As I get older, a casino to me becomes less about gambling and more and more about just getting away to a place where you can forget about the daily rigors of life for a little while. So its ironic that there's a commercial I remember from the 1980's that is trying to give me exactly what I'm looking for now. Folks, I give you this classic ad for Donald Trump's Atlantic City Hotel.
0:00 - YES! I love the fake British accented woman talking over a horse and carriage pulling up to a casino. EVERYONE is treated like a King...just like they were in the 8th century!
0:05 - There are hooks and then there are HOOKS. "You're the kiiiiiiing, you're the king of the caaa-sillllll!".
0:08 - The logo of Trump's casino is right out of an episode of Knight Rider.
0:10 - Some quick hits here. Love the long shot...are those tennis courts next to the hotel? Love the guy in a classic tuxedo.
0:13 - What kind of show is this? Love the guys in white with their leg kicks.
0:16 - There she is...I hope she got major royalties for this commercial. If there was a system where someone makes a few cents every time someone sings this song to themselves (like I have many times), this lady would not being performing in the casino, she would be owning a casino.
0:19 - HOLY SH*T...Free indoor parking! Love how it blinks too.
0:23 - Our friendly King from the Rennaisance agrees that this is truly a castle.
0:27 - Nice! They have slutty waitresses there...you're damn right I'm the King sweet cheeks.
Oddly enough, this hotel and casino are still there but have been completely dwarfed by other hotels that have been built in the past 10 years.
OK, full disclosure....my life has been very hectic lately. Between work being extra busy, including an office relocation, and not being around much on the weekends, I've let this website slack worse than ever. If there's one think I can't stand more than anything else...its slackers (Thank you Principal Strickland). Anyway, my goal is to update the site at least 20 times a month. I want to finish up the Top 30 Music Videos Of All Time, continue the A to Z Movie Reviews, and continue on with random things from the past. I'm loaded with ideas, I just have to put them on paper or in this case html web codex. So without further ado...
"I Want To Know What Love Is" is a classic cheesy 1980's ballad by Foreigner. Foreigner sort of gets lost in the annals of rock music. They were sort of a bridge between Led Zeppelin and Def Leppard. While they began in the late 1970's with some good rock songs like "Urgent", "Feels Like The First Time", and "Cold As Ice", they soon devolved into rock ballads including "I Don't Want To Live Without You" and my favorite Foreigner song and guilty pleasure "Waiting For A Girl Like You".
However, its "I Want To Know What Love Is" that makes the list today. Its probably Foreigner's only video with any kind of budget. The video only really has a two things that makes it stand out among its peer at the time and what they are...is simply AWESOME. The two things are slow motion and looks of angst and sadness among the band members faces. Let's take a look shall we?
0:00-0:12 Damn, do those keyboards and open cymbal crash hit you right away. Anyway, we get our first look at Lou Graham, the lead singer of Foreigner. He seems troubled by something and takes a very long blink.
0:13 - The guy in the blue shirt is Foreigner's other key member, Mick Jones. He seems to be yelling at the engineer in the studio over something.
0:25 - I love how there are blinds in the studio. But then its revealed that Mick is looking outside from a tall office building...now what recording studio is located 30 floors up in a major building?
0:34 - Mick looks fatigued.
0:43 - Love that dark chord over Lou's wail of a vocal...good stuff here.
0:50 - Like the imagery of the worker walking in slow motion with a beem on his shoulder. Not sure what it means but Lou sings about the world being on his shoulder so who knows...
1:10 - As Lou sings about heartache and pain, we see this nice looking woman wake up and take a nice slow motion shower. Sometimes, I wish I could shower in slow motion and enjoy it even more.
1:40 - Now we see a black lady working in a steamy area and walking down the street. What is she up to?
1:56 - Uh-oh...Lou is PISSED. Look at him on the phone. The woman he's talking to doesn't seem to happy either. Arguing in slow motion isn't fun either.
2:09 - Its the Foreigner bass player! With an awesome slow motion bass face!
2:19 - Lou is in a car heading somewhere...pondering life's mysteries.
2:44 - Someone on a bus is excited about Foreigner playing somewhere. I wouldn't think they had an urban following but good for them. Actually it seems everyone on the bus is happy about Foreigner. I think I know where this is all heading.
2:54 - I love this shot...its the band coming together in slow motion getting ready to record. And there's the bus...the people on it are the choir. And listen to their glorious voices!
3:06-3:07 - Either Lou Graham is nicest guy in the world or he's the biggest phony. I love that expression on his face shaking hands.
3:14 - Mick Jones is thinking "DAMN, I didn't know we were going to have that many people here!"
3:16 - Lots of shaking hands.
3:26 - Uh-oh, here comes our shower girl wearing a nice beret. Pretty soon she's running in slow motion.
3:45 - Its Foreigner featuring a choir. Another great shot here. Lou is great at really being able to open his mouth when he sings.
4:08 - Mick is pleased.
4:16 - There she is! She made it....aww, Lou is looking up singing to her.
4:36 - Now that's a note.
4:42 - I love how she stumbles into the recording of the song. If they could show Mick Jones here, he'd be SCREAMING at her for messing up the perfect vocal take.
4:45 - Awww, and they lived happily ever after. Love the freeze frame the end.
I want to go out and give someone a hug right now...just look at the gambit of emotions in this video...
Monday, September 10, 2012
Classic Commercials - Crazy Calls For Your Answering Machine
Remember the days before voicemails? When one would use a tape cassette to record someone leaving you a message on your answering machine. My parents had a DIGITAL one (yeah, that's right) so you could actually record whatever you wanted to say. Let's just say that my then 10 year voice was the cutest thing ever...then puberty hit and I was constantly reminded as to how terribly nasally my voice could be.
Anyway, the 1980's was commercialism at its peak so of course there was a company and product invented to jump all over the answering machine crazy...folks I give you "Crazy Calls".
I don't know anybody that used Crazy Calls but GOD DAMN if I didn't know all of the songs. Let's take a look at their most famous advertisement and walk down memory lane.
Beginning to 0:12 - First up is the classic "Boogie Woogie". I'll admit, I don't remember this one at all. It was done in a 1940's World War II girl troupe style and what then 10 year old kids cares about killing Nazis? Not this one for sure.
0:13 - 0:20 Next up is the more memorable "Call Me If You Can-Can". This song was all over 1980's and early 1990's commercials mainly due to the legendary Shopright grocery store using it for their ads. Their add features cans of fruit doing the Rockets leg kick. That was awesome...
0:21 - 0:27 Now we're getting a little serious with the Twilight Zone themed "Answering Machine Zone". I love how they can't secure the rights to use the original Twilight Zone music so they use some weird bell-like keyborad sound with a Rod Serling imitator.
0:27 - 0:34 This was one of my favorites. They take that famous Beethoven song and just add the words "NOBODY'S HOOOOOME....NOBODY'S HOOOOOME". Strangely, they couldn't come up with a witty pun sounding name for this one as its simply called "Beethoven's Fifth"....fifth what?
0:35 - end. Awwww sheeeet....here it is. The Stairway To Heaven of answering machine messages. Simply called "The Rap" because it is THE RAP to end all raps. I wish the announcer guy didn't talk about most of the song but at least you get the best part...."ya gotta wait for the beep, ya gotta leave your name ya leave your number". Complete with gang vocals!
Final Thoughts: So there are seven songs and we only got to hear five of them. I'm dying to find out what the other two sound like. Also, $14.95 for this??? That was a lot of money back then. As a kid, I used the cost of Nintendo games to gauge if something was pricey or not. Most Nintendo games were $29.99 so in my mind was this worth half a game? I'd have to say yes with this one...
Lastly, I love the address. A P.O. Box somewhere in "Midtown Station" in New York City. Sounds more like some guys basement than anything else.
They don't make these commercials like they used to...unless you live in the New England region and get NESN.
Crawling out of my cave for a quick minute to say hello. Between work, issues with the town I live in, and an overall lack of time to do fun things like update this blog, I just haven't been able to post much. To make matters a little more tricky, blogger.com has completely revised the way you compose posts and add pictures and video. I don't like change (sorry Obama) so I'm adjusting to this slowly.
Anyway, with Friday almost here I thought I'd throw in a classic performance of a sort of hidden gem. I remember around 1995, I'd hear this song that had some 1960's vibe (or maybe it was the tubular bell sound at the beginning of the song) but definitely had a 90's guitar sound. The song? "A Girl Like You" but Edwyn Collins....no no no, NOT Edwin McCain, the singer of that terrible 90's song "I'll Be".
Anyway, I heard this song not too long ago and decided to see what the video for the song looked like. Needless to say, it was classic mid 90's MTV video that was sort of cutting edge at the time but just looks like garbage now. HOWEVER, due to the beauty of Youtube, I found a rare live version of the song from the Conan O'Brien Show.
Now I dabble in the bass guitar so I know a little bit about guitar effects. This man puts on a CLINIC with what he does with the guitar here. It's a simple riff and simple melody but the phased sound he gets out of the guitar PLUS a rare good use of the whammy bar takes this song over the top.
So for music nerds, enjoy. For children of the 90's check out a young Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter. For me, I just love the awesome hand motions he makes while singing.
Hungieman was conceived and born on Long Island, NY. I love all things pop culture but despise senior citizen drivers and Tiger Woods' goatee. I hope to update this enough to have you come back from time to time.
