VintageGent’s Menswear Daily

Be a Star: No Matter Who You Aren’t!

Back in the day, you had to be discovered by a record label to get a break. Inevitably, you would be under contract and receive pennies, but hey, you were famous. Then came indie labels where if you weren’t very “commercial,” but some people tapped their tow to it, you still had a chance. Well, actually it helped if people COULDN’T tap their toe to it. Too hazardous when you were tapping your orange steel toed boots.

Now, you can bypass all that and be Justin Bieber, who I finally figured out started out by singing on YouTube, or you can just somehow get your song converted to a ringtone and have people around the world hear your snippet.

In fact, it now doesn’t matter what you look like. While there was a bit stink over Milli Vanilli not really being Milli Vanilli you could be Anna Blue, who apparently is a cartoon character who sings her own songs. You can get the Anna blue songs as ringtones and for all you know her little girl voice can really be from a 75 grandmother from Topeka or a 37 year old male cartoon voice person.

Rest in peace, Milli.  Or was that Vanilli who died under the stress of it all? You did not die in vain, you were just way ahead of your time.

Clothing Songs: St. Cecilia and the Knickers Ban

There are a number of popular songs that mention fashion designers or specific articles of clothing. Today I was thinking that fashion that ends up in song may not be reflective of the actual attire of the time, as it seems that for something to make it into song, it has to be outrageous.  Someone usually needs to obsessively love a fashion or piece of clothing, or is pointing out something unusual.  After all, your everyday socks don’t inspire artistic expression.  For example, the polka dot tie that I mentioned in the song Pink Shoelaces.

Sometimes, it is amazing to ponder how sensibilities change in such a short amount of time.   In 1971, the group with the ever so pious name of St. Cecilia, was kicked off the air for their tune Leap up and Down (wave your Knickers in the Air) for singing a “rude song.”  Of course, with the “knickers” title, this created an uproar in England, as it wasn’t referring to the synonymously named faux jodhpurs that were so popular with middle school girls in the 80s.

In the early 80s, when tastes changed, and people calmed down about the song, they were able to perform it and it was considered rather tame, and a little silly.  In fact, the song makes many lists of worst songs of the 70s, despite the hoopla.   A decade after the song saw light, we of course started seeing people’s behinds on network television, such as on NYPD.  Apparently waving one’s knickers around had become passe’ and “no knickers” was the “new knickers”.

Oddly enough, I have not been able to find the lyrics transcribed anywhere unless I got cracking myself.   Are there any other crazy clothing songs among your favorites…or least favorites?

Beatles “Come Together” with CGI Beards

I was just simply fascinated by the new Beatles Rock Band video game commercial. Clips of the Fab Four from the Let it Be sessions were spliced in seamlessly with new footage of modern day extras. Of course, in “Let it Be,” John and George were beardless. They used the magic of CGI to add beards so they matched the look of the Abbey Road time frame, in order to use the iconic street crossing scene in the same ad and making it seem like it was happening just a moment or two before.  There were some folks on the internet that believed that an actor stood in to play John, but that is most definitely him.  It may be because they are used to seeing that clip of him smiling from “Let it Be” and with the beard it doesn’t look quite right to them.

I would love to see a “makings of” video. If anyone has something to that order, please leave a comment so I can check it out.

There were a few commercials in the past that have used old footage. There was a commercial that I can’t seem to find that had Humphrey Bogart in a bar. This earlier Coors commercial features John Wayne. There is a big difference in the quality of the execution. Wayne doesn’t have as much contact with the other actors, and it is hard to tell with the poor video quality, but the quality of the film Wayne is on does not appear to be the same as the rest of the scene. (By the way, Wayne appears at about :34 seconds into the clip.)

Jenny’s Back and More Expensive Than Ever

This morning, I recalled the auction a few years back, where someone was auctioning off their phone number.  The winning bidder would own the cell phone number and it would be ported over when they paid.   Who would bid a bajillion dollars for a phone number.  Well, since California 654 doesn’t mean anything anymore, of course it is 867-5309.  If you have this number, than you probably have been pranked by people singing to you or finding out if “Jenny Jenny is there.   Of course, this Jenny was wailed about by Tommy Tutone in some serious 80s perms.

Of course is Jenny Jenny, performed by Tommy Tutone in their 80s perms, ties, and t-shirts.

Ironically, there is yet another auction for the phone number.  The one that I recall (which was for the 212 New York area code) was shut down because it was determined the number was actually owned by the phone company and could not legally be sold.  However, this auctioner had that base covered by also including the DJ business that the number belongs to in the (201) area code.    In fact, it just ended here at a price that is ludicrous for a phone number but may not be all that bad for a successful business, perhaps.

Don’t remember the song, well here are the lyrics and the song and if you are not carefully will be drilled into your head sometime today. Of course, this performance was a few years after “Jenny” took the world by storm, and the world moved on from matching shirts and socks to matching shirts and shoes. Oh yeah! Though if you were the white T-shirt type and followed this, everyone would point and say you were wearing “grandpa shoes,” as wearing sneakers was cheating. You would have to do loafers or wings.

Hey…
Jenny, Jenny who can I turn to
You give me something I can hold on to
I know you’ll think I’m like the others before
Who saw your name and number on the wall
Jenny I’ve got your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny don’t change your number
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)

Jenny, Jenny you’re the girl for me
You don’t know me but you make me so happy
I tried to call you before
But I lost my nerve
I tried my imagination
But I was disturbed

Jenny I’ve got your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny don’t change your number
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)

I got it (I got it), I got it
I got your number on the wall
I got it (I got it), I got it
For a good time call

Jenny don’t change your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny I’ve got your number
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)

Hey…
Jenny don’t change your number
I need to make you mine
Jenny I call your number
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)

Jenny, Jenny who can I turn to
For the price of a dime
I can always turn to you
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)
8 6 7-5 3 0 9 (8 6 7-5 3 0 9)

As you see, not too much happens. But isn’t that the case of many 80s songs. One may argue that it is not true, that Duran Duran became somehow involved in the French Revolution except with more leather jackets per capita than what existed back then and that John Mellencamp toured the whole US of A, but that is false because it only appeared that way in the MUSIC VIDEO.  If you actually sit and listen to the song with no images of the MTV videos in your head, you will agree with me.   The counterrevoltionary situations only are merely are open for wide interpretation and the man formerly known as Cougar just said that America is “Something to See, Baby,” and should have been hired for a time share company that enticed people to sign up for a tour rather than actually saying that he danced across the country with his guitar.