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Most embarrassing attempt at being "hip"

J

johnbasalla

Once we got to the late 1960s, with all of the leftist campus politics, the politically vibrant lyrics in socially conscious songs along with angst-ridden music, a number of actors, singers and other entertainers who would be considered "square" by "Hippies" and many younger folks in general, tried to update their image, or tried to remain relevant by trying to be "Hip" and "Cool" and "With it". Who were the epic failures at this? (Sidebar: This topic is good for ... maybe even better ... in a music forum as I'm thinking more singers did this then anybody). Anyway, here are my two candidates:

1. SAMMY DAVIS, JR. He tried sooo hard to be a 'cool dude', on TV and on records even though, during the same time period, he had his biggest hit with the "squaresville" "Candy Man".
I saw him on an episode of "The Mod Squad" slapping the hand of "Linc" while saying "Do your thing, baby". Then on his album that I seem to recall as being titled "Now" or "Sammy Davis, Jr. NOW", he does a lame version of "Shaft", the great Isaac Hayes composition. In both cases he is just so out of place. I chuckle respectfully at him understanding that things were "A-happenin'" back then, and he didn't want to be left behind. Unfortunately, he couldn't help it.

2. DANNY THOMAS. Here's a one-time event, as far as I know. He was on a talk show, maybe even "The Tonight Show" starring Johnny Carson. He was doing blue-humor. As I recall, something about a dirty old man, in which he stood up from his chair and grabbed near his crotch as part of the joke. Obviously, he was going for the shock value. I remember, as a kid, thinking that this was more sad then funny, and that he didn't have to, or shouldn't do this. I thought that doing this was more damaging to his image then it was of value to show the world that he can be "with it".
 
johnbasalla said:
1. SAMMY DAVIS, JR. He tried sooo hard to be a 'cool dude', on TV and on records even though, during the same time period, he had his biggest hit with the "squaresville" "Candy Man".
I saw him on an episode of "The Mod Squad" slapping the hand of "Linc" while saying "Do your thing, baby". Then on his album that I seem to recall as being titled "Now" or "Sammy Davis, Jr. NOW", he does a lame version of "Shaft", the great Isaac Hayes composition. In both cases he is just so out of place. I chuckle respectfully at him understanding that things were "A-happenin'" back then, and he didn't want to be left behind. Unfortunately, he couldn't help it.
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It gets worse! Sammy Davis, Jr., did a rendition of the Jeffersons' theme song, and if the description here is to believed, other shows as well! Almost as bad as William Shatner's "singing."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKYH4HYZCtg

Here you can see it done over the original opening credits to the show.
 
Of course, there's a notorious urban legend about Danny Thomas, which I obviously won't go into here, but google "Danny Thomas" and "glass table."

Any of the drug-oriented storylines on Dragnet would be good fits for this category.
 
BD, that Danny Thomas story is untrue. Thomas starred in five different sitcoms and founded St. Jude Children's Resrearch Hospital. He died in 1991, so that story has been going around for a long time. The "glass table" has also been mentioned in reference to Raymond Burr and other 1950s-60s tv stars. Howard Stern, Adam Carolla, Don & Mike and other foul-mouthed radio hosts mention the story from time to time, thereby perpetuating it.

In 1997, Pat Boone, famous for hits such as April Love, Friendly Persuasion and Love Letters In The Sand, released a CD titled In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy. He sang Paradise City, Stairway To Heaven and ten other songs in a big-band style. He meant the album to be a novelty but most of his fans thought he had "gone to the dark side." Pat had appeared semi-regularly on Trinity Broadcasting Network's nightly Praise program and all the outraged tv viewers demanded that he never appear again. They didn't get the joke. I suppose if Pat really wanted to sound hip, he would have sung the heavy-metal songs in their original style instead of big-band.
 
Except for his ability to spray coffee, Danny Thomas had a singular lack of talent. He also was apparently really nasty to work with, causing Jean Hagen and Sherry Jackson to leave the show and its hostile work environment.

That research hospital was not founded out of any concern for kids with cancer but to pay off a bribe to god - and, oh yes, as a vehicle for promoting Danny Thomas and enhancing his image.

I under stand Marlo is a major pain, too. I got a DVD of "Person to Person" from Netflix. You should see Marlo before plastic surgery.

I suspect the glass table story, however, is not true. Danny Thomas didn't have that much imagination and creativity. And given the way he treated people, he'd have the roles reversed and wouldn't use the table.
 
LARadioRewind said:
In 1997, Pat Boone, famous for hits such as April Love, Friendly Persuasion and Love Letters In The Sand, released a CD titled In A Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy. He sang Paradise City, Stairway To Heaven and ten other songs in a big-band style. He meant the album to be a novelty but most of his fans thought he had "gone to the dark side." Pat had appeared semi-regularly on Trinity Broadcasting Network's nightly Praise program and all the outraged tv viewers demanded that he never appear again. They didn't get the joke. I suppose if Pat really wanted to sound hip, he would have sung the heavy-metal songs in their original style instead of big-band.
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People forget that Pat Boone was famous for making cleaned up "white" cover versions of R&B songs back in the 1950's. His catalog includes "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino and "Tutti Frutti" & "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard. That's what made his send-up of himself so funny.
 
Avid Listener said:
People forget that Pat Boone was famous for making cleaned up "white" cover versions of R&B songs back in the 1950's. His catalog includes "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino and "Tutti Frutti" & "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard. That's what made his send-up of himself so funny.
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A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop, a lop-Pat-Boone!
 
Someone from GenX may have to assist me with this one, but what exactly did Tony Bennett do that enabled him to become (however briefly) the hero of the MTV generation? He sort of skipped my generation, going from my parents' generation to GenX. And I can't for the life of me think of anything he did that made a "buffoon" of himself so that he would "fit in" with them.

I certainly recognize the man's talent, but other than maybe a duet with Billy Joel on one of Joel's live albums, he never really spoke to my generation.
 
Avid Listener said:
People forget that Pat Boone was famous for making cleaned up "white" cover versions of R&B songs back in the 1950's. His catalog includes "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino and "Tutti Frutti" & "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard. That's what made his send-up of himself so funny.
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I am going to have to go to youtube and look for some of these. I don't think that I have ever heard any of them, only his "own" hits. And his "singing" in the SafeStep Walk-In Tub commercial is his latest embarrassment. His metal covers album was supposedly going to be a role-reversal of sorts with his friend Alice Cooper, but Cooper (apparently wisely!) chose not to go along with it.

And let's not forget that R&B artists covered Beatles' (and probably many other performers') songs in order to chart them on R&B charts, so sort of a "return favor" there.
 
firepoint525 said:
Someone from GenX may have to assist me with this one, but what exactly did Tony Bennett do that enabled him to become (however briefly) the hero of the MTV generation? He sort of skipped my generation, going from my parents' generation to GenX. And I can't for the life of me think of anything he did that made a "buffoon" of himself so that he would "fit in" with them.

I certainly recognize the man's talent, but other than maybe a duet with Billy Joel on one of Joel's live albums, he never really spoke to my generation.
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There was a big revival in the 90's of "cocktail culture", as swing music and dancing made a comeback as a hot fad for a while. For a while, Gen X folks were getting seriously into martinis and other cocktails. Check out the 1996 movie "Swingers", with Vince Vaughn. It was one of those passing fads that come and go, but it resulted in people developing an appreciation for lounge music as a genre. Tony Bennett was about the only lounge singer from the old days still around, though Harry Connick, Jr. and later, Michael Buble came along. Of course, this was another of those musical fads that OTA radio totally ignored. If anyone's knowledge of what's popular in music was based only on what they heard on the radio, then they didn't know about it.

I wasn't part of the fad, as I was too old. However, when singing "Minnie the Moocher" at a karaoke bar on vacation, I was surprised when all of the 20-somethings and 30-somethings chimed in on the choruses. And when I sang "Zoot Suit Riot", more younger people hit the dance floor than for any other song sung that night.
 
Avid Listener said:
There was a big revival in the 90's of "cocktail culture", as swing music and dancing made a comeback as a hot fad for a while. For a while, Gen X folks were getting seriously into martinis and other cocktails. Check out the 1996 movie "Swingers", with Vince Vaughn. It was one of those passing fads that come and go, but it resulted in people developing an appreciation for lounge music as a genre. Tony Bennett was about the only lounge singer from the old days still around, though Harry Connick, Jr. and later, Michael Buble came along. Of course, this was another of those musical fads that OTA radio totally ignored. If anyone's knowledge of what's popular in music was based only on what they heard on the radio, then they didn't know about it.

I wasn't part of the fad, as I was too old. However, when singing "Minnie the Moocher" at a karaoke bar on vacation, I was surprised when all of the 20-somethings and 30-somethings chimed in on the choruses. And when I sang "Zoot Suit Riot", more younger people hit the dance floor than for any other song sung that night.
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A couple years ago I was in the local vinyl emporium poking thru a huge boxful of Dean Martin 45's, looking for one they frankly didn't have. The owner asked me what I was looking for, and I answered "Hey, Brother, Pour The Wine." A twenty-something in black goth garb and pierced everything standing on the other side of the aisle suddenly started singing it, note-for-word perfect! I told him how surprised I was; he just smiled 'cause he knew he'd just faked me out of my socks. (I did the same thing in reverse not long ago by quoting a teenybopper hit to a young couple discussing the song in line behind me at the supermarket.)
 
JeffM said:
A couple years ago I was in the local vinyl emporium poking thru a huge boxful of Dean Martin 45's, looking for one they frankly didn't have. The owner asked me what I was looking for, and I answered "Hey, Brother, Pour The Wine." A twenty-something in black goth garb and pierced everything standing on the other side of the aisle suddenly started singing it, note-for-word perfect! I told him how surprised I was; he just smiled 'cause he knew he'd just faked me out of my socks. (I did the same thing in reverse not long ago by quoting a teenybopper hit to a young couple discussing the song in line behind me at the supermarket.)
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I realize this is a TV thread, not a radio thread, but this does demonstrate, at least anecdotally, that assumptions that all young people only like what's the current hot fad on the Top 40 is often false. I suspect it's also true about older TV shows. I am seldom surprised to find out that younger audiences like old, classic TV and movies. When I was a kid, in the 1950's and early 60's, the afternoon kid's show that featured old Three Stooges and Little Rascals shorts was incredibly popular. Those two acts, plus the Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy were some of my favorite entertainers. I didn't care if they were in grainy black & white, they were hilarious.

I was also exposed to lots of old movies that my mother liked, which meant lots of 30's and 40's musicals. I appreciated all the guys in the Rat Pack. That's why seeing Sammy Davis attempt to look hip was especially sad.
 
Avid Listener said:
There was a big revival in the 90's of "cocktail culture", as swing music and dancing made a comeback as a hot fad for a while. For a while, Gen X folks were getting seriously into martinis and other cocktails. Check out the 1996 movie "Swingers", with Vince Vaughn. It was one of those passing fads that come and go, but it resulted in people developing an appreciation for lounge music as a genre. Tony Bennett was about the only lounge singer from the old days still around, though Harry Connick, Jr. and later, Michael Buble came along. Of course, this was another of those musical fads that OTA radio totally ignored. If anyone's knowledge of what's popular in music was based only on what they heard on the radio, then they didn't know about it.
Click to expand...
I sent this one off-topic with my question and I will own up to that. I, too, wasn't really a part of that whole "swing culture" thing, but I remember the Brian Setzer Orchestra. He had already been "retro" with the Stray Cats, and his orchestra just sort of allowed him to continue that. I would say that Buble and Connick were more just "in the right place at the right time."

Back to topic, Betty White is another one who has managed to remain popular without really doing anything to change her image. She has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years, all by just being herself.

But for the purpose of this topic, I was trying to think who from MY generation has been the most pathetic in recent years, and the answer to that one is a no-brainer: Madonna! Her kissing Britney Spears and then Christina Aguilera at the MTV video awards in 2003 or 2004 was nothing more than a lame pathetic attempt by her to stay in the limelight and continue to draw headlines. Controversy is all that she has ever known, so she just simply stirred up some more controversy. She has tried to reinvent herself more times than I can keep track of over the years!

But we really should have seen this one coming! I am sure that we all remember the 1995-ish interview that she did with Kurt Loder (again on MTV!). About all that any of us can remember about that one (including me!) is that it was interrupted by Courtney Love throwing rocks at them. That clip has been shown again and again many times over the years. The whole interview probably would have been forgotten EXCEPT for being interrupted by Courtney Love throwing rocks at them. The whole incident was really nothing more than a desperate pathetic attention grab by Courtney Love, but it showed me how irrelevant that Madonna had already become! Just a few years earlier, MADONNA would have been the one throwing rocks trying to draw attention to herself! I was amused that she was pissed at Courtney Love, but Courtney Love was really just a younger version of Madonna, just doing something that Madonna herself would have done just a few years earlier. Madonna's impatience with Courtney Love just showed me that Madonna was no longer "hip." And that probably concerned her. After all, she seemed to think that "MTV" stood for "Madonna Television"!
 
Don't feel bad; half the threads on RD become unrecognizable after the first page-and-a-half of posts. The upcoming reorganization won't change that either.
 
Some 30 years ago, Frank Sinatra cut an album produced by Quincy Jones; he performed "L.A. Is My Lady" (one of the songs featured) on Solid Gold.

At least he sang the praises of New York and Chicago (but not Philadelphia; Elton John took care of that)...
 
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Frank Sinatra's recording of "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown."

Kate Smith's performance of "Gentle On My Mind."
 
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