The Bartman and other Pop Cultural Oddities Discovered

I'll be honest, if you're not talking about the middle Simpson child's alter ego I have no idea what's going on.

I literally did not remember anything off that album (Simpsons Sing The Blues) until you mentioned the Bartman. Now it's all coming back. Like Blind Melon Homer, or Bart doing School Daze by Chuck Berry, or "Deep, Deep Trouble" (well, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't...well I'll start at the start and take it away, the name is Simpson, Bartholemew J. That's bart with an art and a capital B, then simp-son, that's me.)

Damn. That's pretty sad.

I rememember the best song on that CD was the one sung by Smithers making me quite lame as a kid due to the fact that I owned it.

In conclusion, I hate you Anderson for making me remember that.

Holy shit, Brad Bird directed that music video. That's awesome.

Shit, I have the cassette tape still tucked away somewhere. I think my favorite song was "Deep, Deep Trouble". Written by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince!

You may have done the Bartman, Anderson, but did you also walk the dinosaur?

With all the Krueger talk lately, the logical progression is to mention "Nightmare on My Street".

"He's burnt up like a weinie and his name is Fred!"

My sister had that album. "Walk the Dinosaur" was NOT a true representation of Was (Not Was)' weirdo ouevre apparently.

I think you're going to have more luck with music or one-hit wonders that were huge for about five minutes than anything else in this category, Anderson. I'm trying to think of what the TV equivalent to the Bartman would be, and I'm coming up short.

I always associate the Bartman and Walk the Dinosaur with roller skating parties, for the record. I bet we've all been to one of those, right? Maybe to raise money for a class trip?*

*Also, those books of stationary and stuff that you would have to go door to door and sell.

Sec. . . Second grade? I was a freshman in COLLEGE when that song was big.

As for the connections being lacking in other forms of pop culture, I'd guess that they don't esist to the same degree because a) TV shows and movies are much more expensive to produce, so they're (hopefully) done in such a way that their popularity doesn't fade like other fads do and b) "Art" is held out as being somehow above such things.

But that's not to say there aren't stupid things out there. I remember a Broadway musical called "Starlight Express" being hyped on TV when I was a kid. It was apparently, judging by the cast's costumes, about trains. The whole cast danced & sang while on roller skates. I shit you not. As I recall, this didn't last long, and there's never been a revival to my knowledge. 42nd Street it ain't.

Starlight Express was an Andrew Lloyd Webber show. It's got a cult following.

The one that leaps out at me just from it's connection to the Bartman would be the first Tim Burton Batman film. Out of nowhere it launched a brief resurgence in comics, there were batman buttons and merchandise everywhere (which is pretty common place now but at the time I remember it being bigger than usual), it became a trend for people to get the bat symbol shaved into their hair.

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong and it was just the usual marketing blitz, but I just their being more of a weird fervor to it.

I still have an unopened box of Batman cereal, complete with Batman bank sealed up in it. I was a total Batman freak of which you speak. I came just short of getting a Batman tattoo on my arm. All my passwords, etc., were all Batman-related.

I should really pull out all this nostalgic crap I have and take a picture of it all and/or try to sell it. I recently found a Hall of Justice playset that I got when I was a kid, but no more Mego guys to go in it, and the playset's condition was just short of being destroyed. I think I finally threw it away.

A T.V. show that made a brief pop culture dent and then disappeared? How about the American version of The Weakest Link?

Anderson: you need to get 'Pac Man Fever':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man_Fever_(album)

My brother had that album. I remember liking it as a kid (other songs more so that the title track), but hang my head in shame at that youthful indiscretion now.

Iggy, we ALL had that album. 'Going Berzerk' was probably my favorite.

Once again, I feel really old.

It could be worse... you could have said you owned a copy of "Disco Duck".

I had never heard that song before in my life. Then, one day, I discovered it had somehow finagled its way onto my iPod. Apparently, it was on some '80s collection I had picked up. It's definitely a cultural oddity.

I did. A whole album that included "Dis-gorilla" and "Dr. Disco" and "He Ate Too Many Jelly Donuts" from Rick Dees & His Band Of Idiots. Hell, I probably still have that tucked away somewhere with my "Southern Fried Rock" by K-Tel record.

And yes, I owned Buckner & Garcia's "Pac Man Fever" album. My favorites were "Do the Donkey Kong", "Froggy's Lament", and "Goin' Berzerk".

When movies are really REALLY odd, they tend to develop midnight-movie cult followings and are carried on through tradition (home video keeps these properties alive for new generations to discover). With a novelty song (unless it's Weird Al or The Monster Mash), they tend to not make such a lasting splash, because there's just not enough material there. You can build an event around ROCKY HORROR or have a party at your house while watching PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE or XANADU or whatever. One hit wonder pop culture tunes disappear because, unless there's a depot for them ("You can have this 12 cd set containing the weirdest 'hits' of the 80s for only $19.95!"), they fade with whatever zeitgeist spawned them. Then, it's only the fan-geeks of that particular property (if there is one attached) that keeps the memory alive.

And then there's the nostalgiac HOLY SHIT trip down memory lane when someone remembers it and forwards the youtube link to all their friends. Hey remember that? What the hell were they/we thinking? Can you believe we thought that was cool? Can you believe I wore that? Can you believe I strategically taped that off the radio/tv with my boombox/vcr?

Toys (and fashion and cereals, etc) are another area where weird ideas are marketed. Some things catch on and last, while others.... are the psycho-sexual Balzac or Tuba-Ruba:

Tuba Ruba? Son of a bitch, I had a knock-of when I was a kid. Completely useless. The tubes found good use in becoming part of my superhero costume though.

This thread starts and ends with the Macerena and Pogs.

If you're going to include the Macarena, you're going to have to include the 'Achy Breaky' dance (and country line-dancing in general).

What, didn't the chicken dance catch on at all over there?

How in the hell do you know about this? I thought that the Chicken Dance was strictly a Minnesota Lutheran wedding phenomenon.

Oh god no. The Chicken Dance is done everywhere (I've even seen it done in a Drag show).

WHAAAT? Chicken Dance at weddings?

Anyway, it was all the rage over here in the early eighties in kid parties. If you don't mind me tooting my own horn, I even won a couple of Chicken Dance contests.

I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear this. I thought that the Chicken Dance was our secret shame, along with the MN Vikings.

Was there any plate smashing?

Unfortunately no. The cheap bastards kept using paper plates. I did score my first ever girlfriend because of my mad Chicken Dancing skills, though.

The Chicken Dance is everyone's secret shame. The Hokey Pokey is great though (especially in roller skates). How about that for dating myself?

Yeah! Whatever happened to that?

Holy shit this is bringing me back to elementary school (apparently me and Anderson are the same age. Didn't know that). Pogs, the Bartman (which I was never any good at). Yikes.

I can imagine that it doesn't have the same effect.

Also, you talk about novelty songs. Back in '02 there was "The United States of Whatever" by Liam Lynch who is some guy in music. I think he's a music video director?

Does anyone else remember Burple?

*slowly raises hand*

Dyed yellow and black as well. With a mullet. Went to Six Flags wearing it.

Hypercolor T-Shirts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor

Yes, I still have mine...somewhere.

The 90s really sucked.

Those were when the Coke polo shirts were also popular. Had both.

Judas beat me to Pac Man Fever. (Remember when those hairy fucks performed it on American Bandstand?)

My contribution: "The name of the game is Ballbuster."

I thought this was a thread about the 2003 MLB Playoffs.

There was this odd time around 99-2000 where every guy seem to dye his hair blond. I remember noticing this a lot with celebrities at the time.