Show #148 April 30, 2016

Ah! Leah!... Oh Yeah!

Ah! Leah!- Donnie Iris Back On The Streets
Introduction/Oh Yeah- The Zeros 4-3-2-1-The Zeros
M Doll- The Posies Solid States
Couldn´t I Just Tell You- Todd Rundgren Something/Anything?
Right Here, Right Now- DB Cooper Buy American 
The Next Big Thing- The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! 
More Of The Same- Adam Schmitt Illiterature 
Kicking And Screaming- Pugwash Play This Intimately (As If Among Friends)
^Oh Yeah- Yello Essential 
Love You Tonight- Prix DIY: American Pop II Shake It Up 
This Is The Day- The Lolas Ballerina Breakout 
*Oh Yeah- The Cliks Oh Yeah 
*Oh Yeah- Aerosmith Music From Another Dimension 
*Oh Yeah- Ash 1977 
Light and Sound- The Lash Outs State of Excess 
I Get My Kicks On You- Joe "King" Carrasco and The Crowns s/t 
Everything's Fine- The Ravines Everything's Fine
*Oh Yeah- The Subways Young for Eternity 
*Oh Yeah!- Texas Terri and the Stiff Ones Eat Sh*t!
*Oh Yeah (The B*tch Wants More)- Biters All Chewed Up 
Blind- Michael Carpenter The Big Radio 
Walkin- The Talk Not Just Hearsay
Coming Around- Parallax Project I Hate Girls 
>Oh Yeah!- Sweet Sixties Man
Second Hand Halo- Corin Ashley New Lion Terraces 
Gravedigger Man- Datura4 Demon Blues 
*Oh Yeah- Roxy Music Flesh and Blood 

^Power Pop Peak: 

*SacroSet[s]:  Oh Yeah! Songs

>Power Pop Prototype: 1980

I remember being awed by Kool-Aid Guy when I was a kid.
Like most five year olds, I enjoyed a refreshing beverage on a hot day but Kool-Aid Guy was a property destroying raving anarchist maniac!  I know the feeling because my mom once let me make my own Kool-Aid and I came to realize that the "suggested amount" of added sugar was easily ignored.  Years later I would learn the term "solubility" in high school chemistry class but at the time I was just trying to cram as much sugar as possible into the drink without Mum finding out.  My first attempt produced an inch of undissolved sugar mud at the bottom of the pitcher.  After sampling a few spoonfuls of this delicious concoction I realized it was damning evidence of my sugar pilfering so I added more water and Kool-Aid mix to cover up.  Soon I was able to produce a perfect gritty mixture of maximum sugar drink that, as long as I didn't let it sit too long, would fool my mother into thinking it was "normal" Kool-Aid.  After a few glasses of this ambrosia I was ready to smash through walls myself-   like I said, I could sympathize with Kool-Aid Guy.

I wonder if the marketing people at Kool-Aid realized how much of a mess unsupervised kids would make with their product and were trying to own it by having Kool-Aid Guy smash everything around him to bits.  If so, I applaud you 1970's Kool-Aid marketing team- you really nailed it!  As for their product, well it sells itself, as I believe this helpful graphic illustrates:

Oh NO!

As for more recent Kool-Aid marketing teams- I can't say I'm a fan.  First, in the 2000's they hoisted this monstrosity on us.  At best this is a Kool-Aid "Boy" and in no way could ever be construed as a Kool-Aid "Guy."  Second, the original Kool-Aid Guy could single- handedly destroy a football stadium without spilling a drop yet this douche is sloshing all over the place just waving.  Sloppy work people- I am NOT impressed.  The most recent Kool-Aid Guy just seems creepy to me- I mean you can see right through him.  I realize that technically K00l-Aid is not opaque (although I came pretty close in that first unsupervised batch) but who wants reality in our drink mascots?  Kool-Aid Guy 2013 is a straight up drip compared to Kool-Aid Guy 1983!

Click to Enlarge

Credit where credit is due, if some whack job uses your product to kill 909 of his followers- as Jim Jones did in Guyana on November 18, 1978- well, that's something that could easily destroy any company.  Not only that, the expression "drinking the Kool-Aid" has become a widely used expression and what it signifies is not a good thing.  Now that is a resilient product!  Myself, I'm partial to those single-serving Crystal Light packets but every time I mix one up I realize I'm just drinking high-falutin' Kool-Aid.


In preparing tonight's ALL KINDSA GIRLS of songs called Oh Yeah!, I realized there is a generational split in the perception of the phrase.  For people my age it is all Kool-Aid Guy, but for many younger folks they think of The Simpsons' Duffman (which in my opinion should read "Duff Man" but nobody cares about my opinion).  I have no complaints, Duffman is awesome- a mindless shill in our corporate driven times.  One of my favorite Duffman lines is:

Duffman rules but I would be remiss if I didn't mention another person in our culture who made "Oh Yeah!" his own.  And no, I'm not talking about Ferris Bueller, though tonight's Power Pop Peak "Oh Yeah" by Yello is a memorable part of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Although I was no longer following wrestling when he came along, there is no denying "Macho Man" Randy Savage was a giant of the "sport:"

What's interesting is that I new Savage more from his Slim Jim commercials than for wrestling.  So that's three pitchmen, Kool-Aid Guy, Duffman and Macho Man all using "Oh Yeah!" to move product.  I suppose it was only a matter of time until "Oh Yeah" became the name of a product itself, but a protein bar?!?

A product called "Oh Yeah" should be a speed boat, rocket launcher or female Viagra pill...NOT something as boring as a this.  C'mon people! 

Protein bars aside, from Aerosmith to The Zeros, Ash to Yello there is no denying the pure joy of a hale and hearty "Oh Yeah!"  There will always be "Oh Sh*t!" times in our lives which makes it even more important that when the time is right we look heavenward and yell "OH YEAH!"

Links for the show are below.  Click to stream or to download, right click and "Save Link As:"
Hour 1
Hour 2