Mr. Pop History – He did! Warner Brothers groomed the young stars of their early TV shows for records. Connie Stevens and Ed “Kookie” Byrnes already had hits, so it was a good strategy. WB was thinking young and one of the first major media TV companies to crossover their TV actors to make pop/teen records.
Another young WB TV star was Robert (Bob) Conrad of “77 Sunset Strip. Warner Brothers Records released several Bob Conrad singles around 1961. The biggest was “I Just Gotta Have You” and here it is… “Love You” was another that received top-40 airplay.
I admit – The Wild Wild West was one of my all time favorites and so is Robert Conrad. Not a bad singer too!
33m – I Just Gotta Have You – Bob Conrad
Mr. Pop History – The Beatles, the Archies, the Osmonds. Even Prince was turned into a comic book in 1992. There are many more who were cartoon figures and released records such as “Barbie,” Jose and the Pussycats,’ “Pebbles and Bam Bam” and “The Simpsons.” href=”http://www.mrpophistory.com/askmrpophistory/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Archies.jpg”>
Mr. Pop History – That’s right. The late Tupac Amaru Shakur was named by his mother – Afeni Shakur – a Black Panther party member who was carrying him while imprisoned. The “real” Tupac Amaru, was a 16th century Incan chief and was the leader of what became the last Incan holdouts against Spanish rule. Fast forward to 1984, when a leftist group led by Victor Polay Campos assumed the name and declared its opposition toward the Peruvian government. You can find more on the Net. 
Mr. Pop History – I point to the 1990 release of “Louder Than Love” by Soundgarden.
Then on to 1991 – when Nirvana “Smells Like a Teen Spirit” was released. Then – Pearl Jam gets its name on the cover of Rolling Stone.
1992 – Nirvana is on the cover of Rolling Stone and the magazine describes Seattle as the new Liverpool. Pearl Jam’s debut album – “Ten” sells a ton. Vogue magazine featured grunge fashion, which was typically, flannel shirts, untied combat boots, knit caps, mismatched stripes and disheveled hair. There’s more, but this is a good start.
Mr. Pop History – You must be referring to something called “Trump Card” – a game show taped at the Trump Castle in Atlantic City. It ran for a TV season – beginning in September of 1991. Trumped was dumped (stopped production) the following spring due to low ratings. Jimmy Cefalo was the emcee.
Ever the showman – here’s a picture of Donald Trump shaking hands with host Cefalo on the debut program.
Mr. Pop History – This smells of “USA Up All Night” with the likes of comedians such as Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear. It was a 1990’s thing. It aired weekends and featured low-budget movies. 
Mr. Pop History – His CBS show began on August 30, 1993. His prior NBC late-night talkshow ran for 1,809 episodes and 11½ years. 
Mr. Pop History – Thanks Ted. For so many years, radio stations relied on reel-to-reel tape – especially for newscasts and cartridge machines to playback commercials and music. That all changed when, around 1992 – something called the D-Cart system began to replace tape at some networks – particularly ABC radio. Interestingly – D-Cart was made in Australia. This was the first such digital system for radio record and playback. 
Mr. Pop History – That’s right and the girls made their first Pepsi appearance, singing behind Ray Charles on a Super Bowl Diet Pepsi ad in 1991. After that, they took on a life of their own – so-to-speak. After all – no one sang “Uh-Oh” better.
They appeared on talkshows, supermarket openings – you name it. Several years later, it all came to an end – because – the girls weren’t helping sales – and it didn’t help that they wanted to become more “serious” as music artists – afterall – they were lip-synching on commercials and in appearances.
The “Uh-Oh” girls were Darleen Dillinger, Mellani Paul and Gretchen Palmer. They only appeared only on Diet Pepsi soda labels in Japan – because over there, they were extremely popular. Here’s a picture of a Japanese Diet Pepsi soda bottle from 1993.
Mr. Pop History – One of the best-known hair styles in pop history was “the bubble” or the Jackie look. The bouffant hairdo was created for Jackie Kennedy by Michel Kazan, who also created hairpieces known as falls.
He said he created the Jackie look during a society affair at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the guests included Mrs. Kennedy (and Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and others). He sent three pictures of Mrs. Kennedy wearing the bouffant to Vogue magazine – and that was that. She wore the style for 20 years – and it was still seen on ladies into the 1970’s. Hope that helps. 
Recent Comments