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Ramones, Butthole Surfers, Violent Femmes and more, covering Saturday morning cartoon theme songs


 
In 1995, MCA Records released Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits, a compilation of then current alt-rock stars and also-rans transforming the 30-60 second theme songs from classic children’s shows into three-minute pop songs, accompanied by a full length home video that featured all the songs on the comp with the linking device of Drew Barrymore watching them all and commenting with her central-casting Gen-X friends. It dovetailed both with the vogue for alt-rock tribute comps and the ongoing popularity of the Television’s Greatest Hits series, which by then had been around for ten years.

Though they win points for sporting cool Glenn Barr cover art, both the CD and video were pretty crummy overall, but naturally, amid the dross of tepid mid-’90s radio alt (Sponge, Semisonic, Collective Soul, Sublime—I’ll bet you just can’t wait to hear it now, right?) there were some terrific moments. How could the Ramones doing the unforgettable theme to those endearingly cheap 1967 Spider-Man cartoons be bad? IT CANNOT. Violent Femmes went on a marvelously weird tangent. Instead of covering the Jetsons actual theme song, they did a deep cut: “Eep, Opp, Ork, Ah-ah!” by the in-universe teen idol Jet Screamer. It’s pretty great. The Reverend Horton Heat did a roaring psychobilly medley of the Jonny Quest theme and another deep dig, “Stop That Pigeon” from the short-lived Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. The Butthole Surfers, though they were well past the height of their powers by then, did a mindwarping take on the Underdog theme. And there’s perhaps the album’s most perfect pairing of artist and material, the Aussie folk-pop band Frente! doing a really charming “Open up Your Heart (and Let the Sunshine In),” a 1954 song about rejecting the Devil, which became huge when the infant Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm sang it on The Flintstones.
 
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Posted by Ron Kretsch
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10.12.2016
09:22 am
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Saturday Morning Cartoons: Questionable ‘fan art’ of ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog
09.12.2015
10:06 am
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AGNETHA & ABBA
 
“Saturday Morning Cartoons” is a new weekend ritual/feature here at Dangerous Minds. Each week I’ll select a few handpicked—some “troubled,” some quite lovely—drawings, sketches and portraits of your favorite pop idols and movie stars.

This week it’s ABBA’s Agnetha Fältskog. ABBA has always had millions upon millions of hardcore fans and throughout the span of their career and beyond, people have drawn and sketched portraits of the Swedish band. The Internet boasts rather a lot of ABBA fan art, if you’re looking for it.

I have nothing against the brunette, Frida, she’s great, but this week, let’s take a closer look at the blonde… sexy yet innocent-seeming Agnetha Fältskog. Here are a few of my favorites. I hope they brighten your weekend.

Agnetha Portraits - Saturday Morgen Cartoons
Agnetha Portraits - Saturday Morgen Cartoons 2
Agnetha Portraits - Saturday Morgen Cartoons 3
Agnetha Portraits - Saturday Morgen Cartoons
Agnetha Portraits - Saturday Morgen Cartoons
Agnetha Portraits - Saturday Morgen Cartoons
 

 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Moog Plays ABBA’: Australian synthesizer record rarity is fantastic goofy fun
ABBA Russian nesting doll set
ABBA live… all over the place
When The Slits met ABBA: ‘Björn was a twat’

Posted by Jer Ber Jones
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09.12.2015
10:06 am
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