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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Guinness Book Of World Records


In elementary school, one of my all-time favourite places to be in was our school library. Back in those days, our library was located in the basement of the school, so admittedly, the aesthetics of the library decor were somewhat on the creepy side. With exposed pipes on the ceiling and walls made of brick and concrete, it wasn't exactly the most child-friendly library in the world.

Yet some of my fondest memories took place there.

The way our school library was set up was like this. The bookshelves for the lower grades were at the front of the library. Next to those shelves was a carpeted area complete with a couple of sofas for children to read books on.

For some reason, in the center of the library was a giant red bathtub where we could sit down and read books in. (If I remember correctly, almost every kid in my class fought for the chance to sit in the bathtub.)

And, finally, the back of the library contained reading tables, the card catalogues (keep in mind that I attended elementary school before the Internet became popular), and the shelves that contained books for the older children.

As far back as I can remember, most of the kids in my class (particularly once we were past the fifth grade) used to crowd around the shelves with the books made for older children. For some of them, they were looking for sports books, and others wanted to catch up on the “Sweet Valley High” series. In my case though, I was looking for a specific kind of book. A book that, unfortunately for me, other kids had checked out of the library before I had the chance to.

The good news about our library was that there was a rule that stated that you could only check out a book for two weeks at a time. As little patience as I had as a child, I knew that if I waited long enough, I would eventually get the chance to read the book that I had my eye on all year long.

Mind you, I had to wait until the school year was almost OVER before I managed to get my hands on the book I wanted. By that time, almost everyone else in the class had read it from cover to cover. It was worth the wait though.



The book that I had waited to get my hands on was the 1991 Guinness Book of World Records.

As it so happens, today's blog topic also happens to be on The Guinness Book of World Records (or Guinness World Records as it has been known since 2000).



The reference book has detailed all the various records that have been broken all over the world since 1954, and the book has been updated each year as new records are created and broken. The most recent edition of the book was released in September 2011.

The story behind the creation of the Guinness Book of World Records is a fairly interesting one. It began approximately four years before the creation of the book, in May 1951. Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the Guinness Breweries (where the book got its name) attended a shooting party by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland. He had gotten into an argument about whether the grouse or the koshin golden plover was the fastest game bird in all of Europe. Toiling through several reference books on birds, Beaver was unable to come up with a definitive answer. He then began to wonder if maybe there were other questions that were debated at pubs all across Ireland that happened because there was no way to look up the information.

He then came up with the solution. What if he wrote a book that answered every one of the questions asked, putting an end to the arguments and debates once and for all?



With assistance from Norris and Ross McWhirter, the first edition of The Guinness Book of World Records was compiled throughout 1954. What was interesting about the first edition of the book was that only one thousand copies were made. Even more fascinating was that those thousand copies were given away. No profit was made through the book.

I wonder how much one of those 1954 edition books would cost now?

The following year, The Guinness Book of World Records set up an office at 107 Fleet Street, in London. The 1955 edition of the book was printed on August 27, 1955. It contained 197 pages, and unlike the edition before, this one was actually sold in stores all over London. It had reached the British bestsellers list that Christmas, and when the book was brought over to the United States in 1956, seventy thousand copies were sold.

The book became a surprise hit, and eventually, the decision was made to publish the book annually. The book was released in September or October of each year to ensure that it was available for holiday sales, and was updated each year. For the first twenty years of the publication's history, the McWhirter brothers were at the helm, using their near encyclopedic memory to their advantage. But sadly, the partnership ended in 1975, when Ross McWhirter was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Norris continued on with The Guinness Book of World Records until he was let go from the publication in 1996. He passed away in 2004.

What started off as a small project quickly grew into what is now considered to be the most sold copyrighted book (ironically enough becoming a world record in its own book), and the book has spawned several television shows based on the book's content, including one that ran on the FOX Channel between 1998 and 2001. You can see some clips of the show in action by clicking on the links below. I warn you though, some of these records are not for the overly squeamish.


(That last clip still makes me look away in fear, I have to admit.)



But that's one of the beautiful things about The Guinness Book of World Records. There was never a shortage of records to be found. There were records on animals, human achievements, natural and man-made disasters, entertainment and music trivia, sports records, and much more.

If one was lucky enough to actually break an existing record, and had concrete proof of this being fact, they would have their name published in the book, and receive a certificate of authentication. But, be warned...some records have conditions, and some records have been stricken from the book out of safety concerns.

What I mean by that second statement is that there used to be a record for the heaviest pet fish, and reports of owners deliberately overfeeding their own fish, which sometimes lead to the death of the pet. Records involving mass consumption of liquor and alcohol were also removed, as the publication felt that leaving them in promoted binge drinking. Whenever records were submitted for large food items (such as the largest hamburger or heaviest cake), the rules stated that the food had to be completely edible, and distributed to the public for consumption to avoid food waste.

So, before you attempt to break a record, you might wish to look over the guidelines and rules listed in the preface of the book as well as on the official website (http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/ ) before you embark on your quest. You don't want to be wasting your time on a record that the book won't even recognize as a record, do you?



The book has even spawned a spin-off book, designed especially for video game players, called “The Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition”. The latest version of the book was released in early 2011, and offers up records for various video games past and present, including high scores, marathon gaming sessions, and most successful game characters.

There was even a Guinness Book of World Records museum built inside the Empire State Building in 1976. It remained open at the location for nineteen years. Since then, several smaller museums have opened up in cities all over the world including Tokyo, Japan, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A, and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Before I close off this entry, I have one more trivia fact for you. Do you know who holds the most Guinness World Records of all time?

It happens to be this man.



Ashrita (Keith) Furman, born September 16, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, currently holds 133 different records in the book, and has set an estimated 300 records since 1979. Some of the records that he currently holds include the following;

  • fastest mile on a kangaroo ball
  • jumping rope on a pogo stick, longest duration
  • doing 27,000 jumping jacks (his very first record)
  • underwater juggling, longest duration
  • piggyback running, fastest mile
  • kangaroo ball racing, fastest mile
  • racing against a yak while hopping in a sack


(That last one isn't a joke.)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

April 17, 1998


Are you all ready for another exciting trip back through time in the Tuesday Timeline?  I know I am, so let’s get started right away!

Today is April 17, and looking at my list of facts about that date, it was a very memorable date in history over the years.  Let’s take a look back at some of the significant events that took place on the seventeenth day of April.

1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II

1492 – Christopher Columbus and Spain sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices

1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York Harbor

1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico in what would become one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in America

1897 – Aurora, Texas UFO incident

1907 – Ellis Island immigration center in New York City processes 11,747 people, the record for most immigrants arriving in America on any given day

1942 – French prisoner of war Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Konigstein

1946 – Syria obtains independence from French occupation

1961 – A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban exiles lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the intent of overthrowing Fidel Castro

1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes the first female to circumnavigate the world by air

1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy

1970 – Apollo 13 returns safely to Earth following ill-fated mission

1975 – Cambodian civil war ends

2003 – Dr. Robert Atkins, founder of the Atkins Diet, passes away at age 72

April 17th just also happens to be the date that quite a few famous people celebrate a birthday today.  If you’re celebrating a birthday today, I hope it’s a good one.  You share the day with the following people.  Olivia Hussey, Michael “Maniac” Sembello, Sean Bean, Boomer Esaison, Lela Rochon, Kimberly Elise, Timothy Gibbs, Liz Phair, Redman, Jennifer Garner, Victoria Beckham, Gabriel Soto, Monet Mazur, Lindsay Hartley, Rooney Mara, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, and Paulie Litt are all blowing out candles on their cakes today!

Sadly, the date we’re going to go looking back on happens to be one woman’s last day. 


The date we’re flashing back to is April 17, 1998.


On April 17, 1998, the world said goodbye to Linda Eastman McCartney.

It seems unbelievable that if she was living today, she would be seventy years old.  She was born on September 24, 1941 in New York City, and grew up in the area of Scarsdale, in Westchester County.  She was the second of four children to Lee and Louise Eastman.  Linda’s father was the son of Jewish-Russian immigrants, and his original name was Leopold Vail Epstein, which he changed to Eastman.

TRIVIA:  Eastman was an attorney who worked with songwriter Jack Lawrence, who at Eastman’s request wrote a song called “Linda”, when Linda was just one year old.  It was published in 1946, and recorded by Buddy Clark in 1947.

Linda’s mother, Louise, was tragically killed in a plane crash when Linda was twenty years old, and Linda later revealed that the incident made her very cautious about travelling by air.

Three months after her mother’s death, Linda married her first husband, Joseph Melvin See Jr. (they had met while Linda was taking classes for fine arts at the University of Arizona).  The couple had a daughter, Heather, on the last day of 1962, and their marriage lasted for approximately three years before Linda filed for divorce.  Linda’s first husband would later take his own life in 2000.

Around the time of her divorce, Linda had gotten a job as a receptionist for the offices of “Town & Country Magazine”, and it was through this position that she developed the first of her many careers throughout her lifetime.


Photographer.

Linda was the only unofficial photographer allowed to take photos of the Rolling Stones, at one of their promotional parties.  Over the next few years, Linda would take photographs of some of the most popular artists and bands of the late 1960s.  Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and even John Lennon were early photographic subjects. 


A photo that she had taken of Eric Clapton back in 1968 even made it onto the front cover of Rolling Stone magazine, the first time that a photo taken by a woman photographer made the cover.  Six years later, she herself would be the subject of a Rolling Stone cover, making her the first (and so far only) person to have taken a cover photo AND been the cover subject of the magazine!

But when it came down to Linda’s 1974 photo shoot, she didn’t exactly take all the credit.  She shared the cover with the man who became her second husband.

The love affair began on May 15, 1967.  Linda was at a Georgie Fame concert at the Bag O’ Nails club in London, when she ended up bumping into a man who had already made a name for himself on the music charts just five years earlier.


His name was Paul McCartney, of the Beatles.

After a few meetings (including at the launch party of the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album), Linda and Paul soon fell in love with each other, and after a whirlwind courtship united in marriage on March 12, 1969.  It was Linda’s second marriage, and Paul’s first.  The couple would eventually have three children together...two daughters, Mary (b. 1969) and Stella (b. 1971), and one son, James (b. 1977).

TRIVIA:  Mary McCartney is now a famous photographer, Stella McCartney is a famous fashion designer, and James McCartney has taken up a singing and songwriting career.

It was right around Stella’s birth that the resume of Linda Eastman McCartney grew to include a second career.


Musician.

After the Beatles had broken up in 1970, Paul had taught Linda how to play the keyboards, and the following year, Paul and Linda released an album together entitled “Ram”.  Shortly thereafter, Paul had asked Linda to join a new project that he had formed.  It was a band that he had called “Wings”.  As far as Paul McCartney was concerned, lightning struck twice as “Wings” became one of the most successful bands of the 1970s, and songs like the one below this paragraph became huge hits on the charts.



ARTIST:   Wings
SONG:  Band On The Run
ALBUM:  Band On The Run
DATE RELEASED:  June 28, 1974
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 1 week

“Wings” would release eight studio albums between 1971 and 1979, and the band was nominated for and won several Grammy Awards during their time together.  However, critics were quick to dismiss the singing skills of Linda McCartney as being off-key and out of tune...an allegation that surprisingly enough, Linda owned up to as being true!

At least Linda took it all in stride, and for what it was worth, I believe that her singing improved with each subsequent “Wings” release.  Linda even appeared in the music video that Paul McCartney filmed with Michael Jackson back in 1983 (back in the days in which “Mac & Jack” were still friendly with each other).  Watch it below, I say, say, say...



In later years, Linda would add another hat to her wardrobe of career ambitions.


Vegetarian cookbook author.


Linda McCartney had been a vegetarian for years before marrying Paul McCartney, and she was the one who convinced Paul to become a vegetarian in the mid-1970s.  Since then, Linda and Paul have teamed up to write a selection of cookbooks featuring hundreds of vegetarian friendly appetizers, entrees, and desserts.  In 1991, Linda began her own line of frozen vegetarian meals, which allowed her to amass her own personal fortune, completely independent of her husband’s.  Linda and Paul McCartney even appeared on “The Simpsons” in 1995 on the episode “Lisa the Vegetarian”.  According to Paul McCartney on that episode, if you play the song “Maybe I’m Amazed” backwards, you can hear a recipe for lentil soup.  Has anyone tried this and confirmed that this is true?  Please let me know!  But, vegetarianism and animal rights were platforms that Linda McCartney really believed in, and she really did a great job in her cameo on The Simpsons.


Sadly, “The Simpsons” episode would end up being one of Linda’s final performances.

The same year she appeared on “The Simpsons”, she was given a sobering diagnosis by her doctor.

She had breast cancer.

Over the next three years, Linda McCartney tried to fight the spread of the disease, but it quickly spread to her liver.  By the first few months of 1998, it became clear to everybody that Linda McCartney was dying.

Just before Linda McCartney passed away, Paul’s last words to her were reportedly these. 

“You’re up on your beautiful Appaloosa stallion.  It’s a fine spring day.  We’re riding through the woods.  The bluebells are all out, and the sky is clear-blue.”

On April 17, 1998, at the McCartney family ranch in Tuscon, Arizona, Linda Eastman McCartney passed away at the age of 56.  Her memorial service attracted a congregation of more than 700 people, and was attended by Peter Gabriel, Elton John, and McCartney’s Beatles bandmates George Harrison and Ringo Starr.


It’s been fourteen years since Linda McCartney’s death, and since then, her name still lives on.  A tribute concert was held in April 1999 in Linda’s memory, in which Paul McCartney performed with artists such as George Michael and Elvis Costello.  In 2000, Paul McCartney donated two million dollars for cancer research and that same year, the Linda McCartney Centre opened up at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, dedicated to the treatment of cancer.  And in November 2002, the Linda McCartney Kintyre Memorial Trust opened up a memorial garden complete with a bronze statue of McCartney in memory of her.  The design of the statue came courtesy of Jane Robbins, a cousin of McCartney.

As for Paul, he has moved ahead in his life.  Aside from various musical projects, he has remarried twice since Linda’s death.  He married former model Heather Mills in 2002, but they ended up divorcing six years later in what could be considered one of the ugliest celebrity divorces in recent years.  In October 2011, he married his third wife, Nancy Shevell.

But I think deep down, Paul McCartney will always have a permanent place in his heart for Linda.  They were married for almost thirty years, and shared so much together.  In the entertainment industry, marriages begin and end more often than the average person changes their underwear.  For Paul and Linda to have a marriage that really did last until death did them part, was remarkable and romantic.

That was our look back on April 17, 1998.  In memory of photographer, musician, vegetarian cookbook author, and devoted wife and mother, Linda Eastman McCartney.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Saturday Night Fever


I was born in 1981.  By that time, the musical genre known as disco was dead and buried.  Disco music was the music that dominated the charts during the latter half of the 1970s.  Between 1974 and 1979, millions of people all over the world were doing the hustle, pretending to be dancing queens, and wondering if people thought they were sexy.  By the summer of 1979, it became clear that disco was the subject of major backlash from fans of rock and roll music.  People wore T-shirts with slogans such as “Disco Sucks”, and rock stars such as David Bowie and Rod Stewart were accused of being sell-outs for releasing disco themed singles.


It all came to a head on July 12, 1979.  Many who lived through that date in history will recall it as “the day disco died”.  That was the day that a huge anti-disco demonstration known as “Disco Demolition Night” took place in Chicago’s Comiskey Park.  The event was arranged by Steve Dahl, Garry Meier, and Michael Veeck, and was booked on the same date as two scheduled baseball games featuring the White Sox.  The event had a huge turnout.  Thousands of rock and roll fans gathered at Comiskey Park to destroy disco records in a multitude of ways.  Unfortunately, the event lead to a massive riot, in which many were injured, and several were arrested.  The riot caused so much damage to the park that the White Sox were forced to forfeit the second game to the Detroit Tigers. 

It was a terrible end to the event, yet it seemed to do what it set out to do.  A few days after the riot, the top six singles on the American music charts were disco tracks.  Just two months later, no disco song was in the top ten.

By the time I was born, the music charts were a weird hybrid of genres.  You had a combination of rock and roll, country, soul, jazz, and even bubblegum pop.  As far as disco went, there was not a disco song to be found on the 1981 pop charts.  However, when I was a toddler, I would hear disco music all the time.

You see, when I was really little, my mother played a certain soundtrack to a movie that had come out three and a half years before I was born.  The soundtrack was hugely successful, selling fifteen million copies worldwide.  The soundtrack was the number one album in sales between January and July 1978, and stayed on the album charts for 120 consecutive weeks, finally dropping off the charts in early 1980.  Until the soundtrack for “The Bodyguard” was released in 1992, this movie’s soundtrack was one of the highest selling albums from a motion picture of all time.

I think that I must have heard the songs from the soundtrack a hundred million times over the first four or five years of my childhood.  For some reason, I loved it, even though my feelings for disco music now are kind of mixed.  Eventually, the record got scratched, and we were forced to throw it in the garbage one day.  Years later though, I bought my mother another copy of the soundtrack (this time on CD), and she still plays it on occasion.

Of all the songs that appear on the album, there are many classic songs, but I think this one happens to be my favourite.



ARTIST:  Bee Gees
SONG:  Night Fever
ALBUM:  Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Soundtrack
DATE RELEASED:  February 7, 1978
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 8 weeks

And this wasn’t the only song that the Bee Gees recorded for the movie “Saturday Night Fever” either.  But, more on that a little bit later.


“Saturday Night Fever” was released in theatres on December 14, 1977, and what was interesting about the film was that it was one of the few films to receive two different ratings.  Initially, the film was rated “R” and had a lot more nudity, drug use, and even an attempted rape scene.  The film did exceptionally well, but because of the rating many younger fans were missing out on seeing the film.  A second cut of the movie was released in 1978 with a PG rating, which cut down on the profanity and some of the more adult scenes.  It turned out to be a good move upon hindsight, as the eventually box office for the film between the two versions topped upwards of over $282 million, making “Saturday Night Fever” one of the most seen movies of 1978.

Of course, you all know that this was the film that made John Travolta a star, and if you watch the opening credits of the film, you can tell by the way he uses his walk, he’s a woman’s man, no time to talk.


(The background music happens to be the Bee Gees’ hit “Stayin’ Alive”, which just happens to be one of SIX songs by the band that appear on the soundtrack.)


Travolta plays the role of Tony Manero, a girl-crazy Italian-American teen living in the heart of Brooklyn, New York.  When he’s not fighting with his parents, or working at his job at a nearby hardware store, he’s donning the dance duds and hitting the flashing dance floor at 2001 Odyssey, a popular nightclub in the area.  He could usually be found there every weekend with his four friends, Bobby C (Barry Miller), Double J (Paul Pape), Gus (Bruce Ornstein), and Joey (Joseph Cali), and the five usually hang out at the club to hit on women, drink, and do drugs.  Also hanging around 2001 Odyssey was a woman named Annette, who harbours feelings for Tony, and wants to have a stable relationship, although Tony doesn’t quite feel the same way.


TRIVIA:  Annette was played by Donna Pescow, who purposely gained 40 pounds to get the role.  Once filming wrapped up, she lost the excess weight just in time to star in the short-lived ABC sitcom, “Angie”.

When a dance contest is hosted by 2001 Odyssey, Annette expresses interest in entering, but since the contest is for pairs only, she immediately asks Tony to be her dance partner.  Tony agrees to her request, and Annette is on cloud nine.

At least until SHE came into Tony’s life.


The “she” being Stephanie Mangano (Karen Lynn Gorney).  Poor Annette was kicked to the curb as Tony decided that he’d rather enter the contest with Stephanie instead.  Stephanie agrees to be his dance partner.  As far as romance, however, she made it clear that she wasn’t interested in that.


But as Stephanie and Tony get to know each other better as they practice for the dance contest, Tony’s friends seem to get into major trouble during the movie’s various sub-plots.  Bobby C, for example, has discovered that he has gotten his girlfriend pregnant.  And, since his girlfriend also happens to be very Catholic, she intends on keeping the baby.  Bobby C isn’t ready for the responsibility of being a father, so he seeks advice from Tony’s older brother Frank (Martin Shakar).  Not liking the answers that he has been given, he sinks into a deep depression, and ultimately makes some dangerous choices which lead to his ultimate fate at the end of the film.

Gus happens to become the victim of a gang attack, and is hospitalized.  At first, Gus reveals that the gang that attacked him was a Hispanic gang known on the streets as the Barracudas, so his friends set out to even the score.  But, did Gus really remember everything as it happened?

A terrible fate also strikes Annette, and somehow it involves Double J and Joey in what could be the most shocking plot development in the whole film.

(And yes, I am being quite vague in describing these, as I want you all to watch the movie yourselves.  I don’t post many spoilers in the Monday Matinees).


Besides, the plot of the movie was just one of the things that made “Saturday Night Fever” stand out.  The disco soundtrack was a masterpiece of disco favourites.  The Bee Gees may have had the bulk of the soundtrack, but there were songs by Yvonne Elliman, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Tavares, Trammps, and Kool & The Gang, just to name a few.


I guess the timing of this entry is somewhat timely as well, given what’s happening right now in the world of music.  As of right now, Robin Gibb is in a comatose state after contracting pneumonia in his hospital room.  He had been battling liver and colon cancer since 2011.  His health problems had actually began one year earlier when he was rushed into the hospital for emergency surgery to clear a blocked intestine (a condition that killed his twin brother Maurice in 2003). 

Nobody knows for sure how bad Robin’s condition is, but his brother Barry (the other surviving member of the Bee Gees) has stated that he is “fighting for his life” at this moment, and he is currently surrounded by his brother, his wife, and his three children as he continues to fight for his life. 

I had planned to do this entry on “Saturday Night Fever” today anyway, but knowing what we know about the condition of Robin Gibb, it takes on a whole new meaning.


It’s hard to say what will happen.  From news reports I’ve heard, Robin Gibb is in critical condition, and it’s unknown whether he can survive this.  As a result, I’ll be editing this entry as more news comes.  In the meantime, all we can do is offer our sympathy and prayers to the Gibb family, and hope that a miracle takes place.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Soothing the Savage Garden


Today is day two of the all-request weekend, and I’m interested in knowing...would you like me to designate a week in the blog solely for requests?  It’s hard to do requests for the Tuesday Timeline and Thursday Confession, but for the other five theme weeks, if you have an idea for a topic that hasn’t been done yet, and would like me to talk about it, please let me know!  You can either join the Pop Culture Addict’s Guide To Life fan page on Facebook to post ideas there, or you can just post a comment at the bottom of this post.  If I get enough ideas for topics, I’ll designate an all-request week sometime next month.  The only stipulation I have is that I want to try and keep this blog as clean as possible, so nothing X-rated, thank you.

Now that this is out of the way, we can begin today’s Sunday Jukebox spotlight.  And the story behind this suggestion dates back a couple of months.  Some time ago, one of my friends suggested that I do a blog entry on a particular Australian band that made it big right around the time I was in high school.  Admittedly, I had put the idea on the table to use on a future date, because I was a fan of this band myself.  But, for some reason I had completely forgotten about it two months later...

...that is, until my friend sent me a message asking if I had written the blog entry on this particular band yet.  This was sent to me about a week ago.

The problem was that last week was a theme week, and I really couldn’t squeeze it in.  The song that I wanted to spotlight didn’t make any sense with the theme of the week, so I had to postpone it once more.

So, after two months, I’d like to finally do this entry that was suggested to me earlier in the year by Bailey C., of Ontario, Canada. 

And the song I want to feature is the one that put this group on the map.  Although the song wasn’t released until February 1997 here in North America, in the band’s native Australia, the song had a much earlier debut.



ARTIST: Savage Garden
SONG:  I Want You
ALBUM:  Savage Garden
DATE RELEASED:  June 30, 1996
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #4



The name of the band is Savage Garden, comprised of Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones.  The duo met in Logan, Queensland, Australia in 1993 after Jones had placed an ad inside a Brisbane newspaper looking for a vocalist for a band he had already set up named “Red Edge”. 

Darren Hayes was immediately given the job by Jones himself.  Mind you, Hayes was the only person who responded to the classified ad, but I assume that he had to audition just the same to earn the job!

Hayes quickly formed a fast friendship with Jones as Red Edge toured all over the Gold Coast of Australia playing gigs.  During these tours, they began to write original material in addition to the cover songs they were playing as a band.  This continued until the summer of 1994, when Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones opted to leave Red Edge in hopes of making it big on their own.


Here’s a little bit of trivia for you though.  Did you know that “Savage Garden” wasn’t the duo’s first choice for a band name?  They initially had chosen the name “Crush” when they first began recording demo tapes, but eventually changed their name to Savage Garden, inspired by a phrase from “The Vampire Chronicles” by Anne Rice.

Throughout 1994 and 1995, the duo recorded several songs together, and they eventually had enough to put together a demo tape to send out to various record labels in Australia, hoping one of them would like the tape enough to sign them.  Hayes and Jones were very ambitious in promoting themselves, making at least one hundred and fifty copies of their demo tape to send out.  Yet, only one person seemed to respond to the demo positively.  That person was John Woodruff, who became the band’s manager.  With Woodruff’s help, the band negotiated a contract with Roadshow Music, and with music producer Charles Fisher (who also produced for Air Supply and Moving Pictures), Savage Garden began recording their self-titled debut in late 1995.


The band’s first single, “I Want You” was released in Australia at the end of June, 1996.  The song managed to peak at #4 on the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) charts.  Just three months later, in September 1996, the band was nominated for their first ARIA award for Breakthrough Artist – Single for “I Want You”.

As the band released their second single “To the Moon and Back” that November, American record labels were starting to hear about Savage Garden’s massive success in Australia.  Though several recording labels issued interest in the duo, it was Columbia Records who signed the band in America in January 1997. 

As “To the Moon and Back” became Savage Garden’s first #1 hit in Australia, American artists were getting their first taste of the band, as “I Want You” climbed rapidly up the charts.  The band’s debut was just as successful in North America as it had been in Australia.  The song hit #4 on Billboard, #1 on the Mainstream Airplay charts, and #1 in Canada.

For a debut single, this was a phenomenal success for “Savage Garden”.  And they weren’t done yet.

The band’s debut album hit store shelves in March 1997 in the United States, and immediately the disc sold eighteen million copies worldwide.  In Australia alone, the band’s debut topped the album sales charts in that country for almost five months!

The album also had an unprecedented eight singles charting all over the world.  Some singles (such as “Tears of Pearls”) were only released in Europe, but four singles saw airplay in North America.  “I Want You”, “To the Moon and Back”, “Break Me, Shake Me”, and this song...perhaps the band’s most recognizable.


“Truly, Madly, Deeply” was a romantic ballad released in March 1997 in Australia, and saw an American release just eight months later.  By the end of 1997, the song became the most played song on American radio, and the song ended Elton John's 14-week stay at the top of the charts with "Candle in the Wind 1997".  The song also managed to stay in the Top 30 of the Billboard 100 for one whole year.  Not too many songs released can boast that fact.


After the success of their debut album, Savage Garden went to work on their next album, “Affirmation”.  Fans of the band would get a taste of what the new album had to offer when the film “The Other Sister” was released.  The soundtrack for the film was released in February 1999, and one of the songs from the soundtrack was “The Animal Song”, recorded by Savage Garden.  The song managed to become the band’s third Canadian #1, and peaked at #3 in Australia, but scored a disappointing #19 in the United States. 


But then the duo released the song “I Knew I Loved You”, which became the band’s second single from “Affirmation”.  The song reached #1 on the Billboard charts in January 2000.  One month later, the third single “Crash and Burn” began charting as “Truly, Madly, Deeply” dropped off the Billboard Adult Contemporary Charts after an impressive 123-week stay on the charts!

By the end of 2000, Savage Garden was well on their way to joining The Bee Gees, AC/DC and INXS as being one of the most successful Australian bands to corner the American market.  With two #1 hits on the Billboard Charts (both charting for well over one hundred consecutive weeks), the future seemed bright for Savage Garden, and it was likely that we’d see them on the charts for years to come.

So when the band announced that they had broken up in 2001, I was just as shocked as everyone else was!

It was widely reported that Savage Garden had taken a hiatus following the release of “Crash and Burn” (which looking back on it seems ironically appropriate for the duo’s final single together).  Apparently, both members were going off on solo projects that seemed to be in different directions.  Jones wanted to start up his own record label, while Hayes expressed interest in continuing a solo singing career.  Many fans were lead to believe that the hiatus was only temporary, and they assumed that the band would come back with a new album sometime in 2002.  But, in October of 2001, Hayes made the announcement that the band had broken up for good. 

Hayes and Jones agreed that they would honour any tour commitments that they had previously made, and shortly after Hayes’ announcement, the following message was posted on the band’s official website.

“We are extremely grateful to our fans all around the world for their incredible support over the years.  The success of Savage Garden and our time together has been an amazing experience...one that we will never forget.  We just hope that you all understand our individual needs to continue growing.”

Hayes would later admit in an interview with musicMAX network that Jones was uneasy about the sudden stardom that they were getting following the release of their debut album, and suggested that it was the reason why the band decided to split.  As far as I know, Jones has never really commented on Hayes’ claims, so I can’t say for certain as to what the real story was behind the split.


I can tell you that both Jones and Hayes have found that there was life after Savage Garden.  Jones founded Meridien Musik, and built a recording studio called Level 7 Studios, where he has signed several young Australian artists.

And Hayes has recorded several solo albums that have charted in the United Kingdom and Australia.  Although Darren Hayes' solo career hasn’t been well-received in North America (despite most of his solo songs being fantastic), he did end up having a minor hit in 2002 with the song “Insatiable”.


It’s been a little over a decade since Savage Garden has been on the charts, and it seems that plans for a reunion are out of the question, according to Darren Hayes.  Hayes even admitted in a 2007 interview that a Savage Garden reunion would not be happening, saying that “he’d only do it if it cured cancer.”

A bold statement, no?

However, it should be noted that other bands have said the same thing at some point.  Nobody expected The Beatles to get back together again after their 1970 break-up, and yet the three surviving members at the time managed to have a hit in 1995 with “Free As A Bird”.  Nobody expected Blondie to get back together after they broke up in the early 1980s, and yet they released the song “Maria” after a seventeen year hiatus from the charts.

So, I guess as far as Savage Garden is concerned, they too may very well bite the bullet and record some new songs together after all.


For now, we always have the memories of this unique Australian duo, whose songs contributed to my high school soundtrack.  They’re probably some of the only pleasant memories from that time period, truthfully speaking.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Big Comfy Couch


A few weeks ago, I came up with an idea to feature educational children's shows that were based out of Canada, and wrote a blog about it. As we deduced, some shows were really good, some were just okay, and some were just absolutely insane.

The feature ended up being a hit. It received a lot of page views, and on my own personal Facebook page, I received a lot of comments about the subjects from my friends list.

One comment in particular really got my attention, and it was the inspiration behind today's blog entry. Here it is, as it was written on March 31, 2012...

What aboot “The Big Comfy Couch”? That scored HUGE in the states, and they only filmed about 15 episodes...my daughter still has her Molly doll!”
  • Gregg M., Nebraska

All right, Gregg from Nebraska. Challenge accepted.



Today we're going to look back on the classic children's television program “The Big Comfy Couch”, which actually ran a lot longer than fifteen episodes! The show aired off and on in Canada between 1992 and 2006, and one hundred episodes were actually filmed and aired in Canada.

(Maybe when the show aired on PBS, they only aired the first season or so.)



There's actually a couple of reasons why I opted to do a whole blog entry on this children's show. Firstly, my niece, who is now fifteen years old, used to watch “The Big Comfy Couch” all the time when she was a little girl, so I know the show quite well. Any time she came over to visit, she would have the television tuned into “The Big Comfy Couch”. And, just like Gregg's daughter, my niece also owned the Molly doll. The show itself wasn't a bad one (regardless of the fact that when it debuted, I was already outside of the target demographic), and I thought it might stir up some discussion for younger readers of this blog.

The second reason...I will share that at the end of the blog.



The Big Comfy Couch” was filmed in Canada, and debuted on YTV on March 2, 1992. The show was about the adventures of a young toddler clown named Loonette and her doll, Molly.

For the first ten years of the show, Loonette was played by voice artist and actress Alyson Court, and between 2003 and 2006, the role was taken over by Ramona Gilmour-Darling. And, Molly was a movable puppet that was controlled by famous puppeteer, Bob Stutt (who also worked on the Canadian television program “Today's Special).

Each episode focused on a different subject, and Loonette and Molly would have all sorts of adventures surrounding the theme. For example, if the episode's title was “Red Light, Green Light”, the episode would be about how Loonette and Molly would learn the difference between stopping and going. If the episode was called “Wrong Side Of The Couch”, we would see Loonette waking up and being in a bad mood.

Although each episode had a different theme, the structure for each episode was almost exactly the same. At the beginning of each episode, we'd see Loonette waking up from one of her sixteen naps of the day. She'd greet everyone who was watching her on television and introduce Molly to everyone. But whenever Loonette would wake up, she would always feel stiff and she wanted to get up off of the couch and stretch a bit. So, she'd walk over to the clock shaped rug nearby and perform something called a “clock stretch”. Watch a clip of this below.



Looking back on it, the “clock stretch” was brilliant. Loonette stretched her body in a way that it resembled second and minute hands moving around the same way they would on an analog clock. Mind you, none of my watches quite moved around the same way that Loonette did, but I appreciate the creativity behind it.

Once the clock stretch was out of the way, Loonette would frequently brainstorm ideas with Molly about what they should do. Of course, Molly couldn't speak. All she could do was communicate with thought bubbles that made the same noise as an info-bubble on Pop-Up Video. However, Molly's ideas were fun and interesting. Usually, Molly would want Loonette to read a story. So, Loonette would dig within the depths of “The Big Comfy Couch” to pull out her oversized reading glasses and a story to read. Sometimes, Molly wanted to dance, so Loonette started up a dance studio which she dubbed the “Miss Loonette's Dance Academy”. She would perform a classical dance, and Molly would often watch in excitement.

Sometimes, Loonette would want to play with the dolls in her dollhouse, so the action would shift over from the couch to inside the dollhouse where we watched the Foley Family interact with each other, usually with hilarious results. Watch a clip of the Foley Family in action.



Sometimes we'd also get a close up view of the action that was going on underneath the couch. For Loonette, there wasn't anything special about the bottom of the couch. It was just one very dusty place. But for Molly, the space underneath the couch was the home of her two friends, Fuzzy and Wuzzy.

Otherwise known as the Dustbunnies.

I can see why Molly loved the Dustbunnies. They were cute...in their own allergy triggering kind of way. And, the Dustbunnies actually owe their lives to Molly, for she saved them when Loonette got a little bit too congested.



I'll just come right out and say it...when I was forced to watch “The Big Comfy Couch” during the years in which my niece was small, the episode could be saved if the Dustbunnies appeared. I loved those little guys.

Now, don't go thinking that all Loonette did all day was lounge around the couch. She did have some excitement outside the living room. In every episode, Loonette would leave the house and go and visit her beloved Granny Garbanzo, who lived in a wagon with her pet cat Snicklefritz.



(Come to think of it, I often wondered how a toddler like Loonette was allowed to just leave the house on her own to visit her grandmother without child protective services knocking on the door. Maybe Granny Garbanzo lived next door or something. Anybody want to help me out with this one?)

Anyway, Granny Garbanzo was very caring, and she loved Loonette and Molly very much. She loved showing Loonette and Molly all of the plants that she grew in her garden, and sometimes would entertain Loonette with stories from the old country.



At some point during Loonette's visit, a clown mailman riding a unicycle would drop by to join the party. His name was Major Bedhead, and he would often be in the area to drop of a letter or present for Loonette.

(Come to think of it, wouldn't Major Bedhead be better off delivering Loonette's mail to her OWN house? But then again, maybe it was arranged that way so that it would guarantee Granny Garbanzo one visit per day if all of Loonette's mail arrived there.)



Anyway, Major Bedhead would hand Loonette a postcard from her Auntie Macassar or her Uncle Chester, and in the postcard, they would tell Loonette of all of the wonderful adventures that they experienced while traveling the world. In some rare instances, Loonette's Auntie Macassar would drop in for a visit, usually making some grand entrance in the process.

So a typical Loonette day would actually be quite busy. She'd exercise, read, dance, play, visit her grandmother, chat with Major Bedhead. Loonette was quite the active kid.

But when she often got home, she was shocked to find out that the “Big Comfy Couch” was a big, messy pile of toys, clothes, and books. Loonette was outraged, and she demanded to know WHO MADE THIS BIG MESS!



Problem was, it was her.

But, Loonette's a good little clown, and she always cleans up after herself. And unlike most boys and girls her age, she can clean up a room in TEN seconds. It's a little chore that Loonette liked to call the Ten-Second Tidy. Watch it below.



Well, okay...the “ten” second tidy really lasted fifteen seconds (which was probably more like ten minutes as the Ten-Second Tidy feature was shown sped up). But, at least she cleaned up after herself.

After she cleaned up the couch, Loonette would be yawning, and she could barely keep her eyes open. She was fading fast and needed to get some sleep. So, at the end of each episode, she would say goodbye to the audience, tuck herself and Molly in underneath a blanket, and go to sleep at the closing credits rolled.

It's really nice to see that Loonette and Molly both had a place to feel safe and secure when they were young. That place happened to be an overstuffed, green couch. And, that brings me up to the second reason why I wanted to do an entry on this show.

I'd like to think that when we were all Loonette's age, we also had a spot in our homes that we felt safe. At least I hope that was the case. I know I had such a spot. In my childhood house, it was a spare room that my family used to store all the things that we couldn't find a place for. We never had a garage, so this was the next best thing. It was filled with all my old books, old furniture, and various knick-knacks. That room became my sanctuary. I think I spent more time in that room than I did in my own bedroom, I loved it so much. I had so many adventures in that room, and like Loonette, you never knew what sorts of treasures you'd find there.

But that was my experience. Some kids would choose a window with a chair nearby. Some kids hid underneath the kitchen table. Some would choose the seventh step on a flight of stairs. I knew of one kid who liked to play in the bathtub!

So, I guess to end off this note, I ask this.

BONUS QUESTION: What was your “Big Comfy Couch” place?

(Thanks again, Gregg, for the great post idea!)