What better way to start a Friday than with a Retro classic from the early 80s from an influencial band that is still around today? Depeche Mode’s “I Just Can’t Get Enough” from their album Speak and Spell was the first single they released in the U.S. though they released two others songs before this in the U.K.
The song reached number 8 in the Uk Singles chart and number 26 on the U.S. Hot Dance Music / Club Play charts. This was the final song written by Vince Clark before he left to team up with Alison Moyet to form Yazoo (later changed to Yaz) and is the only Depeche Mode video to feature Vince Clark. It’s also the last video anywhere with Vince Clarke featuring a full head of hair with no shaved areas. I tend to nit pic with my trivia at times.
When you watch the chemistry between a couple of actors at the top of their game on the big screen you tend to think to yourself what a wonderful life they must have and how great it must be to be working opposite other famous actors. You figure they can’t possibly have the same problems you do in your job like dealing with the obnoxious slob in the cubicle next to yours or the whiny girl in accounting that always seems to be at your desk just as you’re about to head out to lunch.
Well guess again. Although many actors have great experiences while filming with their co-stars, others have less than happy thoughts after the fact and aren’t afraid to express themselves. Here are a few for your consideration.
Susan Sarandon once said of Mel Gibson, “He’s somewhere to the right of Atilla the Hun. He’s beautiful, but only on the outside.” Ouch. I’m pretty sure Mel mentioned something about her outer beauty as well and how he wanted to go all Atilla on her but I’m pretty sure it’s not the same thing.
Kris Kristofferson commented on his “A Star Is Born” co-star Barbara Streisand saying, “Working with Barbara Streisand is pretty stressful. It’s like sitting down to a picnic in the middle of a freeway.” Well, that paints a pretty picture don’t it? He’s not alone though. Tennis star Pete Sampras used to date Babs and he once noted, “She’s what I call a pitching wedge. She looks good from about 150 yards away.” I don’t think in all recorded history has a woman ever been compared to a golf club.
Ava Gardener seemed a little embittered towards her ex-husband Frank Sinatra when he married actress Mia Farrow. Ava said, “I always knew he’d end up in bed with a boy.” Meeeeow. Having said that, looking at the picture kind of makes it hard to dispute. Well played Ava……well played.
Frank Sinatra was one of the hottest crooners in music for the longest time until a good ol’ boy from Memphis took the country by storm. Elvis Presley – nuff said. What did ol’ blue eyes think of Elvis’s style of music? He said, “His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid-smelling aphrodisiac.” Seriously Frank, how do you really feel? Always remember, Frank may have been the Chairman of the board, but Elvis was the King. Thank ya vury muuch.
I would have asked what’s up with Melanie Griffith’s sunglasses but they really are the least of her problems at the moment. Here’s what the Antonio Banderas loving actress said about working with James Wood, “It is like being pregnant. At first you are happy. Then you think it was a mistake. And in the end you want it to be over.” Geez – where is the love? Who knows, maybe James is difficult to work with, but having said that, it’s also true that James Woods is actually prettier than Melanie.
Many a young actor has been faced with making commercials as a way to pay the bills that can hopefully lead to something bigger and better. If they’re lucky, it will be an advertisement that is classy and have artistic merit that they can proudly look back on. On the other hand, it may be something they regret ever doing and hate anyone for bringing it up.
Here’s a look at a few more examples of commercials featuring celebrities before they made it big – you decide what category they belong in as mentioned above. To check out the first installment, click here and the second installment, click here.
Before hanging with friends as Joey Tribiani, Matt LeBlanc did a Heinz Ketchup commercial that was actually pretty cool. Even back then you could almost picture the classic line oozing out of him made famous years later on Friends, “How yooooou doin’…..?”
Bruce Willis made an appearance on our second installment, with hair, dancing away in a Levi’s ad. Here he is again in a Seagram’s commercial, still with hair, which illustrates clearly he wasn’t afraid to ham it up for the camera.
Not to be outdone by her ex-husband, here’s Demi Moore, before the half million dollars worth of cosmetic surgeries, doing her thing in a Coke ad. I think this ad is older than Ashton Kutcher………..just sayin’.
Finally, rounding out our retro look at celebrities in advertising is Neo himself, Keanu Reeves, in a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes ad from 1987. I can honestly say I’ve never seen such a look of pure joy, such satisfaction (ecstasy?) from any one eating a bowl of cereal before.
Okay here’s the deal – more often than not Mondays kind of suck for various reasons and to varying degrees. What’s needed is a happy, go lucky feel good song with no strings attached to help either jump start your day or to give you the extra push to help you survive the next few hours until quitting time. Allow me to help.
Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” was a song from their second album, Colors, released in 1977 but failed to chart in the U.S. It did however reach #1 in Japan along with a few other of their songs prompting them to perform a few concerts at the Buddakan in Tokyo which they ended up recording and releasing as a live album. The live version of “I Want You To Want Me” went Gold and finally broke the top 10 in the U.S. reaching #7 on BillBoard’s Hot 100 in 1979 – two years after it’s initial release.
These days there are so many regulations, safety standards and laws in place to try and keep children’s toys safe from harming kids and even with all that in place, you still hear about toys being recalled due to risks of chocking or burning and so on. However, back in the 70s and 80s, there were toys that almost seemed like the manufacturers were trying to compete on developing the most dangerous toys possible.
Case in point was the Kenner Demolition Derby play set that featured two fair sized cars that were designed to blow apart into little pieces when they were smashed into each other at a pretty good speed. So whenever you smashed them together, little bite sized pieces of the cars with sharp edges would go flying in all directions, perfect for taking out an eye or being found by a toddler and choking on it. Having said that – you wanted one…….you really wanted one.
Being a kid in the 70s and 80s allowed you to experience certain candies that may no longer be produced but some of the stuff you grew up with is still around and there are even some specialty stores and websites that cater to making available the treats of your youth. However, just because you can still get them, doesn’t mean you should. Your adult palette is vastly different than your youthful taste of what was gross and what was really cool.
While eating some of the stuff on this list today may remind you of your youth, it may also provide startling and sobering realizations that you may not have been firing on all cylinders when making choices while spending your hard earned allowance at the candy counter as a kid.
Bazooka – Not only was this gum cheap, 2 for a penny back in the day although I may be seriously dating myself, but it also came with a small comic featuring Bazooka Joe, who wore an eye patch and a bunch of his freaky friends including Mort who wore his turtleneck pulled up way over his mouth. If you collected enough of them, you could send away for X-Ray Specs or a Spy Ring. Only problem was the gum turned to rock and tasted like cardboard in about 3 minutes.
Gold Nugget Gum – Although this gum suffered the same fate as Bazooka in terms of turning to rock in your mouth and tasting like paste in less than 3 minutes, it came with very cool packaging in the shape of a little sack similar to what prospectors or cowboys supposedly carried their gold nuggets around in. When you were done pretending you were a cowboy after all your gum was gone, you could find other uses for the sack. Many a little plastic green army man suffered a cruel fate while imprisoned in the tiny sack with a fist full of marbles.
Wax Lips – While we’re on the subject of gum that tastes like cardboard, I submit for your consideration the ruby red wax lips. You looked like a Mr. Potato Head when you wore them and when the novelty wore off, you tried to chew it like gum and found out – it ain’t gum. Can you even chew wax safely? I mean there are lovely strawberry scented candles out there but is anyone compelled to take a bite out of one and chew on it?
Nik-L-Nip – Speaking of wax, these babies were little wax bottles that you bit the top off of and sucked back the sweet elixir within. These things were so freakin’ un-Godly sweet and partly responsible for the footmarks on the ceiling in my room when I was a kid. There’s also a version that looked like little coke bottles and tasted oddly like today’s Coke Black.
Popeye Cigarettes – What was cooler than riding up on your banana seated bike, with hockey cards in the spokes, in your Fonzie T-shirt and Nike canvas high tops and whipping out a pack of Popeye Cigarettes and slowly pulling one out of the pack and raising it casually to you’re lips, pretending to take a slow drag like you saw your dad do on a real cancer stick, looking at your friends and giving the thumb’s up signal while uttering the coolest thing you could come up with back then, “Aaaaaaaaaaay!”. Answer – nothing, nothing was cooler.
Fun Dip – Quite possibly the most impractical candy every marketed. Concept was simple. Lick the candy stick and dip it in the flavored crystals and lick the crystals off and repeat. However, it was hard to sneak a dose during class, and sharing was a bitch. Either you split the candy stick, which made it harder to eat, or you had to let your friend stick a wet finger in the pouch. Yummy.
The buzz that surrounded the sudden emergence of German dance group Milli Vanilli back in the late 80s was huge. Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, the faces (notice I didn’t say lead singers) behind Milli Vanilli took the dance floors by storm when they dropped an album out of nowhere that spawned a number of hits, massive international sales, numerous American Music Awards and a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990.
For a couple of guys who just won a Grammy – they don’t look too thrilled. Then it all imploded when it was revealed that they didn’t actually have anything to do with the creation of the album nor did they sing a single note on any of the songs either in the studio or live. When producer Frank Farian put the project together, the original group lacked what he felt was a marketable image so he found Rob and Fab to front the group in videos not realizing the huge success that would come and the demand for live performances that followed.
During a “concert”, their equipment failed which revealed they had been lip synching the whole time and their critics pounced on the issue and escalated it to the point where their Grammys were revoked and their record label not only dumped them but deleted the album and the masters from their catalog forcing the album out of print.
They attempted a few comebacks with them actually singing but they never achieved the same success. On the eve of the release of their final attempt at a comeback album that used the original Milli Vanilli singers as backup, Rob Pilatus was found dead in a hotel room as a result of a drug overdose. A problem he picked up after the scandal broke. Fab went on to be a radio DJ and even released a solo album but never achieved the same level of success or fame.
The original unmarketable Milli Vanilli
Interesting note – Frank Farian, the producer that was responsible for the whole mess has over 800 gold records and is responsible for some very successful German dance acts like La Bouche and Le Click as well as No Mercy and produced a Meatloaf album. He was also the guy behind the success of Boney M in the 80s.
The video may not prove they couldn’t sing, but they sure couldn’t dance either!
Retro Classic Bonus!
Is it me or does it look like they’re lip synching? (Just sayin’…..)
When you think of certain roles in classic films, there are actors that take the role and truly make it their own for all time. You watch the film and you can’t imagine any other actor in that role because they just seemed to have nailed the character in every way and have in many cases made the character an icon who no other can portray.
Here are a few examples of casting attempts that almost changed some iconic characters in American cinema.
Al Pacino – His body of work is impressive and second to none. He’s brought to life some classic characters in his career such as Michael Corleone in the Godfather, Tony Montana from Scarface and Colonel Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman to name a few. He was also offered, and turned down the lead roles in Pretty Woman, Crimson Tide and the part of Han Solo in a little movie that came to be known as Star Wars. “Here they come Chewie – Hoo Haaa!”
Gene Hackman – One of the most versatile character actors working in film today, Gene can do it all from drama, thrillers, comedy and has brought many memorable characters to life on the big screen. In the 70s, Gene was offered a role on the small screen for a new sitcom that was in development. Although he considered it, he eventually turned down the role of Mike Brady on the Brady Bunch.
Marie Osmond – One half of the most successful brother and sister duo acts, Marie Osmond had quite the fan base in the late 70s and early 80s prompting producers to offer her the lead role of Sandy in the original Grease movie. Marie turned the role down on moral grounds. She of course went on to be a regular performer in Las Vegas – a city known for it’s high morality. Go figure.
Clint Eastwood – Clint brought the role of Dirty Harry Calahan to life on the big screen and gave the character the grit and attitude the role demanded. Before he was cast for the role, it was offered and turned down by John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman. It was Paul’s idea to suggest Clint to the producers after he turned the role down. I guess he made Clint’s day. (Sorry I couldn’t resist that one)
Jodie Foster – No doubt Jodie Foster is not only a beautiful woman but an accomplished actress with many credits to her name. One of her most famous roles was Clarisse in Silence of the Lambs though she only got it after it was turned down by Michelle Pfeiffer. She was also offered the role made famous by Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct but turned it down obviously.
Chris O’Donnell – Chris had no problem accepting the role of Robin for one of the Batman movies that basically sucked and hurt his career to this day. He did give up a role in another movie that he thought would hurt his career although the man it went to had no regrets. Will Smith had no problem putting on the dark suit and sunglasses in Men In Black that Chris had turned down.
Kevin Spacey – American Beauty was a role that earned Kevin Spacey an Academy Award for leading man. It’s interesting to wonder if the award would have been given to one of the other actors the role was offered to first. They were Chevy Chase and Tom Hanks.
Tom could probably have pulled it off though Chevy would have likely ruined the film and it would have taken on a more “Vacation”ish vibe. What a difference good casting makes!
Much has been written about the “Three days of Peace and Music” that took place on a 600 acre dairy farm just north of Bethel, New York. The Woodstock Music Festival took place 40 years ago this past weekend, and as the saying goes, if you remember it – then you weren’t there.
Rolling Stone listed it as one of the 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll and for good reason. The lineup was a who’s who of the best artists of the day with 32 acts performing in front of over 300,000 people. The movie and soundtrack of the event went on to be top sellers and some artists credit their success to their appearance at the event.
What isn’t really talked about are some of the big names that decided not to appear at the event for various reasons. Some didn’t really suffer much in terms of their own success but in some cases, it may have been exposure that could have taken them to the next level. Let’s look at some of these acts:
Led Zeppelin – Their manager refused since they’d be sharing the spotlight with so many other acts. Instead they played a few concerts in Toronto on the fourth day of Woodstock.
The Beatles – Too busy putting the finishing touches to an album you may have heard of – Abbey Road.
The Rolling Stones – Mick was busy filming a movie in Australia and Keith Richard’s wife had a baby that week.
The Doors – Jim Morrison bailed at the least minute because he wasn’t a big fan of the big festival type gigs.
Tommy James and the Shondelles – They were in Hawaii at the time and could have made it to the gig but they weren’t properly told what the event was all about. They thought it was a small gig on a pig farm.
Bob Dylan – One of his children got sick so he opted out.
Joni Mitchell – Even though she went on to write an epic song about the event, she never actually played or attended the event thanks to her agent telling her it would be a better career move to be on the Dick Cavett Show. People still talk about Woodstock. Dick Cavett – not so much.
Others that didn’t make the gig for one reason or another include Frank Zappa, Procul Harem, Jeff Beck, The Byrds, Iron Butterfly, Jethro Tull and the Moody Blues. One of the strangest acts to refuse to play was Roy Rogers. The organizers wanted him to end the festival by singing his trademark “Happy Trails” but apparently his manager didn’t think it would be a great idea. Good call.
Here’s what that may have looked and sounded like. Imagine a bunch of stoned hippies rocking out to this:
It’s a sad day for guitar players and recording artists with the passing of one of the originators of the hard body electric guitar. He was Lester William Polsfuss but musicians around the world knew him as Les Paul. He considered himself an inventor first and a musician second though he was an exceptional guitar player. In fact, he actually taught himself to play the guitar in order to experiment with some of his theories on converting an acoustic guitar into what we now know as the electric guitar. He became one of the most respected and innovative guitar players with many of the greatest guitarists citing him as a major inspiration.
Some other innovations Les Paul gave the world include multi-track recording, overdubbing, delay and phasing effects and also created some original guitar playing techniques used to this very day. He’s inspired generations of musicians and many fine guitars still bear his name to this day while some of the earlier models are in the prized possessions of many famous artists who won’t be parting with them anytime soon. Here’s what a few of them had to say about Les Paul:
“Les Paul was a shining example of how full one’s life can be, he was so vibrant and full of positive energy. I’m honored and humbled to have known and played with him over the years, he was an exceptionally brilliant man.” — Slash
“Les is single handedly responsible for the direction and evolution of the modern rock movement. Period. If you are a fan of modern music, you owe Les Paul an enormous THANK YOU!” – Dave Navarro
“He was a genius inventor, musical innovator, and a wonderful person. Without the advances he pioneered, the recording sciences and the electric guitar would have been left years behind. I will miss him so much.” — Joan Jett
“The music industry has lost a giant! I’m very saddened by the news of Les Paul’s passing. I was lucky enough to have known Les as a friend, and admired him as a musician and innovator. He forever changed the way we listen to music.” — Ace Frehley
Here are a few examples of his work from the man himself and a few of his many admirers:
