.  The oddly dressed marchers and bands in the parade can only use string and percussion instruments. Some how they wound up catching the nations attention. Ferko String Band performed mainly instrumentals on records, but they had a hit. A vocal group, with a Mummers sanctioned banjo and glockenspiel, called The Quaker City Boys gave us "Teasin." 



The Nu-Tornados, on the other hand, gave us the dorkiest hit of the early days of rock & roll. A song called "Philadelphia U.S.A."It makes "Pink Shoe Laces" look like "Blowin In the Wind." The trend lasted roughly a year and thankful stayed in Philly after that.


4. Nostalgia - Camp (60s): New Vaudeville Band, Ian Whitcomb, Rainy Daze, Purple Gang, Bonzo Dog Band.  The Pop Art movement of the 60s lead to nostalgia for the pop culture of the past. In some circles, it was known as camp. Starting in about 1965, British Invasion artist Ian Whitcomb, known for his breathless hit "You Turn Me On," started reviving old ragtime songs like "Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go With Friday On Saturday Night?" The next year, British composer Geoff Stephens, wrote a song called "Winchester Cathedral." He had it recorded by a studio group with a vocal by John Carter, the former lead singer of the Ivy League, singing through a megaphone, like singers of the 1920s. Using the name The New Vaudeville Band, the song became an unexpected hit and spawned some other records with that sound. Several older artist (Rudy Vallee, Guy Lombardo, Lawrence Welk, George Burns and Tony Randall) and easy listening acts recorded cover versions, as well as bringing back more old songs from the 20s. It also spawn two bad copies that were blatant drug references. A band out of Denver used the nostalgia sound for their sledgehammer subtle minor hit "Accapolco Gold" and a British group called the Purple Gang recorded "Granny Takes a Trip." One group who started out doing the nostalgia sound revival act but left it behind was The Bonzo Dog Band. Here is one of those nostalgia tunes they recorded.


    



3. Death Songs (50s - 60s): "Teen Angel," "The Leader of the Pack," "Tell Laura I Love Her," "Last Kiss." This is one of those trends that have for years caused people to ask "WHY?". What caused the teenagers of the late 50s until the British Invasion to love such morbid songs. Many trace the beginning of this to be early 1959 and the death of Buddy Holly, Richie Valence and Big Bopper.  First came Mark Dining's "Teen Angel" and soon the Top 40 was filled with car wrecks (Ray Peterson's "Tell Laura I Love Her" J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"), drownings (Jody Reynolds "Endless Sleep"), suicides (Pat Boone "Moody River", ghost girls ("Laurie"), a football team in a bus crash ("The Hero"), a girl eaten by a shark ("The Water Was Red") and a biker who may have hit a truck ("The Leader of the Pack"). This phase started to fade with the death of President Kennedy. Teens turned to the happy music of the British Invasion and Motown acts. The nail in the coffin (pardon the pun) may have been "I Want My Baby Back" by Jimmy Cross. It was a parody that took things a little too far. Jimmy misses his dead girlfriend so much that he digs up he coffin and crawls inside with her. Of all of these songs, my favorite is "Johnny Remember Me" by Johnny Leyton. He never says what happened to the girl or really if she is dead or not, but, thanks to production from Joe Meek, she is a spooky as a Roger Corman Poe movie.


  

2. Spoken Word Recitations: (60s): "A Open Letter To My Teenage Son,""I.O.U," "Grover Henson Feels Forgotten," "History Repeats Itself," "The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion)," "Gallant Men." This may get me into trouble. Before there was talk radio and memes on Facebook, there were the spoken word recitations. Don't get me wrong, not all were preachy tirades. Some spoken word recitations were stories with a musical background, such as "Old Rivers" by Walter Brennan, "Ringo" by Lorne Greene, "Phantom 309" by Red Sovine, and "The Shifting Whispering Sands" by Billy Vaughan with Ken Nordine. The others give us lectures against burning our draft card and respecting our elders, the similarities between President Lincoln and President Kennedy, how Europeans and "smug self-righteous Canadians" need to respect Americans, the true meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance, how kids need positive role models and how much your mother has done for you. 75 percent of these records used an instrumental version of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" for a background. After the 60s, these type of recordings fell out of fashion because they don't gel well with the rest of the programing on music stations.  Imagine if you were listening to the radio today and between the latest hit by Beyonce and the latest hit by Katy Perry, the radio station played a cranky, old, white griping about how today's teenagers are stupid, people on welfare or illegal aliens . You understand. I will admit I do have two favorites that actually came along after the boom of these records in the mid to late 60s. One is 1999's "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", which was credited to producer Baz Luhrmann, but the reading is by actor Lee Perry. The other is 1971's "Desiderata (Child of the Universe)" by talk show host Les Crane. What I like about these are the upbeat music and positive, affirmative tone.


    



1.  Answer Songs (50s - 60s): "He'll Have To Stay," "I'm the Girl From Wolverton Mountain," "I'll Save The Last Dance For You," "Tell Tommy I Miss Him," "I'm the Duchess of Earl," "Oh Neil," "Yes, I'm Lonesome Tonight," "Gary, Don't Sell My Diamond Ring," and "I'm Glad They Took You Away Ha-Ha!" The most ridiculous of all of these trends I mentioned has to be the answer song trend of the 60s. It's roots were planted in the early 50s on the rhythm and blues side when Hank Ballard & the Midnighters released "Work With Me, Annie" and on the country side with Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life." Etta James fired back at Ballard with "Roll With Me, Henry" and Kitty Wells snapped back at Thompson with "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels." For some reason the peak began in 1960 and lasted until the British Invasion hit (Let's face it, the British Invasion groups can be thanked for getting rid of awful stuff). Every time a male artist or group had a hit, another record company would release a bad re-write of the song with a female singer or group and visa versa. You can tell from the above titles that much of this was pure dreck (although "Oh Neil" was by Carole King, who Neil Sedaka wrote "Oh, Carol" about, so there was a point to that one).  The only ones that worked are Jan Bradley's "Mama Didn't Lie," an answer to The Shirelles hit "Mama Said There Would Be Days Like This," Katy Perry's "California Gurls," which was an answer to Jay-Z "Empire State of Mind" and, the grand daddy of all answer songs, "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynard Skynard, which was an answer to Neil Young's "Southern Man" and "Alabama." The reason these work is they are original songs that sound different than the songs they are an answer to not a carbon copy with the gender of the singer changed.
     
Some will, of course, holler "What about disco? What about rap? What about hair bands? What about psychedelic music? What about punk?" Those genres and styles had staying power, whether you like them or not. These are brief flash in the pans. Lucky for us they were brief.
 

Sunday, August 14, 2016

DESDINOVA'S UNDERRATED & OVERRATED AWARDS


I'm not sure which historical magazine, a few years ago, had an underrated/overrated article. Recently, I began thinking about doing my own version. I realize my opinions usually get me in trouble, but I'm compelled to do this. I really didn't do extensive research, I'm just going on my opinions verses that of co-workers, former classmates, colleagues in the radio industry, film and music critics and other bloggers. You can be mad at some of what I have here, but the only person that will be allowed to dispute my awards is Kanye West.

TV VEHICLE:




UNDERRATED: The Untouchables Truck. How underrated is this vehicle? The only photos I could find of it were screen caps from an episode of Happy Days (above). It deserves recognition because it was a real vehicle. In his book, from which the TV show was based, Eliot Ness explains that his men confiscated a beer truck, used by Al Capone, and fitted it with two steel sheets that were sharpened on the sides. These worked as both a battering ram on the chained doors of illegal breweries and kept bullets from striking the engine.


OVERRATED: The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazard. The doors don't open and you have to crawl through the window. Enough said.


70s MOVIES:


UNDERRATED: Paper Moon. Great dialogue, great casting, black and white cinematography, and fairly accurate historical details.


OVERRATED: Kramer vs Kramer. When is somebody going to admit this is just like a thousand made for TV movies about divorce. Meryl Streep was better in Death Becomes Her and She Devil and Dustin Hoffman better in Tootsie and Meet The Flockers


BEATLES SONG:


UNDERRATED: "I Feel Fine." This is the quintessential early Beatles song. Everything that made The Beatles one of the greatest rock band in history is all right here in this song.



OVERRATED: "In My Life." It is slow and depressing. Not what I want from the Beatles.


50s ROCK & ROLL PIONEER:


UNDERRATED: Screaming Jay Hawkins. His stage act paved the way for Alice Copper, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss and Marilyn Manson. Some of his 60s recordings could be the forerunner of 2 Live Crew and other rappers hits. Plus, his most famous song, "I Put a Spell On You" was one of the first early rock and roll songs to become an pop standard recorded by singers of other genres (Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" would be the next one).


OVERRATED: Jerry Lee Lewis."The Killer" had about four good songs early in his career, then in the 60s he went country. All of his country songs sound alike and they all suck. The bad part is he just kept recording more of them.

60s AMERICAN POP GROUP:


UNDERRATED: The Monkees. The rock critics and press of the 60s hated them. Over the years that has changed. Their most recent CD has gotten good reviews. They may still get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame yet.


OVERRATED: The Four Seasons. Let me first say I like the 70s hits by The Four Seasons, but I find most of the 60s output irritating and much of it was overplayed by radio. If that wasn't enough, they recorded an LP, using something called the "Chee Chee Girl" voice, under the name The Wonder Who. That LP will make your ears bleed. One reason they are here is the talk radio contingent are trying to rewrite history (and intelligent thought) and say that the Four Season were a better group than the Beatles. It a good country people would be executed for saying that.

70s HARD ROCK BAND:


UNDERRATED: Blue Oyster Cult. For a heavy metal band they produced some very smooth recordings that border on yatch rock, while having a strange sense of humor ("Joan Crawford Has Risen From the Grave"). I took my blogging moniker from one of their songs. The only thing complaint is (wait for it) they needed more cowbell.


OVERRATED: Lynard Skynyrd. Overplayed on radio, but part of that has to do with music testing and request lines. Once, I was getting my tires changed in Lebanon, Missouri, and there was a radio in the garage on. "Free Bird" came on the radio and every guy working in that garage went "Yeeehaw," like the Dukes of Hazzard. Scary.

80s VOCALIST:


UNDERRATED: Boy George of Culture Club. If you close your eyes, forget what about the way he looked in the 80s and just listen to his voice, you will find Boy George has one of the most pleasant and smoothest voice in rock and roll. Sadly, people saw him as a gimmick singer.


OVERRATED: Whitney Houston. Besides being the favorite singer of goody two-shoes people in the 80s, she always seems to be saying "Listen to how good I can sing. I'll hold this note real long and prove it." That is irritating.

ROCK GUITARIST:


UNDERRATED: John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service. All you have to do is listen to some of Quicksilver's instrumentals and you will see why I say he is underrated.


OVERRATED: Stevie Ray Vaughan. I shocked a friend of mine, who lives in California, when I told him that some people here in the Ozarks believe Stevie Ray Vaughan was a better guitarist than Jimi Hendrix. "NO WAY!" He said. "That is messed up thinking." Indeed.


ALBUM BY THE EAGLES:


UNDERRATED: One of These Nights.


OVERRATED: Hell Freezes Over. You have one LP that contains the hits, "One of These Nights," "Take It To The Limit" and "Lying Eyes," but also "Journey To the Sorcerer," which was the theme for the radio and TV versions of Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy. The other CD is several live versions of previous hits and the official national anthem of douche-bags everywhere, "Get Over It."  

MOVIE DESIGNED AS A VEHICLE FOR A SINGER:


UNDERRATED: UHF starring Weird Al Yankovic.


OVERRATED: Pure Country starring George Strait. One is a hilarious cult film and the other is the forerunner of the movies on the Hallmark Channel.

NUMBER ONE HIT OF THE 90s:


UNDERRATED: "MmmBop" by Hanson. This is just a great, fun bubble gum song. I don't think any of the radio stations in Springfield, Missouri, played it when it came out. I know KTXY in Columbia played it heavy because it was a NUMBER ONE HIT.


OVERRATED: "Candle In the Wind - 97" by Elton John. I'll just say it. This is not as good as the original version that was on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road LP. It should have made it to Number One, not this one.

MOVIE OF THE 90s:


UNDERRATED: Matinee. A movie about being a monster kid at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis with John Goodman as a William Castle-like producer promoting a meta-film called MANT!, that is filmed in black and white, with several stars from various sci-fi films of the 50s.


OVERRATED: Jerry McGuire. A jock boy picture. I tried to watch it twice and each time it put me to sleep at the word "Hello."

LINE IN A HORROR COMEDY:


UNDERRATED: "It is true. This man has no dick." from Ghostbusters. Peck deserved that comment.


OVERRATED: "You mean like Democrats?" from Ghost Breakers. After this has been on Facebook 50 million times it is no longer funny.

Who knows, I may give out more of these awards sometime.

Friday, July 15, 2016

FIVE ADVERTISING CHARACTERS THAT MADE COMEBACKS


Recently, Dos Equis Beer announced that it was retiring the popular character in their commercials known as "The Most Exciting Man In the World." The character, played by actor Johnathan Silverman, became popular outside the advertising world as well, inspiring Internet memes and T-shirts. Just because he took off into space in the last commercial doesn't mean he wont be back. Several famous advertising character have come back over the years, some in different forms.


COLONEL SANDERS - Colonel Harlan Sanders (above) was a real person, who appeared in commercials and even cameo appearances in movies promoting Kentucky Fried Chicken. He died in 1980. In the 1990's, KFC (as they were calling themselves) used a cartoon version of the Colonel, voiced by Richard Paul, from the short-lived 70s sitcom, Carter Country, and the movie, People VS Larry Flynt. When Paul died, the cartoon Colonel disappeared. Recently a new series of commercials featuring featuring a rotating comedians (Darrell Hammond, Norm McDonald and Jim Gaffigan) portraying the Colonel have been running on TV.


MR. CLEAN - Mr. Clean was first introduced in animated form with his catching jingle. In the mid 60s, he appeared in the persona of a live person interacting with people. Two actors, House Peters and Mark Dana (above), are credited with playing him. He returned to animated form and some recent ads have shown him in his formative years as a baby and small boy (bottom photo).



THE MARVELOUS MAGICAL BURGER KING - In the late 70s, Burger King introduced a live action character called to compete with Ronald McDonald and the McDonaldland characters. They created a dashing, red headed, bearded, Tudor-era king, who could perform magic, played by actor Fred Barton. When the chains began adding playgrounds to their restaurants, they featured giant plastic sculptures of the Burger King. The company stopped using the character in the late 80s. In 2003, someone at the Crispin Porter + Bogusky ad agency came up with the idea of having someone wear one of the giant plastic Burger Kings (bottom photo) in a commercial. From 2003 to 2011 these ads ran. However, when the company switched agencies, the giant plastic Burger King was dropped because "mother said it frightened their children. WHATEVER!


MAN FROM GLAD - I've mentioned it before that one of my favorite TV shows is The Man From U.N.C.L.E. During the initial run of the series, Glad came up with the Man from Glad, a white haired and white suited hero, who arrived in fantastic vehicle with a blaring siren ("Calling the Man from Glad! Calling the Man from Glad!") and jazzy music, to save housewives with various Glad products. The character was never player by the same actor (not sure who the actor in the photo is). The producers of the Man from UNCLE even poked fun at the character in an episode called "The Prince of Darkness Affair" (released to movie theaters as The Helicopter Spies) featuring a cult of killers with white hair. The character was retired after the Man From UNCLE was cancelled. In the 70s, Glad briefly brought the character back with comedian Dick Shawn playing him as a klutz. I was surprised to find in my research that the Man from Glad came back a few years ago in a series of ads that appeared on daytime TV. Still with white hair and white suit, he was now a soft spoken fellow giving cooking tips using Glad products. From campy secret agent-superhero parody to Food Network host wannabe.

     
THE QANTAS KOALA - This was one of my favorite character from my childhood and they ruined him. Beginning in the mid 60s, Qantas ran commercials featuring a real koala watching Qantas planes land bringing tourist to Australia. The koala would explain how a these people were taking advantage of the bargain prices of Qantas flights to Australia. Then he would whine about tourist taking photos of him and staring at him. He would whimper "I hate Qantas" and use the phrase "un-bear-able." The voice of the koala belonged to actor Howard Morris, who not only was the voice of several cartoon characters, but appeared in several Mel brooks films and had the recurring role of Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show. One from of the commercials of the 70s shows the koala in a huge Qantas plane with a buffet and cocktail lounge in the back! I found some recent ads. The new ads feature an anima-tronic koala with a Australian accent. He also has a different attitude. He is now a brownnoser for Qantas. He brags about how wonderful the flights are with adjustable seats, snacks and headphones, yet he and the other passengers seemed to be crammed in like sardines. In one spot, he seems to be sitting on a sleeping woman's chest. I'm not sure if these new commercials are to be ironic humor based on the sad state of air travel or the company just doesn't get it. Before they brought back the koala, Qantas commercials featured a loud, drunken, redneck character. Now I really do hate Qantas.

So don't count the Most Interesting Man out, because a good pitchman may come back.





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