OT: Retro TV

[Susan]

I was looking to listen to some old tv theme songs and found this site which will show the whole intro to the show

RetroJunk

They also have a great collection of commercials and a few movie trailers..seperated by the past 3 decades.

I guess i should be mildly embarassed that when the Diff'rent Strokes tv theme came on i could remember every single word...even the hum at the end.

But i'm not.

[dean]

I just borrowed a 'Cult TV and movies' theme cd from the library with songs like the Thunderbirds theme, Avengers, Hawaii 5O, Ironside and such.  It's pretty funky some of the theme songs, though most of them are instrumental so I guess I'm not singing along but just tapping softly along with it all!

Whilst some new TV shows have some good theme songs, the majority are pretty bad.  Whilst 'back in the day' even if the themes were bad, looking back on them now is pretty fun, especially if they are terrible theme songs.

[Susan]

Dean - here's something funny I just thought about. My brother made his own collection of music for his wedding reception. Towards the end of the evening I started hearing theme songs from tv shows like the Jeffersons and Hawaii 5-O. I guess he thought it was funny. Some guy from the netherlands or something was there and thought it was some weird american tradition to play that music...lol

Yeah the 70's pushed out quite a few catchy non-vocal theme songs. It's a dead art if you ask me, most of the theme songs today are crap. You can barely hum stuff like th Simpsons. Ask someone to hum the theme to their favorite current show, like ER and see what reaction you get. Back in the old days i loved it when a tv show came on so i could hear the theme song or sing along with it.

Somewhere in th late 80's i noticed thi was a dying art, shows like Family Ties seemed to be the last ones that actually had a theme with words.  You could name most any show from the 70's or 80's or even the 60's and 50's and i could take a few seconds and sing it. Name a bunch of tv shows on currently and i probably couldn't remember one of them.

[daveblackeye15]

I was just thinking of abot making a topic about Retro Junk.

It's-

one-

of -

the-

greatest-

web-

sites-

EVER!!!!!

It brings back so many memories, and all the articals are spot on in the retro/nostagic department.

[Ash]

I wonder which person from here made that site.
Go to this page.

Scroll all the way down to just above the user comments and right below the Vanilla Ice lyrics.
There's a reference to badmovies.org.



Post Edited (09-09-05 06:41)

[Flangepart]

Ya, Andrew!

Did you guys ever conciter....that the lyrics to FIREBALL XL-5, were the words of a love song?
Even as a kid watching it, i thought "Weird!"
Who okeyd that?

[AndyC]

Funny, I was just thinking about TV themes. Been singing Rowan to sleep quite a lot, and just singing whatever fits the bill (folk songs, mellow 70s stuff). Anyway, I've been finding myself singing a nice, gentle tune, definitely a lullaby, with lyrics about dreams and reality, discovering yourself, discovering new worlds, the future, etc. Ideal for a baby. Just listen to the last verse:

Far beyond the world I've known,
far beyond this time,
What kind of world am I going to find?
Will it be real or just all in my mind?
What am I, who am I, what will I be?
Where am I going,
and what will I see?

My wife heard me singing this, and said "That's lovely, what is it?"

"The theme from Buck Rogers."

Absolute silence. I don't think she expected that, but she couldn't deny that it worked. Of course, a couple of hours of sleep is a far cry from 500 years :)

Mind you, it was Steve Miller's 'Fly Like an Eagle' that got the little one to sleep last night.

A couple of times, I've heard Lori singing 'One Tin Soldier' to Rowan, so people in glass houses and all that. When it comes to has-been actors of the 70s, I'll take Gil Gerard over Tom Laughlin any day. I don't think my wife has seen Billy Jack, however. I wonder if it would spoil the song for her.



Post Edited (09-09-05 11:45)

[Scott]

Years ago I bought a CD that I still have called TELEVISIONS GREATEST HITS: 65 TV Themes from the 50's and 60's. It's all great stuff and everyone I've played it for loves it. Here are just a few of my favorites from the CD:

Petticoat Junction
Green Acres
The Beverly Hillbillies
Mr. Ed
The Munsters
The Adams Family
My Three Sons
Leave It To Beaver
Denise the Menace
Dobie Gillis
Dick Van Dyke
Gilligans Island
McHales Navy
I Dream of Jeanie
I Love Lucy
The Andy Griffith Show
Star Trek
Lost In Space
The Twilight Zone
Superman
The Rifleman
Bananza
Branded
F-Troop
Batman
Flipper
The Wild Wild West
Get Smart
Hawaii Five-O
The Modsquad
Howdy Doody
Felix the Cat
Magilla Gorilla
The Jetsons

And many more including Fireball XL-5

Here's a link

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000GOI/102-3295290-4317726?v=glance&s=music&vi=samples#disc_1



Post Edited (09-09-05 22:13)

[Susan]

Hey check out this commercial with William Shatner!
Commodore

[Ash]

For under $300!

That thing would go for about 50 cents at a garage sale these days.



Post Edited (09-10-05 01:20)

[Texdar]

Showing my age.  I had a VIC-20 when I was a teenager and then upgraded to a Commodore 64.   Ahh, the technology!

[AndyC]

My first computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000 (North American release of the ZX81). I upgraded to a TRS-80 CoCo 2.

[Menard]

The first computer I ever owned was a TI-99/4A by Texas Instruments.

Somewhere around here I still have a clone of the Sinclair ZX81.

[odinn7]

My first was the Timex Sinclair also. I then upgraded to the Vic-20 complete with casette drive! I actually still have this whole system boxed up and stored in a closet. I just can't bring myself to get rid of it. Also have my old Intellivision and over 50 game cartridges for it. Oh the memories.

[dean]

You know, there may be a collector out there who would pay money for old systems like the ones mentioned.  I guess Retro is back in fashion: I saw these old LCD handheld games at a collectibles store the other day followed by an advertisement requesting more.  I guess it's like original Star Wars figures: they are worth a bit if you have the right ones and they are in good condition.  Not many other toys would have the same high resale value, especially this long after.  That's why I'm such a horder of things I guess.