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.

Feel Good Almost Friday - "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins

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.



P.S.  Check out the gang vocals at the 2:57 mark.

Feel Good Friday Music Video - Right On Track by Breakfast Club

Friday is here...Spring is here. It's time to get "back on track" for the arrival of summer. This is a good place to start.



I'll admit...this song personifies the "great song but TERRIBLE video" adage that a lot of 80's acts had.

Garbage Pail Kid Of The Week - Heavin' Steven

Haha, this is definitely a classic one. As all parents have seen, your kid, when sick, is capable of throwing up anything and its never pretty. They can't make it to the bathroom because they can't walk...and they have no concept of trying to vomit into some kind of container or receptable. Heck, they can't even cover their mouths with their hands.

In any event, our friend Steven seems to have been busy swallowing a block, a goldfish, and a toy truck. There's only so much a young digestive system can take.

Good stuff here...