THIS DR PEPPER COMMERCIAL SCARED ME AS A CHILD

For some reason I thought about this old Dr. Pepper ad from the early 70s. It frightened me as a small child (around three or four years of age). Here is a more famous commercial from that campaign. It features Carol Kane, who was later on Taxi. The villain is character actor Joseph Ruskin, who played villains on The Untouchables, Get Smart!, Man from UNCLE, Mission: Impossible, The Wild Wild West, and Star Trek. Both commercials scared me.
 

REEVALUATING THE BOSSTOWN SOUND

The first time I knew of "the Bosstown Sound" was through a collection of old Scholastic Co-Ed magazines that my sister had bought when she was in junior high in the late 60s. I liked to look at these because they contained the things I were interested in the most when I was in junior: photos of girls and information on music of the 60s (then it was the current music scene).

I remember this article saying that the coolest music was coming no longer coming from San Francisco or London, but Boston. The article told about these band, but even with my limited knowledge of the music of that era at the time (I was only beginning my exhaustive studies) I knew I had never heard of any of these bands. Although one band name stuck with me because I thought it was so cool: The Ultimate Spinach (pictured above).

Skip forward to my college years when I would do a monthly segment during my KSMU airshift a called the Psychedelic Limits. I found a copy of Ultimate Spinach's second LP, Behold and See. I began using a song from the LP called "Mind Flowers" on the Psychedelic Limits.

Recently, I found an abundance of psychedelic music on iTunes and Amazon and began downloading it like crazy. I found that many of the songs that I were not familiar with were by bands from "the Bosstown sound." In recent years I had read that "the Bosstown Sound" was a huge flop in the music industry. it is even mentioned in Dave Marsh's Book of Rock List. Why did it flop?

Part of the problem was the fact that most of the bands were all on MGM Records. This was almost an "all-your-eggs-in-one-basket" situation as much as Columbia Records went overboard with jazz horn rock bands about the same time, with the main difference being that the jazz horn rock bands at Columbia were huge sales success with wide spread airplay (many of those songs are still radio staples), where as the Bosstown Sound didn't make enough money in sales to cover the amount of promotion and very little airplay.

Another problem was the hype surrounding the Bosstown Sound. Co-Ed was not the only magazine promoting the Bosstown Sound as the next big thing. 16 and Seventeen did too. The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, Life and even Playboy ran positive articles about it. On the other hand, a relatively new magazine called Rolling Stone trashed the Bosstown Sound an article. It took MGM and the mainstream media to task for trying to steal the thunder of the San Francisco music scene. Of course, Rolling Stone was based in San Francisco.

While we are on the subject of the Rolling Stone article, I should mention the other problem with the Bosstown Sound was lack of support at the top of the records company. Shortly after the marketing started for the Bosstown Sound, MGM Records appointed Mike Curb as president. Curb was quoted in the Rolling Stone article as saying "Boston shucks" and calling the music "a bunch of junk." Curb later used his controversial "Dump the Dopers" campaign as a way to get rid of the Bosstown Sound bands. He claimed the Orpheus love ballad "I've Never Seen a Love Like This" was "a drug song." It should also be noted that Curb had MGM drop Frank Zappa, but kept Judy Garland and Hank Williams Junior (Mike Curb's sunshine pop choir, the Mike Curb Congregation backed Hank Junior on some of his MGM hits). It was later found that most of the acts dropped were groups whose contracts were ending. To add insult to injury, Bosstown Sound producer and creator Alan Lorber says Mike Curb asked him why the Bosstown groups hadn't provided any new material. This was after Curb had bragged to the press about dropping these "junk" groups. I should note that not all of the Bosstown bands were at MGM, some were on a smaller label called Mainstreet.

As I said earlier, I've been downloading music by these bands various Bosstown bands and I have noticed that there is another reason these groups seem forgotten. Unlike many of the San Francisco groups and the British bands of the late 60s, the Bosstown groups sound dated, like a stereotype of 60s music. To me that is not a bad thing, but consider the mundane nature of classic rock radio. The songs that have become staples on classic rock radio by Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Santana, the Rolling Stones, the Who and Led Zeppelin, sound as if they could be recorded by any current band or even in the 70s or 80s.

The Bosstown groups have an overly psychedelic sound to them. All the psychedelic bells and whistles show up on these groups LPs. There is an abundance of slowed down voices, vibes, chimes, backwards taped instrumentation, and lyrics about "sounds," "bright colors," "pretty flowers" and "beautiful girls with hypnotic eyes." However, before we say that Mike Curb was right about these groups, it should be pointed out that one thing that hurt them among the underground press was that many songs have a negative view of the drug culture, such as Beacon Street Union's "Speed Kills."

On a whole, the Bosstown groups were more mellow. They were sort of a mix of "sunshine pop" and smooth jazz rather than bluesy like the British and West Coast acts. Not real heavy, but kind of light.

So what happened to the people of the Bosstown Sound. Many of the musicians continued performing various other acts. Of the acts from the Bosstown boom years, there are three names you would recognize. Ultimate Spinach produced future Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. A group called The Chain Reaction only recorded one single, but that group featured future Aerosmith lead singer/ American Idol judge Steven Tyler. The most surprising future star in a Bosstown band was the drummer of Chamelon Church. He would leave music for comedy and make people laugh on TV's Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update anchor and on the big screen as hapless father figure Clark Griswold. Yes, the drummer of Chameleon Church was Chevy Chase.

Here is a short list of Bosstown Sound tacks:

• "The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens" Beacon Street Union
• "Mind Flowers" Ultimate Spinach
• "Seven Starry Skies (Mystic Magic Oceans)" The Lost
• "When I Needed You" The Chain Reaction
• "Images" The Freeborne
• "I've Never Seen Love Like This" Orpheus
• "The Red Sox Are Winning" The Earth Opera
• "My Island" The Fabulous Farquar
• "Another Day" Phluph (I'm sure that is pronounced Fluff)
• "Can't You See" The Tangerine Zoo
• "Goodbye Girl" Eden's Children
• "Silver Children" Front Page Review
• "Camillia Is Changing" Chameleon Church

While the Bosstown Sound may be considered a failure, it did paved the way for successful acts from Boston in the 70s such as Aerosmith, Johnathan Richman and Modern Lovers, The Cars, J. Gelies Band and, of course, Boston.  

DIFFERENT STROKES DAD CONRAD BAIN DIES AT 89

http://www.mercurynews.com/obituaries/ci_22385953/conrad-bain-diffrent-strokes-dies-livermore-at-89?source=rss

BTW: Remember the SCTV episode where Guy Cabellaro hired Conrad Bain's twin brother for a sitcom. That guy really was Conrad Bain's twin brother.

Also, Conrad Bain was also in a movie called A Pleasure Doing Business. It also stared John Byner, Misty Rowe, Phyllis Diller, Tommy Smothers and, in his big screen motion picture debut, KYTV's Ned Reynolds.

MUSICAL CLONES: THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY

I frequently hear people whine and complain that most contemporary music sounds the same. I believe part of the problem has to do with the lack of announcers on radio these days. However, part of what inspired me to write this post was Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and Bruno Mars "Locked Out of Heaven." I noticed recently how much Lady Gaga on that song sounds like Madonna. Then a few weeks ago, I heard the Bruno Mars song and thought it was a song by the Police. Let me say, I have no problem with this at all.

If you really want to talk about musical cloning or sound alike artist on T-40, then go back to the mid-60s. Yes, the era that many people, who criticize the current music scene say produced great music. You had "Lies" and "One Track Mind" by the Knickerbockers that sounded like The Beatles. You had Mouse and the Traps "Public Execution" and "Maid of Sugar, Maid of Spice" which sounded like Bob Dylan. The Walker Brothers "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "Make It Easy On Yourself" sounded like the Righteous Brothers. The Count 5's "Psychotic Reaction" sounded like The Yardbirds "I'm a Man." Barry Young's "One Had My Name, The Other Has My Heart" sounded exactly like then-current Reprise era hits by Dean Martin. The Rolling Stones produced the most imitators, including The Shadows of Night with "Gloria" and "Bad Little Woman," The New Colony Six "I Lie Awake," The Standells "Dirty Water," The Seeds "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" and "Pushing Too Hard." The Kinks managed to have imitations from their contemporaries The Who ("I Can't Explain") and Paul Revere and The Raiders ("Just Like Me"). Although people accused The Hombres "Let It All Hang Out" of being a Bob Dylan imitation, the Southern hipster vocal and goofy lyrics sound more like a cousin of Roger Miller's "My Uncle Used To Love Me But She Died" or "You Can't Roller Skate In a Buffalo Heard." Do you get my point?

Over time there have been many "musical clones" or imitations. Many times it is a coincidence or a case of mistaken identity, but many times it is a homage by one artist of someone they admire. Great examples of this include Tommy Roe's early singles, Billy Joel's Innocent Man LP, and XTC's alter ego The Dukes of the Stratosphere. There have also been instances in which every record company tried to find "a group like ..."
The late 50s, there were several clones of the Everly Brothers. Some like the Kalin Twins and the Allisons were real brothers, while Skip & Flip and Tom & Jerry weren't. Matter of fact, Tom & Jerry were two guys named Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

There are also times when people compare the sound of a new artist to an established artist. America was compared to Neil Young and Heart was compared to Jefferson Airplane/Starship on their first hits, but later those comparisons disappeared with follow-up releases.
 
I've decided to compile a list of singers and recordings that sounded like them.

NAT KING COLE

• "The End" Earl Grant

ELVIS PRESELY:

• "You Don't Know What You've Got" Ral Donner
• "Suspicion" Terry Stafford
• "Washing Machine" Orion (Not only sounded like Elvis, but looked like him. Wore a gold domino mask and was promoted as Elvis reborn)

 BUDDY HOLLY

•  "What Do You Want" Bobby Vee
• "Shelia" Tommy Roe
• "I'm Gonna Love You Too" The Hullabaloos
• "Someday Someway" Marshal Crenshaw

BO DIDDLEY

• "Cherokee Dance" Willie and his Unitar
• "Hey Little Girl" Dee Clark
• "Rosalyn" The Pretty Things
• "I Want Candy" The Strangeloves
• "Who Do You Love" George Thorgood and The Destroyers

CHUCK BERRY

• "Surfin U.S.A" The Beach Boys
• "Katmandu" Bob Seger
• "I Knew The Bride" Dave Edmunds

THE EVERLY BROTHERS

• "When" Kalin Twins
• "Hey Schoolgirl" Tom & Jerry
• "Are You Sure" The Allisons
• "Love Me Baby" The Balew Twins (They were in a film called Rock It, Baby, Rock It, a clip of them singing this song was used in It Came From Hollywood.)

EDDIE COCHRAN

• "Everybody" Tommy Roe
• "Just Like Eddie" Heinz

JACKIE WILSON

• "Jamie" Eddie Holland (He wrote most of the big Motown hits)

JOHNNY MATHIS

• "A Very Special Love" Johnny Nash

LITTLE RICHARD

• "I'm Down" The Beatles
• "No Time" The Monkees

FATS DOMINO

• "Lady Madonna" The Beatles

DION & THE BELMONTS

• "The Longest Time" Billy Joel

FOUR SEASONS

• "Uptown Girl" Billy Joel

THE BEATLES

• "She's The One" The Chartbusters
• "Lies" and "One Track Mind" The Knickerbockers
• "The Kids Are Alright" The Who
• "Mayor of Simpleton" XTC
• "Go All The Way" The Raspberries
• "I'll Be There For You" The Rembrandts

THE BEACH BOYS

• "Here, There and Everywhere" The Beatles
• ""Beach Baby" The First Class
• "Pale and Precious" The Dukes of the Stratosphere (XTC)

BOB DYLAN

• "Catch The Wind" Donovan
• "Public Execution" Mouse & The Traps
• "Stuck In the Middle With You" Stealers Wheel
• "Sultans Of Swing" Dire Straits
• "Romeo's Tune" Steve Forbert
• "The Good Life" Firetown

THE BYRDS

• "Western Union" The Five Americans
• "Don't Fear The Reaper" Blue Oyster Cult
• "American Girl" Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• "South Central Rain" R.E.M.
• "You're My Drug" The Dukes of the Stratosphere

THE ROLLING STONES

• "125" The Haunted
• "Gloria" and "Bad Little Woman" The Shadows of Knight
• "I Lie Awake" The New Colony Six
• "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" and "Pushing Too Hard" The Seeds
• "Don't Look Back" The Remains
• "Dirty Water" The Standells
• "You Said" The Primatives
• "Brown Eyed Girl" Van Morrison
• "Who Are The Mystery Girls?" The New York Dolls
• "Emotions" DFX2

DEAN MARTIN

• "One Has My Name, The Other Has My Heart" Barry Young
• "Julie, Do You Love Me" Bobby Sherman

ROGER MILLER

• "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out" The Hombres

THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS

• "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "Male It Easy On Yourself" The Walker Brothers

ROY ORBISON

• "You're Only Lonely" J.D. Souther
• "Maria" Ray Vega

MARVIN GAYE

• "Tell Her About It" Billy Joel

THE KINKS

• "I Can't Explain" The Who
• "Just Like Me" Paul Revere & the Raiders

THE WHO

• "Biff! Bang! Pow!" The Creation
• "Mr. Pinnodmy's Dilemma" The Attack
• "I Must Be Mad" The Craig
• "Helter Skelter" The Beatles

THE YARDBIRDS

• "You've Got a Habit of Leaving" David Jones & the Lower Third (David Jones changed his name to David Bowie)
• "Psychotic Reaction" The Count Five
• "I'm Sick of You" Iggy & the Stooges

ELECTRIC PRUNES

• "25 O'Clock" The Dukes of the Stratosphere

PERCY SLEDGE

• "Whiter Shade of Pale" Procol Harum

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE

• "The Garden of Earthly Delights" United States of America
• "Send Me a Postcard," "Love Buzz" and "Venus" The Shocking Blue
• "Zor and Zam" The Monkees
• "Crazy On You" and "Magic Man" Heart
• "Only The Lonely" The Motels

JANIS JOPLIN

• "Baby It's You" Smith

THE FIFTH DIMENSION

• "Grazing In the Grass" The Friends of Distinction (Originally they were all part of the same group)
• "Rock The Boat" The Hughes Corporation

ARETHA FRANKLIN

• "Rescue Me" Fontella Bass (This was actually released before Aretha's Atlantic recordings, but many people think it IS Aretha)
• "Would I Lie To You?" The Eurythmics

WILSON PICKETT

• "Easy Money" Billy Joel

STEVIE WONDER

• "Hyperactive" Thomas Dolby

THE DOORS

• "Golden Brown" The Stranglers

 BEE GEES

• "Toast and Marmalade" Tin Tin

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL

• "Long Cool Woman On a Black Dress" The Hollies

LED ZEPPELIN

• "Working Man" Rush
• "Rock Me" Great White
• "Get It On" Kingdom Come
• "Woman" Wolfmother

HUMBLE PIE

• "7 O'Clock" The London Quireboys

JOHN LENNON

• "Let Me Roll It" Wings
• "Valotte" Julian Lennon

PAUL McCARTNEY

• "You're a Very Lovely Woman"  The Merry Go Round
• "Sky High" Jigsaw
• "All By Myself" Eric Carmen

NEIL YOUNG

• "A Horse With No Name" America
• "Painted Lady" Ian Thomas (Brother of SCTV star Dave Thomas)

THE CARPENTERS

• "Don't Say You Don't Remember" Beverly Bremers

ROD STEWART (The only male artist to have female clones)

• "It's a Heartache" Bonnie Tyler
• "Bette Davis Eyes" Kim Carnes
• "Run To You" Bryan Adams

DAVID BOWIE

• "Crush With Eyeliner" R.E.M

ELTON JOHN

• "Take Your Mama" Scissor Sisters

GARY GLITTER

• "Jungle Boy" John Eddy

STEELY DAN

• "Mary's Prayer" Meet Danny Wilson
• "Motor Town" The Kane Gang

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

• "The Boys Are Back In Town" Thin Lizzy
• "Bat Out of Hell" Meatloaf
• "I Need a Lover" John Cougar (Mellencamp)
• "This Little Girl" Gary U.S. Bonds (Song was written by Bruce Springsteen)
• "On the Dark Side" and "Tender Years" John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band

 EMMYLOU HARRIS

• "Pilot of the Airwaves" Charlie Dore (Australian girl singing about a DJ)

THE SWEET

• "Talk Dirty To Me" Poison

BILLY JOEL

• "Ariel" Dean Friedman

JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP

• "I Wish I Had a Girl" Henry Lee Summer

THE POLICE

• "Locked Out of Heaven" Bruno Mars

ASIA

• "When The Heart Rules the Mind" GTR
• "The Final Countdown" Europe

BILLY IDOL

• "Don't You (Forget About Me)" Simple Minds (Billy Idol later recorded this)

MADONNA

• "Born This Way" Lady Gaga

PRINCE

• "Oh Shelia" Ready For the World

Country singer Sammy Johns dies at 66

Country singer Sammy Johns dies at 66

Patti Page dead at 85

Claremore's Patti Page dead at 85

This article comes from the newspaper in her hometown, Claremore, Oklahoma.

THE 20 MOST POPULAR POST OF 2012

Most Popular Post of 2012 (According to Google Analytics)

1. Looking Back on Five Years of Blogging
2. Who Really Killed Jazz-Rock? Not President Nixon.
3. Desdinova's List of TV's Greatest Westerns
4. Best of Desdinova: Desdinova Presents 50's Teenage Rebel Theater
5. Happy Father's Day
6. Levon Helm Loses Battle With Cancer
7. Dark Shadow's Jonnathan Frid obit (Note: This was originally a post entitled "What's the Deal With   Barnabas Collins Hair?," but he died before I got it completed)
8. Robert Hedges of Welcome Back Kotter Dies (Obit link)
9. Best of Desdinova: The Mod Squad was Cooler than 21 Jump Street
10. Guitar amplifier pioneer Jim Marshall dies (Obit link)
11. The Stuff Narrators Say
12. Bob Welch dies (Obit link)
13. Happy New Year 2012 (Note: This is just a clip art image. Nothing profound from Wonderful Cool Me)
14. Two Prohibition Gangster Shows of the 50s
15. Why I Prefer Christopher Lee's Dracula Over Lugosi's Dracula
16. Don Grady dies (Obit link)
17. I Didn't Realize How Cool Ark 2 Was Until Now
18. My Obligatory "Whitney Houston Died" Post
19. I Am Not Ashamed part 3
20. Desdinova's Top Five Western Parodies

Here are 15 personal favorites that you missed.
1. What Happened To Poking Fun at Squares?
2. Facsimiles and Copy Cats
3. Reinventing Light Adult Contemporary Radio
4. I Wanted To Be The Next Dick Clark
5. Cool TV Show Opening - The Name of the Game
6. Twilight: Ozarks Style
7. The Man From U.N.C.L.E Was Cooler Than 24
8. A Touch of Grey Kind of Suits You Anyway
9. The Most Underrated Horror Film of the 70s - Messiah of Evil
10. Could Pat Paulsen & Lord Sutch Be Elected in 2012?
11. Best of Desdinova: Springfield Had Its Own Batman & Robin
12. My 3rd Grade Report on Dracula That Never Happened
13. Facebook "Cut-and-Paste" Poster Is Wrong
14. Why Being a Monster Kid In the Ozarks Is Hell
15. Why Did We Wear Song Titles In Rainbow Glitter On Our T-Shirts in the 70s?

BTW: How do you like the new header photo (Click the photo above to see a large, full version)?