Sunday Videos: Golden Age of Nickelodeon

Last week I featured YouTube clips of some of my favorite Disney Channel shows of the past. So of course this week I have to mention Nickelodeon. Even though I waxed nostalgic about the Disney shows, Nickelodeon was my channel. 

I always thought that Nickelodeon was the hipper older sibling or cousin. I knew of Iggy Pop and Michael Stipe because of Pete and Pete. I wanted to be friends with Clarissa Darling and Alex Mack because they were pre-teen (tween wasn't even in the vocabulary at the time) girls to look up to. Even though they were figuring out who they were, they never compromised their self-worth. Salute Your Shorts made me wish I went to summer camp, but Are You Afraid of the Dark? made me want to quickly dart to my room and hide under my comforter when my house was pitch dark. However I never did try to convince my parents to have us go on Family Double Dare and now I wished I did.

I dug up some classic Nickelodeon clips for you to enjoy and bring back memories of trying to finish your homework so you can watch TV. What were some of your favorite Nickelodeon shows?

Remember when Alex had a band for one episode?

Dude ranches are awesome

I sooo wanted to be on this show!

Before he was Kurt's Dad, Mike O'Malley was the host of Guts

Sunday Videos: Growing up on Disney

Last week, I had a Twitter conversation with Nicole regarding the old school Disney channel shows and movies we used to watch and it became a laundry list of different shows all pre Hanna Montana and HSM. On the top of my head I remember, The New Mickey Mouse Club, Kids Incorporated, Wish Upon a Star, Model Behavior, Flash Forward, Lizzy McGuire, Even Stevens, Alley Cat Strike, Halloween Town, and Quints. Ok, I'll stop right there because I think my head might explode from the fact I remember all of this. So after scouring YouTube, I found some classic Disney channel clips. Go grab your Dunkaroos, and Squeeze It, relax on your bean bag chair and enjoy these blasts from the not so distant past.

What where your favorite Disney shows growing up? 

Of course I couldn't forget the shows on Nickelodeon. Check back next week for that post.

Kicking it Old School: Save Ferris

I found out the official date of my 10 year high school reunion is September 25. My has time flown by! It has me thinking of all the music, movies, TV shows and trends I was introduced to during my high school years. So for the next 7 months, I'm going to be "kicking it old school" with the best in pop culture from '96-'00

During my Freshman year, I got into the whole ska scene. Unfortunately, my parents wouldn't let me attend any concerts yet so I had to relegate my love of ska with listening to cds in my room. With this third wave of ska, that hit it's peak in '96, bands like Rancid, No Doubt, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Reel Big Fish where getting air time on radio stations and MTV, when they were still playing music. One band that rode on the third wave of ska was Save Ferris.

Formed in 1995 in Orange County, Save Ferris consisted of Monique Powell (lead singer), Brian Mashburn (guitar/vocals), Bill Uechi (bass), Eric Zamora (saxophone) , José Castellaños (trumpet), Brian "T-Bone Willy" Williams (trumpet), and Marc Harismendy (drum). The band was named after a reference in the movie, Ferris Bullers Day Off (BTW: if you haven't watched yet, you're missing out)

In 1996 they released their debut EP Introducing Save Ferris and later that year they were awarded by the National Academy of Recoding Arts and Sciences a Grammy showcase award for best unsigned band and earned them a recording contract with Epic Records.

The following year, they released their full length album, It Means Everything that had a mix of songs from their EP, new songs and a cover of Dexys Midnight Runners "Come on Eileen." Their cover of the song along with their song "The World is New" became a minor hits.

After touring for It Means Everything, Save Ferris went back into the studio during the winter of  '98 to record their second full length album Modified. By that time Marc Harismendy left the band and was replaced by Evan Kilbourne. Released in October of '99, Modified was a departure from their punk-ska roots and veered toward pop-rock due to the changing nature of music at that time. Ska wasn't the "it" musical genre. But by changing their style, the album was panned by critics and fans. They toured for the album, but it never reached the success as their EP and first album. On September 20, 2002, they played their last show in Culver City.

I remember listening to the album for weeks. What other band can write a little pop ditty about canned meat, the song ("Spam")? I also wanted to dress like lead singer Monique with her short red hair and her cool vintage clothes. I guess you can say she was the most popular female ska singer next to Gwen Stefani during that time. They even made a cameo in the movie Ten Things I Hate About You. They're the band at prom and they got the part because they were Larisa Oleynik's (who played Bianca) favorite band. 

You can see them in the background.

Around the time they released their second album, my musical tastes were also evolving. Their album was good, but it didn't have a strong play-through as It Means Everything. However I do like to revisit their albums every now and then.

I already have a laundry list in my head of other pop culture topics, including the aforementioned, Ten Things About You,  that I will post about, but do you have any other suggestions? Write them in the comments below.

Also thanks for all your kind comments on my last post. I'll have to do the stripes/floral combination more often. :P You can also find me on Chictopia.

Credit: Wikipedia (band bio), Amazon ( album pictures), Here (band picture)