YouTube Stars!

Back in the swingin' 60s during the heart of Beatlemania, the British Invasion, and Garage Rock - a groovy TV show hit the air waves - The Munsters! They looked like Horror Movie Stars, but they acted like Vaudeville Comedians. They were the All American family, with a twist. Mindless comedy eased the worried minds of Vietnam War weary viewers who saw riots in the streets on the Nightly News and lived with the ever present fear of the Cold War turning hot, nuclear hot.

One of the cool aspects of The Munsters was their theme song. Although words were written, the song was performed as an instrumental. With a fast beat and both crisp and droning horns, the moving melody was played on guitar in a manner similar to the surf music of the day with some Garage Rock thrown in for good measure. Written by Jack Marshall, here is a video of The Munsters Theme!

With their outfits, the Munsters could be mistaken for some Goths from the 90s. One of the better Goth Rock bands from the 90s was Type O Negative. Late singer Peter Steele had the stage presence of a Vampire and could produce vocal sounds reminiscent of Bela Lugosi. The band made a name for themselves with their Bloody Kisses album and with MTV videos like Christian Woman which is about as strange as they come! "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" is the other big hit from this album by Type O Negative and they do use a bit of The Munsters Theme and even mention Lily Munster. This is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the Goth lifestyle, so you can enjoy it whether you are a fan of this genre or not. Check out the music, and the lyrics! "She's in love with herself, she likes the dark. On her milk white neck, the devil's mark!" Listen for the Munsters at the 0:30 mark!

Fall Out Boy is a New Rock band that has had much success in recent years. They are out with their latest release, American Beauty / American Psycho. On the radio right now, you'll hear their song Uma Thurman. Uma Thurman played a gangster's wife in the popular movie Pulp Fiction, and did a famous dance scene with John Travolta. So the Fallout Boys talk about a girl who wants to dance like Uma Thurman, in this new single. The video is out less than 2 weeks but already has nearly 3 million views. Sarah wins a contest to be a Fall Out Boy assistant, and mayhem ensues. Almost from the start, we get to hear a very lightly processed original sample from The Munsters Theme. Enjoy the song and the sample, and DO NOT turn off the video too soon! What an ending, very cool!

Labels: 60s music, Fall Out Boy, Goth, pulp fiction, Punk, Rock, The Munsters, Theme song, TV Show, Type O Negative, Uma Thurman

posted by KennyCrane at 5/01/2015 06:11:00 AM 0 Comments

In the 80s and beyond, Robin starred in many popular movies including Good Morning Vietnam, Mrs. Doubtfire, The World According to Garp, Patch Adams, Awakenings, The Dead Poet Society and many more. Robin performed stand up comedy at break neck speed, improvising often and going off on extended joke sprees at the slightest trigger. He appeared often on late night shows leaving the host and audience gasping for air after laughing heartily.

Recently Robin Williams was a performer on American Idol Gives Back, a charity show with the American Idol judges. He played the role of the winner of Russian Idol, and did several minutes of jokes and improv. Today we present two representative videos from the long laugh filled career of Robin Williams. The first video is the pilot episode of Mork and Mindy, starring Robin Williams and Pam Dawber, with guest stars Henry Winkler as The Fonz and Penny Marshall as Laverne De Fasio. The second video is of Robin Williams on American Idol. Watch, laugh, and celebrate the life of Robin Williams.

Labels: actor, comedian, comedy, funny, joke, jokes, laugh, movie, Robin Williams, TV, TV Show

posted by KennyCrane at 8/12/2014 06:02:00 AM 0 Comments

Many of you know that I am a huge fan of 1960s pop culture, especially 60s Music.

In the mid 60s, when the War in Viet Nam was raging and its body count was featured on the TV News every night, there was a need for mindless comedies to take people's minds off the more serious issues of the day.  One such TV show was Gilligan's Island.

Gilligan, the Skipper, the Howells, the Professor, Ginger and Mary Ann were stranded on a remote deserted island.  Sometimes they had visitors from the outside world but incredibly they were never able to get off the island.  In one episode, Rock band The Mosquitos ended up on the island.  This was an episode titled "Don't Bug the Mosquitoes" - Season 2, Episode 12 - and was originally on the air on December 09, 1965.

It seems that the girls wanted to form their own singing group.  So Mrs, Howell, Ginger and Mary Ann created a group called The Honey Bees and sang a song called, "You Need Us".  They performed the song for the guys, and you can see that performance below.

This song, You Need Us, has always been one of my favorite TV show songs from the 60s, right up there with The Alvin Twist and The Bedrock Twitch.  If you want to listen to an MP3 of You Need Us, by The Honeybees, from Gilligan's Island, click here.

I recently came across a simply delightful lipsync cover of You Need Us, performed by a family who shot this video in two takes and posted it to YouTube.  The mother plays Mrs. Howell and her two daughters play Ginger and Mary Ann.  They are all adorable as they lipsync and do The Honey Bees dance moves.  We are Featuring this video this week on our YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart. Check it out!



Now, here is the original performance of You Need Us sung by The Honeybees - Lovey Howell, Ginger and Mary Ann. This was originally on TV back in 1965 and reflects the kind of Garage Rock music that was popular at the time. The Beatles were huge and every teen in the world dreamed of being in a band that would make the girls scream and chase after them, like they did to The Beatles. It was quite an interesting time for music!



If YOU decide to do a cover of this groovy 60s tune, email me a link to your video and I'll feature it here too!

Labels: 1960s, Garage Rock, Gilligan's Island, Rock, thinkingbeetv, TV, TV Show, worldchang3r, You Need Us

posted by KennyCrane at 5/30/2012 03:14:00 AM 0 Comments