Actually, that was creepy even in its day, but that's a subject for another time.
Douglas' show -- which ran, more or less without hiatus from 1963 to 1981(!) -- was a sort of guilty pleasure for me, and as icky as the song above is, I've always had a soft spot for the guy, if for no other reason than that Moby Grape was once his guest
Like most people my age, of course, I had no idea that Douglas had gotten his start in the entertainment industry as a big band singer (he had a couple of hits with the deeply weird Kay Kyser, although the clip below preceeds his tenure)...
...and in fact I always more or less assumed that Douglas was one of those sort of Warhol-ian TV personalities who was famous simply for being famous. Hey -- little did I know.
In any case, this brings us, thematically speaking, to our Weekend Essay Question, and so to business. To wit:
...and your favorite (or least favorite) pop single or album by a person primarily known for something other than being a singer or musician is...?
Discuss.
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
15 comments:
Denny McLain – Denny McLain At The Organ.
Found this at a flea market.
Cover photo from Henley Field at Lakeland FL, previous spring training site for Detroit Tigers.
McLain was last 30+ game winner.
https://www.discogs.com/release/799504-Denny-McLain-Denny-McLain-At-The-Organ
P.S. That was a very nice version of "Today" earlier in the week.
Much better than a lot of the sugar-coated stuff drizzling out of the speakers.
I never paid any attention to the Mike Douglas Show, and it appears I missed some stuff. YouTube has Utopia songs from that show on two different occasions, including "Love is the Answer" in 1980
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPDQUp_audU
William Shatner- Common People
(with a little help from Joe Jackson)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ainyK6fXku0
Hey, Mike Douglas was cool - he had Patti Smith on around 1978/79 and really seemed to enjoy her.
Sal's pick is excellent.
MacArthur s park (Neal T)
I second The Shat's 'Common People.' It's a genuinely thrilling track (thanks to Jackson and Ben Folds Five) that never gets skipped when it comes up: "RRRRRROACHES CLIMB THE WALL!"
Tim Curry’s first two albums are great.
Goober Sings is quite awful.
Burt Reynolds Ask Me What I Am begs for an answer.
VR
I grew up in the Jersey burbs near Philly, so we watched Mike Douglas a lot. You probably know that he had John & Yoko as co-hosts for a week. YouTube has a lot of clips, he had some very diverse guests together.
The Phillies star third & first baseman Richie/Rich/Dick Allen released a good Philly soul single "Echo's Of November" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IowL_kRoJGc
I'm pretty sure I saw him on The Geator's "Discophonic Scene" TV show, and I still have his rookie card!
Least favorite is probably Shatner's blues album. I didn't made it halfway through even one song.
Jim Nabors singing career mostly over shadowed by his acting. rs
I'm going with Robert Downey Jr.'s version of River on Aly McBeal.
Can't believe I never saw that great Moby Grape clip before. Was tDouglas "playing them off" toward the end?
I’m with SteveS about Robert Downey doing “River.”
Today was the first time I listened to the Mike Douglas track all the way through. What horrible sap. I remember it getting a lot of air-play in 1966. It was my cue to change the station. Who the fuck bought drivel like this?
The song aside, Mike did get some great rock artists on his show. The Stones on their first US tour come to mind. They did three numbers. "Tell Me" was mimed." Not Fade Away" and "Carol" live. The band is smokin'. Unfortunately, and criminally, Keith's guitar can't be heard very well. Mike may have been a square, but he usually treated "the youngsters" fairly and with an open mind.
Pat Boone used to have an afternoon talk show that aired in SoCal on KHJ-TV 9 circa 1967-68. Not sure about the rest of the country. There were a lot of hungry bands in the area who were more than happy to appear. The Stone Poneys, Standells, Tommy James & the Shondells, Sunshine Company, Merry-Go-Round, October Country, Yellow Balloon, Electric Prunes and the like. He also had Pink Floyd. Not live, of course. Syd's candle melted down when he was supposed to be synching his lips. Pat’s short interview with Syd did not go well as the latter stared blankly. But he did say he liked America.
When Floyd was on American Bandstand with Syd, you just know that the Bandstand kids were wondering what the fuck they were hearing. "Apples & Oranges?" You couldn't dance to it and it didn't have a good beat, that's for sure. Also, they were plugging a single that was never released in America. Tower issued "Flaming" instead.
Regardless, I really love their debut album. Paid the "big bucks" for the import cuz I just couldn't wait. To me, it's the only "true" Pink Floyd record. They were fuckin' brutal live, as evidenced on bootlegs and the stupendous “Early Years” mega-box. It should have been released decades earlier, but better late than never. "Scream Thy Last Scream" should have been the third single.
Woody Woodbury and Donald O'Donnor had local talk shows that would often feature live rock bands, too. And, of course, Boss City, originally with Sam Riddle. Plus, pretty boy Michael Blodgett's Groovy. Incidentally, Floyd was supposed to appear on the last two shows mentioned but their management canceled after the Boone debacle.
I have a story about when Sandy and I thumbed to see Floyd, but it's too complicated, lengthy and OT. At least we can say we saw Syd. What was left of him. We didn't know he was going bonkers. We just figured he took too much of something. It wasn't a total disaster. He was OK more than half the time and then he'd drift out and just stop playing and/or singing. The others tried to pick up the slack but it was impossible because Syd was such a force in the band. Weird shit happened that night. We were frying. We thought Syd was melting, decaying and figured it was just the acid. Turned out it wasn't. Really. We bought tix for both shows but never saw the second due to an emergency with Sandy....if they even attemped one.
VR
I’ve been told that each member of the cast of the TV western Bonanza made an album. The music industry was like that back in the day. Admittedly I’ve heard none of them.
Douglas had a lot of fringey at the time rockers on his show. Sometimes to sing, sometimes as part of a panel discussion. The episode with Al Jourgenson in his early Ministry days, when hi did his pseudo English new wave stick, was a hoot.
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