They Didn't Have Kid's Music Like This When I Was a Kid!

[MissFormosa]

I have a new obsession! I heard this band today on the Kid's Place radio show and thought they were awesome! This is the best thing I have heard lately! And it's great for kids from 0-101 years old!

When I was young growing up in Los Angeles, I used to listen to bands like the Circle Jerks, The Descendents, and The Vandals and they were definitely NOT kid friendly. I used to have to hide my records from my parents even though I was in Junior High! I wish this band was around when I was a kid - my parent's wouldn't have objected so much and would have saved a lot of arguments!

The band (well, if you can call it that) is called Butterfly Starpower. It is comprised of an adorable 5 year old girl named Mariposa singing, her dad on guitar and a BR-600. Mariposa writes all of her songs and they have titles such as "I Love My Parakeets", "Bug Bite Emergency" and "My Boyfriend Eli is as Cool as a Jedi". How refreshing!!!

Here is their MySpace page:
Butterfly Starpower

Here also is a live performance they did:
Butterfly Starpower performing Bug Bite Emergency and I Love My Parakeets on YouTube

I'm in love! They are so rad!

[blackarrow]

I'm partial to Tim Hawkins' Kids Rock stuff myself. YouTube - Kids' Rock by Tim Hawkins

[twiztedlilfae]

oh man so cute!!! We used to listen to Raffi and this tape that had some amazing songs that I can't listen to. Sheri, lois, and Bram. I loved the Elephant Show. I grew up on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr.

[MissFormosa]

When I look back at the shows I watched as a kid, I kind of shudder a little.

For one, reruns of the Sid and Marty Kroft shows were very popular and my favorite was Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. The show revolved around a young monster with a seriously dysfunctional family. They kicked him out of the house because he refused to scare people. So he crashed at some kid's clubhouse, whose parents seem to be on a never ending vacation. Together they try to keep Sigmund from being discovered by his parents. Yes, deceiving your parents is a very useful thing to learn indeed! You would thank this show for what it taught you once you reached your teenage years for sure!

I also watched Land of the Lost. I saw Land of the Lost on TV a while back when the remake was coming out in theaters and it was terrifying! The Sleestaks were enough to give me nightmares! How I could watch this as a kid is beyond me now. There must have been something magic in my Life cereal that hypnotized me into watching it. I bet Mikey watched it too.

And then there was H. R. Pufnstuf. Wow. Where to begin? A southern fried, go-go boot wearing dragon, a talking golden flute with an attitude, and a Witchiepoo that had a vroom broom and was badly in need of a dermatologist - disturbing to say the least. I wonder what happened to poor Jimmy. Maybe he is institutionalized now, still having conversations with his golden flute and asking for a Pepsi. Just one Pepsi.

I enjoyed watching the educational shows like The Electric Company and 3-2-1 Contact. There was also this show that I watched but was slightly confused about. It had a guy named Slim Goodbody. He wore a flesh colored body suit with organs and bones painted on it and had a hairdo not unlike Richard Simmons. Ironically, he would talk about eating healthy at a time when Sugar Bear sold Post Sugar Crisps, everyone knew the Big Mac song by heart, E.T. needed Reece's Pieces to phone home, and Kool Aid required a cup of sugar. No wonder the Kool Aid man had so much energy! Oh yeeahh!

Equally disturbing was the Smurfs. This didn't confuse me at the time, but would cause me some serious contemplation later in life as an adult. Exactly what kind of village was this? There was a Papa smurf, a Smurfette, and then the rest of the Smurfs appeared to be males of all the same age. Huh? Oh wait. Papa Smurf? Hmmmm...maybe he was a hustler! Now it makes sense! (hee!) You know someone had to be doing something in those mushrooms because soon there was a baby Smurf.

Then there was Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He was the calming force in my life. Just a gentle man with a conservative manner of dress, kind of like a school principle. I didn't like the puppets, though. The puppets in this kingdom would make a big scene about nothing important. Every one seemed to be a drama queen, even the King! If I was one of those puppets, I would have jumped the trolley to another kingdom and got the heck out of there.

I loved the Mr. T. cartoons. He taught me something very important. "Be somebody or be somebody's fool". And to "Pity the fool".

Nickelodeon came out when I was passing into my teens, so I didn't watch much of it. I did like "You Can't Do That on Television" because dumping chunky green slime on people is very entertaining. However, later in life, when you have drank too much, and everyone does this at least once, and you accidently throw up on your friend's lap - it's doesn't seem to have the same effect to it. Darn.

[Peggysu]

Originally Posted by MissFormosa

Then there was Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He was the calming force in my life. Just a gentle man with a conservative manner of dress, kind of like a school principle. I didn't like the puppets, though. The puppets in this kingdom would make a big scene about nothing important. Every one seemed to be a drama queen, even the King! If I was one of those puppets, I would have jumped the trolley to another kingdom and got the heck out of there.

I hated those puppets on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. They would make me very uncomfortable.

[Wodentoad]

Hey, not *everyone* has been so drunk they throw up. For personal reasons, I do not drink alcohol. I prefer large amounts of caffeine, but that's another story.

You have a couple of years on me, MissFormosa, but I was a big fan of She-ra and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I only barely remember Captain Kangaroo, and I occasionally watched Sesame Street before it became over-commercialized. To this day, I make my pizzas at home with gobs and gobs of Mozzarella so it stretches. I was not allowed to watch smurfs because my parents were very big onto expanding vocabulary (to the point that we would go to the dictionary and learn a new word every day), so I stuck it out with shows like Square 1, MTV when it was actually *music* television, and the Discovery Channel when they showed Lions eating Antelopes during the day. I also grew up watching crime procedural dramas like the Commish, Murder She Wrote, and such like that. And let's not forget Star Trek during my formative years, making me, like my mother before me, a die-hard TOS/TNG trekkie.

My son is two years old and while we allow Spongebob, Penguins of Madagascar, and iCarly, early morning Nick Jr. shows are right out. I refuse to allow it, mostly because of the commercialization. The Elmo Show? Really? What happened to Fraggle Rock! (Another of my favorites, which I have on DVD) Instead we watch A&E and learn about cops and science catching bad guys and talk about why they are bad guys. If my son became a cop, I would be proud as a peach. We also listen to the news on NPR, and the morning concert on the radio. Too many children are TV addicts, and I like it that my son runs off to occupy himself.

[MissFormosa]

Originally Posted by Wodentoad

Hey, not *everyone* has been so drunk they throw up. For personal reasons, I do not drink alcohol. I prefer large amounts of caffeine, but that's another story.

Well, believe me, once it happens, you don't forget it. When I was about 17 or 18 years old, I was drinking Jack Daniels with beer. At this age, you're not experienced enough to know not to do this, but I thought I was totally rad. Well, long story short, I still get this nauseous feeling when I come within feet of a Jack Daniels bottle or smell it. I want to run away! It's like kryptonite!

Yeah, I can't remember the last time I drank alcohol, but I HAVE to have at least 4 cups of coffee in the morning or I can't function and get a bad headache! I try to justify it by thinking it's 4 cups of antioxidants.

Originally Posted by Wodentoad

You have a couple of years on me, MissFormosa, but I was a big fan of She-ra.

I remember He-Man and She-ra! He-Man had a really silly hairstyle, like a medieval warrior! Did you ever see this video? Funny!

He-Man Sings!

My son likes to watch the Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba, but he's only 2.

I love Star Trek too...the old one. The Shat is my favorite actor ever! He is just fabulous!

[Ly&Pigs]

Let's not delve anymore into the drinking or alcohol discussion please. It's really not appropriate.

When I was a kid a billion years ago, my favorites were Captain Kangaroo, H.R. Puffnstuff, the original Land of the Lost, Little Rascals and the original Mickey Mouse Club.

[MissFormosa]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

Let's not delve anymore into the drinking or alcohol discussion please. It's really not appropriate.

When I was a kid a billion years ago, my favorites were Captain Kangaroo, H.R. Puffnstuff, the original Land of the Lost, Little Rascals and the original Mickey Mouse Club.

Oh geez, I always get myself in trouble! Sorry about that... I just type what comes to mind. I'll censor this better! Ugh...I can be such an airhead!

Back to the thread...

I LOVE the "Little Rascals"! I loved it when Alfalfa sang "The Object of My Affection" to Darla (I think this was in an earlier "Our Gang"). That is such a sweet song.

Poor Alfalfa...he had a terrible end. I've heard of a "Our Gang" curse because so many of the original "Our Gang" members met a tragic end.

I used to love seeing Annette Funicello on the "Mickey Mouse Club" and in the "Beach" movies they would rerun on TV. Do you remember when she was the peanut butter spokeslady? Wasn't it for Skippy?

[Ly&Pigs]

Yep, Annette did the Skippy Peanut Butter commercials. She also developed MS and that's one thing I share with her.

Now I have the song Beach Blanket Bingo stuck in my head.