What sounds or musical passages subconsciously trigger memories for you?
December 13, 2019 12:13 PM Subscribe
When you hear the old WGBH techno-electronica station intro, does your mind immediately start "singing" the Sesame Street theme? When a classic rock radio station plays ELO's "Fire on High" do you recall weekend afternoons watching a CBS Sports Spectacular? Does the whistled version of "The Colonel Bogey March" remind you of The Breakfast Club or the film The Bridge on the River Kwai? Does this trumpet fanfare remind you of ABC's Wide World of Sports and the "agony of defeat"skier Vinko Bogotaj?
If you're British and over 45, you might have been haunted by this...
posted by pipeski at 12:24 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by pipeski at 12:24 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
This CBS Special Presentation ident means I've just started a VHS tape of a movie that my parents recorded off of TV. We had several like this.
posted by TrialByMedia at 12:29 PM on December 13, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by TrialByMedia at 12:29 PM on December 13, 2019 [15 favorites]
that WGBH bumper will never not be followed in my brain by the early-80s-era This Old House theme.
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 12:34 PM on December 13, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 12:34 PM on December 13, 2019 [4 favorites]
For me, despite my childhood being in the heart of Sesame Street territory, the thing I always hear right after WGBH Boston stinger is the theme song to This Old House. For whatever reason, Hometime was a Saturday morning fixture in my household, and This Old House always came on afterwards.
posted by chrominance at 12:35 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by chrominance at 12:35 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Also JINX
posted by chrominance at 12:36 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by chrominance at 12:36 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
My entire tape collection as a kid was taped from FM radio, mostly from the Saturday top thirty countdown with Casey Casem.
To this day Legs by ZZ Top sounds weird to me if it doesn't conclude with an unintelligible quarter-syllable Casem blurt.
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2019 [7 favorites]
To this day Legs by ZZ Top sounds weird to me if it doesn't conclude with an unintelligible quarter-syllable Casem blurt.
posted by Sauce Trough at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2019 [7 favorites]
Winners, warm up with Malt-O-Meal... is my Bogey March.
Can you hear the William Tell Overture and not think of the Lone Ranger?
posted by cccorlew at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2019 [7 favorites]
Can you hear the William Tell Overture and not think of the Lone Ranger?
posted by cccorlew at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2019 [7 favorites]
The Screen Gems logo, which ran at the end of "The Monkees" Saturday morning TV show, almost 50 years later still brings back the feeling of it bumping me out of my hours-long cartoon coma and leaving me to wonder bleakly what the hell I was going to do for the rest of the day.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:40 PM on December 13, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:40 PM on December 13, 2019 [15 favorites]
I might be transported back to 1986 if I suddenly heard Mr. Leonard's voice.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:40 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:40 PM on December 13, 2019
The WGBH intro is so experimental for its time! We live in an age where the largest media companies in the world tremble with uncertainty about rolling out a sans-serif rebrand. Can you imagine Instagram going "fuck it, we're going with glitch art"?
posted by phooky at 12:44 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by phooky at 12:44 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Animotion's "Obsession" will always take me back to the glory days of Hulkamania.
posted by MrJM at 12:52 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by MrJM at 12:52 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
As a kid, seeing the THAMES ident was an indicator of quality content incoming.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 12:57 PM on December 13, 2019 [18 favorites]
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 12:57 PM on December 13, 2019 [18 favorites]
I still find random occasions to use "This is only a test" (in the stilted delivery of the original) in conversation.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:57 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:57 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
WGBH intro. My brain immediately hears the opening theme to “Zoom”.
CBS Special Presentation (the more percussive one with the spirally graphics): Means that any one of the Peanuts holiday specials is up next.
posted by sundrop at 12:58 PM on December 13, 2019 [18 favorites]
CBS Special Presentation (the more percussive one with the spirally graphics): Means that any one of the Peanuts holiday specials is up next.
posted by sundrop at 12:58 PM on December 13, 2019 [18 favorites]
Old Kentucky Shark : that WGBH bumper will never not be followed in my brain by the early-80s-era This Old House theme.
Or Masterpiece Theatre.
posted by slkinsey at 12:59 PM on December 13, 2019
Or Masterpiece Theatre.
posted by slkinsey at 12:59 PM on December 13, 2019
Young Ghidorah somehow believed that the 20th Century Fox fanfare was actually the opening part of the Star Wars fanfare, to the point that new, Disney produced Star Wars films feel weird and abrupt to me.
posted by Ghidorah at 1:00 PM on December 13, 2019 [26 favorites]
posted by Ghidorah at 1:00 PM on December 13, 2019 [26 favorites]
Sesame Street was not a WGBH production, so I don't know why their ident would trigger that for people. Now, ZOOM, on the other hand, was from WGBH, and it triggers that for me, along with the theme song to The French Chef, Nova, and (as others have said) This Old House.
posted by briank at 1:01 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by briank at 1:01 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
Definitiely, the WGBH theme means it's time to come on and Zoom Zoom Zoom-a Zoom.
posted by PatchesPal at 1:01 PM on December 13, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by PatchesPal at 1:01 PM on December 13, 2019 [16 favorites]
As a kid, seeing the THAMES ident was an indicator of quality content incoming.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 3:57 PM on December 13
I was coming here to say that fanfare and then Count Duckula. I can still hear it.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:02 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 3:57 PM on December 13
I was coming here to say that fanfare and then Count Duckula. I can still hear it.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:02 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
I laughed when I immediately recognized the reference to the Twilight Zone show when I first saw Futurama's Scary Door intro.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:04 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:04 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
There's about 4 seconds of banjo in an Eagles song that fills me with a frenzied youthful anticipation that is still glorious and quiveringly visceral for me even forty years later, which is amusing, because virtually everything else the Eagles even recorded fills me with with deep resentment and sneering disgust.
posted by sonascope at 1:11 PM on December 13, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by sonascope at 1:11 PM on December 13, 2019 [10 favorites]
As a kid, seeing the THAMES ident was an indicator of quality content incoming.
More specifically, Benny Hill.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 1:15 PM on December 13, 2019 [10 favorites]
More specifically, Benny Hill.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 1:15 PM on December 13, 2019 [10 favorites]
The CBS Radio top-of-the-hour chime and intro
IIRC the chime also got in front of TV shows too. From time to time it gets killed off the radio channels and then mysteriously returns a few months later. I think people complain when its missing.
The WGBH intro is so experimental for its time!
The career of Eric Siday is worth exploring if you're into synths and electronic music pioneers.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:17 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
IIRC the chime also got in front of TV shows too. From time to time it gets killed off the radio channels and then mysteriously returns a few months later. I think people complain when its missing.
The WGBH intro is so experimental for its time!
The career of Eric Siday is worth exploring if you're into synths and electronic music pioneers.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:17 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Sadly, when I am old and crusty and beset by dementia, many years from now (I hope), if you merely say the word "zoom" to me, I will drift into awareness from whatever distant place I've retreated to in my head and sing, in a hoarse whisper, "OOOOOH TWO ONE THREE FOOOOOUR!"
posted by sonascope at 1:26 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by sonascope at 1:26 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
More specifically, Benny Hill.
I was a bit young for Benny Hill so for me it was more Count Duckula, Danger Mouse, Sooty, T-Bag, and Mr Bean.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 1:26 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
I was a bit young for Benny Hill so for me it was more Count Duckula, Danger Mouse, Sooty, T-Bag, and Mr Bean.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 1:26 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
Open University.
Vision On deserves a post of its own. Maybe soon.
posted by Grangousier at 1:28 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
Vision On deserves a post of its own. Maybe soon.
posted by Grangousier at 1:28 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
Raise your hand if hearing Debussy's Arabesque makes you think back to Jack Horkheimer doing his stargazing radio programs...
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:32 PM on December 13, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:32 PM on December 13, 2019 [15 favorites]
I just assumed ELO’s music was a recommended style. Like clippy popping up and saying “Looks like you’re trying to write the opening theme music for a sports event...”
And I absolutely love ELO
posted by JoeXIII007 at 1:38 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
And I absolutely love ELO
posted by JoeXIII007 at 1:38 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
National Anthem tv sign off could still wake me up from falling asleep on the couch...
posted by Chuffy at 1:41 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Chuffy at 1:41 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
How is the 1983 HBO intro not in this list?
posted by mkb at 1:41 PM on December 13, 2019 [23 favorites]
posted by mkb at 1:41 PM on December 13, 2019 [23 favorites]
Screen gems still reminds me of Kojak.
Merv Griffin Enterprises featured prominently as well.
posted by Chuffy at 1:43 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
Merv Griffin Enterprises featured prominently as well.
posted by Chuffy at 1:43 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
Young Ghidorah somehow believed that the 20th Century Fox fanfare was actually the opening part of the Star Wars fanfare, to the point that new, Disney produced Star Wars films feel weird and abrupt to me.
John Williams composed the Star Wars fanfare in the same key as the Fox fanfare so the two would flow together seamlessly. Dude knew what he was doing.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:53 PM on December 13, 2019 [19 favorites]
John Williams composed the Star Wars fanfare in the same key as the Fox fanfare so the two would flow together seamlessly. Dude knew what he was doing.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:53 PM on December 13, 2019 [19 favorites]
Every single time someone on NPR would mention the TPP (and I listen to Marketplace daily, so it happened a. lot.) I would reflexively answer "yeah you know me" to the radio.
posted by Flannery Culp at 1:55 PM on December 13, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by Flannery Culp at 1:55 PM on December 13, 2019 [8 favorites]
I expect to hear the opening theme from The Sopranos when I hear the HBO Opening Sound.
posted by luckynerd at 2:05 PM on December 13, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by luckynerd at 2:05 PM on December 13, 2019 [6 favorites]
Also, surprised the PBS sound didn't make it onto the list.
posted by chrominance at 2:09 PM on December 13, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by chrominance at 2:09 PM on December 13, 2019 [17 favorites]
I expect to hear the opening theme from The Sopranos when I hear the HBO Opening Sound.
It makes me think of the first HBO original, "Dream On." Or the "Game of Thrones" theme, which I believe is in the minor key version of the major HBO opening chord.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 2:10 PM on December 13, 2019
It makes me think of the first HBO original, "Dream On." Or the "Game of Thrones" theme, which I believe is in the minor key version of the major HBO opening chord.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 2:10 PM on December 13, 2019
For me on summer weekday afternoons in the late 70s, this meant a couple of hours of cartoons, so I'd rush to finish whatever I was doing beforehand, because after that was this, and then this, and then this, and finally this (and after the theme tune, I'd shut the TV off because I didn't like this one). Must have been a package deal. They were all aired for several years where I grew up. I cannot think of one show without thinking of the others.
And, yes! The CBS Special Presentation with that bit from the Hawaii Five-O soundtrack? Well. Rudolph's coming on, right? Or "The Year Without a Santa Claus", or the Peanuts gang.
Suddenly, I want a Dolly Madison cake.
posted by droplet at 2:14 PM on December 13, 2019 [4 favorites]
And, yes! The CBS Special Presentation with that bit from the Hawaii Five-O soundtrack? Well. Rudolph's coming on, right? Or "The Year Without a Santa Claus", or the Peanuts gang.
Suddenly, I want a Dolly Madison cake.
posted by droplet at 2:14 PM on December 13, 2019 [4 favorites]
How is the 1983 HBO intro not in this list?
My body definitely thinks I'm about to watch The Never Ending Story or The Journey of Natty Gann right now.
posted by the sockening at 2:17 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
My body definitely thinks I'm about to watch The Never Ending Story or The Journey of Natty Gann right now.
posted by the sockening at 2:17 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
That CBS Sports link in the post actually points to ELP's cover of Fanfare for the Common Man. Equally inescapable at the time, but it's been way to long to remember when one was used vs the other. ELP, ELO, just one letter difference, right?
(jeez - on preview, I originally typed it as "ELO's cover of Fanfare....". No wonder it's confusing)
posted by cfraenkel at 2:24 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
(jeez - on preview, I originally typed it as "ELO's cover of Fanfare....". No wonder it's confusing)
posted by cfraenkel at 2:24 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
HBO in 1983? You musta been some rich f*ers. It was all over the air for us. ;-)
posted by PandaMomentum at 2:37 PM on December 13, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by PandaMomentum at 2:37 PM on December 13, 2019 [8 favorites]
Whenever I hear the NBC chimes, I immediately think of The Snake.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:45 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by Thorzdad at 2:45 PM on December 13, 2019
My bad. I guess I didn’t scroll to the bottom of the listicle. Please delete.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:50 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by Thorzdad at 2:50 PM on December 13, 2019
Does anyone remember the ABC 4:30 Movie?
posted by cazoo at 2:50 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by cazoo at 2:50 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
Haha this is right up my alley. I recently got on a kick of rescuing some of these by converting them to ringtones, and the CBS Special bongos are now my go-to timer alert on my phone. They're so fun they elicit a double-finger snap as they end, like some Pavlovian response.
I also converted the WGBH sound to a ringtone, because it's just too weird and vaguely ominous in that way that 1970s bumpers so often were that I couldn't pass it up. The old Thames TV bumper also made the cut—they make a great alert noise for calendar events. PBS did too.
I had a lot of fun putting them together, the hardest part was finding clean enough copies. It makes me unreasonably and illogically happy to have them assigned as alert noises.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 3:04 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
I also converted the WGBH sound to a ringtone, because it's just too weird and vaguely ominous in that way that 1970s bumpers so often were that I couldn't pass it up. The old Thames TV bumper also made the cut—they make a great alert noise for calendar events. PBS did too.
I had a lot of fun putting them together, the hardest part was finding clean enough copies. It makes me unreasonably and illogically happy to have them assigned as alert noises.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 3:04 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
In adulthood, I've grown pretty find of vintage soul music and have come to cherish old clips from Soul Train. But when I hear that intro I do not feel joy, I feel rage, like it's 1980, I'm five years old and Saturday morning cartoons are over.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:10 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:10 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
I feel rage
You'd have felt differently if you'd had my grandmother, for whom the "SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUL TRAIN!" opening meant it was time to holler for me to come down to the basement of her Baltimore rowhouse basement so we could tune in on her big black and white vacuum tube TV in hopes of a Damita Jo Freeman sighting, so that we could practice all of our delirious dance routines in case we ever ended up in that cosmic confluence of funk the called the Line.
"Joe-B," she'd say, watching one of Damita Jo Freeman's perfect cantilevered suspension routines, "I don't think I'll ever be able to get my leg to do that."
"Me neither. She's impossible," I'd say, but we'd keep on trying.
posted by sonascope at 3:32 PM on December 13, 2019 [15 favorites]
You'd have felt differently if you'd had my grandmother, for whom the "SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUL TRAIN!" opening meant it was time to holler for me to come down to the basement of her Baltimore rowhouse basement so we could tune in on her big black and white vacuum tube TV in hopes of a Damita Jo Freeman sighting, so that we could practice all of our delirious dance routines in case we ever ended up in that cosmic confluence of funk the called the Line.
"Joe-B," she'd say, watching one of Damita Jo Freeman's perfect cantilevered suspension routines, "I don't think I'll ever be able to get my leg to do that."
"Me neither. She's impossible," I'd say, but we'd keep on trying.
posted by sonascope at 3:32 PM on December 13, 2019 [15 favorites]
I have a a few "sleeper cell" music triggers from watching way too much tv at an impressionable age in the 80s.
In particular, those Party Rock greatest hits collections. They were the unintentional mashups of their time and every so often I'll hear the beginning of a song and my brain will expect another one to cut in.
[Chuck Berry] Riding around in my automobile...[The Monkees] and then I saw her face, and I'm a believer...
posted by jeremias at 3:35 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
In particular, those Party Rock greatest hits collections. They were the unintentional mashups of their time and every so often I'll hear the beginning of a song and my brain will expect another one to cut in.
[Chuck Berry] Riding around in my automobile...[The Monkees] and then I saw her face, and I'm a believer...
posted by jeremias at 3:35 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
HBO in 1983? You musta been some rich f*ers. It was all over the air for us. ;-)
My dad would wait until there was a free trial weekend of HBO and then videotape everything. That’s where most of our movies came from.
posted by dephlogisticated at 3:40 PM on December 13, 2019 [6 favorites]
My dad would wait until there was a free trial weekend of HBO and then videotape everything. That’s where most of our movies came from.
posted by dephlogisticated at 3:40 PM on December 13, 2019 [6 favorites]
Where's the love for the sound that introduced "In The News", the CBS News department's attempt to cater to kids in the 70s and 80s?
posted by hanov3r at 3:53 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by hanov3r at 3:53 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
This is what I waited for in the afternoons...
posted by jim in austin at 4:06 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 4:06 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
The HBO static sound opening will always trigger a Pavlovian “oh, is the Wire on” sort of response for me.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:15 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Ghidorah at 4:15 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Now, if you’re as old as me, and your parents were still big radio listeners, this sound might jog some childhood memories.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:24 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 4:24 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
To this day Legs by ZZ Top sounds weird to me if it doesn't conclude with an unintelligible quarter-syllable Casem blurt.
If you lived near Toronto in the early eighties, you might have been familiar with 1050 CHUM’s affable morning man, Tom Rivers. The morning news breaks were handled by legendarily grumpy newsman Dick Smyth and jolly sportscaster Brian Henderson. (Smyth, incidentally, was the eldest of the three by a goodseventy fifteen or twenty years, but he is the only one still with us today, as far as I know). Anyways, for reasons opaque to me, the transition back from the news segment back to the music was announced by the terminally square Smyth. I recall distinctly his throw in 1983: “Up next: ‘Sharp-Dressed Man’ from Twenty-Two Top!”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:40 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
If you lived near Toronto in the early eighties, you might have been familiar with 1050 CHUM’s affable morning man, Tom Rivers. The morning news breaks were handled by legendarily grumpy newsman Dick Smyth and jolly sportscaster Brian Henderson. (Smyth, incidentally, was the eldest of the three by a good
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:40 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
No one is that old, Thorzdad!
Says the crotchety old geezer with the santa beard.
posted by evilDoug at 4:40 PM on December 13, 2019
Says the crotchety old geezer with the santa beard.
posted by evilDoug at 4:40 PM on December 13, 2019
Where the hell is this, may I ask?
(Also this)
posted by tzikeh at 4:47 PM on December 13, 2019 [8 favorites]
(Also this)
posted by tzikeh at 4:47 PM on December 13, 2019 [8 favorites]
Whenever I hear the NBC chimes, I immediately think of The Snake yt .
Whenever I hear the NBC chimes, I recall that with a simple elegance, they seemingly celebrate the company’s original founding parent organization: the General Electric Corporation. Despite being a musician for many years, it took me ages to clue in that the three notes are G-E-C.
It is unclear whether this was intentional (apparently it was not mentioned in print for over a decade after they were first used), but if it is happenstance it is a remarkable coincidence.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:48 PM on December 13, 2019 [4 favorites]
Whenever I hear the NBC chimes, I recall that with a simple elegance, they seemingly celebrate the company’s original founding parent organization: the General Electric Corporation. Despite being a musician for many years, it took me ages to clue in that the three notes are G-E-C.
It is unclear whether this was intentional (apparently it was not mentioned in print for over a decade after they were first used), but if it is happenstance it is a remarkable coincidence.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:48 PM on December 13, 2019 [4 favorites]
It is unclear whether this was intentional (apparently it was not mentioned in print for over a decade after they were first used), but if it is happenstance it is a remarkable coincidence.
The article says total coincidence: it was in use well before GE bought NBC.
posted by tzikeh at 4:52 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
The article says total coincidence: it was in use well before GE bought NBC.
posted by tzikeh at 4:52 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
It is unclear whether this was intentional (apparently it was not mentioned in print for over a decade after they were first used), but if it is happenstance it is a remarkable coincidence.
The chimes originated waaaay back in ye olde radio days, so, yup, coincidence.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:12 PM on December 13, 2019
The chimes originated waaaay back in ye olde radio days, so, yup, coincidence.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:12 PM on December 13, 2019
Growing up in Toronto, "Obsession" always meant Fashion Television to me.
And "Gonna Fly Now" meant the news was coming on.
posted by giltay at 5:20 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
And "Gonna Fly Now" meant the news was coming on.
posted by giltay at 5:20 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Orson Welles, The Shadow intro, 1940s
(Yes really, I grew up in a public-radio oriented household and in the late sixties and early seventies it was somewhat common for local market public stations to run Sunday night programming blocks of 1930s and 1940s radio shows. In my family we would literally gather in front of the fireplace with the lights out and eat popcorn listening to these transmissions from before my parents’ childhoods. THE BEST!)
(I also love and grew up with silent movies. Hm, possibly my parents are a tad eccentric)
posted by mwhybark at 5:24 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
(Yes really, I grew up in a public-radio oriented household and in the late sixties and early seventies it was somewhat common for local market public stations to run Sunday night programming blocks of 1930s and 1940s radio shows. In my family we would literally gather in front of the fireplace with the lights out and eat popcorn listening to these transmissions from before my parents’ childhoods. THE BEST!)
(I also love and grew up with silent movies. Hm, possibly my parents are a tad eccentric)
posted by mwhybark at 5:24 PM on December 13, 2019 [5 favorites]
A 1980 Philadelphia children's program on WCAU-TV, Starstuff used Jupiter and Uranus from Holst's The Planets. Later, Earthworm Jim used Mars from that suite.
posted by Radiophonic Oddity at 6:10 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by Radiophonic Oddity at 6:10 PM on December 13, 2019
Where the hell is this, may I ask?
Oh yeah, good one - lots of memories of mid-70's movie theaters... I loved the jazzy music, but those contra-rotating C's always bugged me - a film camera didn't work that way!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:42 PM on December 13, 2019
Oh yeah, good one - lots of memories of mid-70's movie theaters... I loved the jazzy music, but those contra-rotating C's always bugged me - a film camera didn't work that way!!
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:42 PM on December 13, 2019
Ben Stein pretty much ruined Handel's Water Music for me.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:42 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:42 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
Handel's Water Music
When I was young mom had an album containing both Handel's Water Music and Royal Fireworks - my sister and I used to call it her "Royal Waterworks" album. Annoyed the hell out of mom.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:49 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
When I was young mom had an album containing both Handel's Water Music and Royal Fireworks - my sister and I used to call it her "Royal Waterworks" album. Annoyed the hell out of mom.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:49 PM on December 13, 2019 [3 favorites]
My gym has the classical music radio station playing in the dressing room. It's like being naked in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 6:58 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 6:58 PM on December 13, 2019 [9 favorites]
Vision On was impressive, their audio design was quite distinctive.
Humphrey the Totoise theme was by Pierre Arvay.
I'm trying to place that jazzy little guitar interlude?
posted by ovvl at 7:26 PM on December 13, 2019
Humphrey the Totoise theme was by Pierre Arvay.
I'm trying to place that jazzy little guitar interlude?
posted by ovvl at 7:26 PM on December 13, 2019
I can still hear the Stephen J. Cannell "Nyu nyu, naw-naw-naw" guitar and see the little "C" made of papers curled up...
posted by notsnot at 8:16 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by notsnot at 8:16 PM on December 13, 2019
The article says total coincidence: it was in use well before GE bought NBC.
GE bought RCA and its division NBC in 1986, some sixty years after GE and RCA founded NBC. (GE sold both in 1932.)
Sayeth Wikipedia, “Originally developed in 1927 as seven notes, they were standardized to the current three note version by the early 1930s, and possibly as early as 1929.”
In short, I don’t think it’s as clearcut as you seem to glibly imply.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:31 PM on December 13, 2019
GE bought RCA and its division NBC in 1986, some sixty years after GE and RCA founded NBC. (GE sold both in 1932.)
Sayeth Wikipedia, “Originally developed in 1927 as seven notes, they were standardized to the current three note version by the early 1930s, and possibly as early as 1929.”
In short, I don’t think it’s as clearcut as you seem to glibly imply.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:31 PM on December 13, 2019
I can still hear the Stephen J. Cannell "Nyu nyu, naw-naw-naw" guitar and see the little "C" made of papers curled up...
Did anyone besides me think "Stephennn... Jay Cannelllll" to the "Nyu nyu" tune?
posted by tzikeh at 8:59 PM on December 13, 2019
Did anyone besides me think "Stephennn... Jay Cannelllll" to the "Nyu nyu" tune?
posted by tzikeh at 8:59 PM on December 13, 2019
One part of Holst's Planets (Saturn?) always makes me want to go home and rewatch Conan the Barbarian for the great Basil Poledouris score.
posted by bartleby at 10:11 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by bartleby at 10:11 PM on December 13, 2019
When I hear that Filmation "ting" I have to yell out "He-Man!" (so it's probably good that I've never used it as a ringtone or anything). I watched that show every day after school for as long as it was on when I was a kid. I wanted to be best friends with Orko.
posted by DingoMutt at 11:38 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by DingoMutt at 11:38 PM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]
I am indeed under 40, and don’t recognize any of these by description; I can’t listen to audio right now so perhaps I would recognize some by sound (my dad was a big This Old House fan, for example).
I am however just a little under 40 so I thought immediately of the modem handshake. I expect if someone starts making that noise at me when I am eighty, I will be able to finish it. To me it sounds like the internet when it was young.
posted by nat at 1:46 AM on December 14, 2019 [7 favorites]
I am however just a little under 40 so I thought immediately of the modem handshake. I expect if someone starts making that noise at me when I am eighty, I will be able to finish it. To me it sounds like the internet when it was young.
posted by nat at 1:46 AM on December 14, 2019 [7 favorites]
I've been working on my modem impression for nigh-on 35 years and it's a tough row to hoe.
posted by rhizome at 4:18 AM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 4:18 AM on December 14, 2019 [1 favorite]
Now if we could only find some internet outlet place to rank these....
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 4:45 AM on December 14, 2019
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 4:45 AM on December 14, 2019
The first link ignores those of us who are between 40 and 50. No, it's okay – we Gen X'ers are used to it.
Sesame Street was not a WGBH production, so I don't know why their ident would trigger that for people.
The WGBH bumper is the only one that I clearly recognize. My childhood television got two-and-a-half channels, and one of them was PBS. Most pertinent to my young brain, that was the station that had Sesame Street and 3-2-1 Contact.
That station also had a lot of WGBH programming – but I had no idea what the ident meant; it was just a weird thing that frequently came on between shows. So that's probably where the association comes from.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 6:10 AM on December 14, 2019 [5 favorites]
Sesame Street was not a WGBH production, so I don't know why their ident would trigger that for people.
The WGBH bumper is the only one that I clearly recognize. My childhood television got two-and-a-half channels, and one of them was PBS. Most pertinent to my young brain, that was the station that had Sesame Street and 3-2-1 Contact.
That station also had a lot of WGBH programming – but I had no idea what the ident meant; it was just a weird thing that frequently came on between shows. So that's probably where the association comes from.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 6:10 AM on December 14, 2019 [5 favorites]
I love that WGBH intro. Nova!
The last time I went to a local thrift store a few months ago, they had an old-fashioned phone for sale in the back with the dishes and so on. I picked the handset up and dialed the numbers and clunked the handset down on the base, and doing that broke a dam of memories. I haven't used a rotary dial phone at all since about 1984? All touch-tone, slimline and mobile phones since then. My last landline, which I got rid of 6 years ago, was one of those touch-tone handsets that were on a base akin to this model.
As for Soul Train, it depended where my guardian aunt was in her Pentecostal journey. If she heard it, sometimes she let it slide and we could watch it. I saw The Jackson 5, The Sylvers and Bowie's eps that way, I guess because she liked all of them on the DL. Most times, though, if she heard that TSOP theme start up (because I'm a 70s kid, of course), she'd storm into the living room and demand her son turn the set OFF RIGHT NOW.
"People all over the world...! Doot-doo! It's time to get down!"
posted by droplet at 9:35 AM on December 14, 2019 [2 favorites]
The last time I went to a local thrift store a few months ago, they had an old-fashioned phone for sale in the back with the dishes and so on. I picked the handset up and dialed the numbers and clunked the handset down on the base, and doing that broke a dam of memories. I haven't used a rotary dial phone at all since about 1984? All touch-tone, slimline and mobile phones since then. My last landline, which I got rid of 6 years ago, was one of those touch-tone handsets that were on a base akin to this model.
As for Soul Train, it depended where my guardian aunt was in her Pentecostal journey. If she heard it, sometimes she let it slide and we could watch it. I saw The Jackson 5, The Sylvers and Bowie's eps that way, I guess because she liked all of them on the DL. Most times, though, if she heard that TSOP theme start up (because I'm a 70s kid, of course), she'd storm into the living room and demand her son turn the set OFF RIGHT NOW.
"People all over the world...! Doot-doo! It's time to get down!"
posted by droplet at 9:35 AM on December 14, 2019 [2 favorites]
Night on Bald Mountain—some might think of Fantasia, but of course I immediately think of the Wicked Witch of the West.
posted by elphaba at 9:50 AM on December 14, 2019
posted by elphaba at 9:50 AM on December 14, 2019
When I was young, a friend of mine had a sleep-over. Of course, we were up very late and then we crashed. This girls mother put on Colonel Bogey's March SUPER loud on the stereo in the morning to wake us up for breakfast. I loved that, it was just so cool.
posted by chocolatetiara at 11:21 AM on December 14, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by chocolatetiara at 11:21 AM on December 14, 2019 [2 favorites]
In terms of pure sounds there's this and, following on from that, of course, this.
And, lurching back to music, this is probably the most thrilling sound from my childhood.
posted by Grangousier at 12:04 PM on December 14, 2019 [2 favorites]
And, lurching back to music, this is probably the most thrilling sound from my childhood.
posted by Grangousier at 12:04 PM on December 14, 2019 [2 favorites]
The old PBS shit just rules. Interestingly - you posted this on the day I found out Gershon Kingsley died, supposedly.
Oddly the ONLY places I'm seeing anything claiming this are Wikipedia (with no citation) and Facebook page that apparently is run by his family. But there's literally no obits that I can see.
Anyways, point being I had no idea Kingsley created that! So rad.
posted by symbioid at 3:45 PM on December 14, 2019
Oddly the ONLY places I'm seeing anything claiming this are Wikipedia (with no citation) and Facebook page that apparently is run by his family. But there's literally no obits that I can see.
Anyways, point being I had no idea Kingsley created that! So rad.
posted by symbioid at 3:45 PM on December 14, 2019
Every time I hear the 2nd movement from Beethoven's Sonata Pathétique I think of Karl Haas and Adventures in Good Music. I used to love that program. And I just learned from reading the Wikipedia page that the recording was Haas himself playing it! Neat. Now it's an even a sweeter memory.
posted by mosessis at 2:10 AM on December 15, 2019
posted by mosessis at 2:10 AM on December 15, 2019
Oddly the ONLY places I'm seeing anything claiming this are Wikipedia (with no citation) and Facebook page that apparently is run by his family. But there's literally no obits that I can see.
Found an obit for him in Billboard magazine...97 years old! Wow. What a great and storied career, too.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:39 AM on December 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
Found an obit for him in Billboard magazine...97 years old! Wow. What a great and storied career, too.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:39 AM on December 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
The King Features tune reminded me of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Any of the James Bond theme songs is instantly recognizable and evokes images of the films. So much so, that the United Artists has the same effect to conjure memories of action films. (Although, when I was in 9th grade my English class watched some production of the Scarlet Letter, the film opened with, as I recall, the United Artists animated logo. I hummed the tune's sparse note intro, and the cute redhead turned around and commented something I can't recall, other than some fashion of shock/surprise that I knew the tune.)
For me I think any of the single production company movie opening tunes triggers nostalgia, because the tune signals you changed the channel just in time to catch the whole movie. Sit back. Relax. Movie time!
posted by xtian at 12:17 PM on December 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
Any of the James Bond theme songs is instantly recognizable and evokes images of the films. So much so, that the United Artists has the same effect to conjure memories of action films. (Although, when I was in 9th grade my English class watched some production of the Scarlet Letter, the film opened with, as I recall, the United Artists animated logo. I hummed the tune's sparse note intro, and the cute redhead turned around and commented something I can't recall, other than some fashion of shock/surprise that I knew the tune.)
For me I think any of the single production company movie opening tunes triggers nostalgia, because the tune signals you changed the channel just in time to catch the whole movie. Sit back. Relax. Movie time!
posted by xtian at 12:17 PM on December 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
My husband was watching a movie on TV today while I was in the other room, and I couldn't immediately place the intro although it gave me warm and fuzzy feelings as soon as I heard it. Once I knew what it was (at about 0:11) I realized that my wave of nostalgia was not for my own childhood, but for my 17-year-old son's, for the period from about fifteen to ten years ago when I put on Cars or Finding Nemo at his request multiple times every day.
posted by Daily Alice at 1:10 PM on December 15, 2019
posted by Daily Alice at 1:10 PM on December 15, 2019
I can't watch the Universal movie opening anymore without automatically spelling out the title to myself ala Flavor Flav from the opening to Mo' Better Blues.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:13 PM on December 15, 2019
posted by gusottertrout at 1:13 PM on December 15, 2019
Definitiely, the WGBH theme means it's time to come on and Zoom Zoom Zoom-a Zoom.
Same here.
My first association with "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" is not from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but The Electric Company.
And my first thought is not of the Liberty Bell when I hear "The Liberty Bell March."
posted by SisterHavana at 2:46 PM on December 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
Same here.
My first association with "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" is not from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but The Electric Company.
And my first thought is not of the Liberty Bell when I hear "The Liberty Bell March."
posted by SisterHavana at 2:46 PM on December 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
The Liberty Bell March
I've written before about my own fun encounter with that tune.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:28 PM on December 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've written before about my own fun encounter with that tune.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:28 PM on December 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
My first association with "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" is not from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but The Electric Company.
I saw Being There in the theater when I was 11 or 12, but it was decades later before I noticed the song hits right when he takes his first step down the stairs. Now I have the album and still think of being a kid watching this wild movie when I listen to it.
posted by rhizome at 6:40 PM on December 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
I saw Being There in the theater when I was 11 or 12, but it was decades later before I noticed the song hits right when he takes his first step down the stairs. Now I have the album and still think of being a kid watching this wild movie when I listen to it.
posted by rhizome at 6:40 PM on December 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
The dial-up handshake also makes me nostalgic for the Sci-Fi Janitors.
posted by sonascope at 8:52 AM on December 16, 2019
posted by sonascope at 8:52 AM on December 16, 2019
I recently got on a kick of rescuing some of these by converting them to ringtones,
Hey, los pantalones del muerte, this is right up my alley! Any chance you would be open to sharing these ringtones with me? I would really love it!
posted by vivzan at 9:44 AM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
Hey, los pantalones del muerte, this is right up my alley! Any chance you would be open to sharing these ringtones with me? I would really love it!
posted by vivzan at 9:44 AM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
I was watching season two of Monty Python last night and was reminded that my favourite thing about Liberty Bell is the bridge section - the tune starts out silly enough, but when it gets to the bridge it obviously thinks "fuck it" and doubles down on the insanity. Magnificent.
(Actually my favourite bit of a lot of instrumental music is the bridge section, often unheard by the general audience who only got the main tune as a TV theme - for example, here's the theme from the long-running British cop show The Bill - achingly, tediously familiar to most British people above a certain age. But wait! What's that? Where did that insane sub-Wakeman prog-rock synth solo come from. The fact that it's in 7/8 should have clued you in to the fact that it was a possibility. The Magic Roundabout theme also had a bridge section - I had it on a 7" record when I was small. The record is now lost to the mists of time, as is the full version of the theme, apparently. Here's the usual snippet looped for thirty minutes in case you were tempted to lose whatever grip on reality you have left.)
posted by Grangousier at 2:03 PM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
(Actually my favourite bit of a lot of instrumental music is the bridge section, often unheard by the general audience who only got the main tune as a TV theme - for example, here's the theme from the long-running British cop show The Bill - achingly, tediously familiar to most British people above a certain age. But wait! What's that? Where did that insane sub-Wakeman prog-rock synth solo come from. The fact that it's in 7/8 should have clued you in to the fact that it was a possibility. The Magic Roundabout theme also had a bridge section - I had it on a 7" record when I was small. The record is now lost to the mists of time, as is the full version of the theme, apparently. Here's the usual snippet looped for thirty minutes in case you were tempted to lose whatever grip on reality you have left.)
posted by Grangousier at 2:03 PM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
And my first thought is not of the Liberty Bell when I hear "The Liberty Bell March." yt
It’s that exceedingly rare YouTube video where reading the comments is worthwhile.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:07 AM on December 19, 2019
It’s that exceedingly rare YouTube video where reading the comments is worthwhile.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:07 AM on December 19, 2019
A couple crumbs from my youth:
When music television was music television
Alexander Courage's greatest contribution to culture -- You only needed four half notes to know what was up.
The only good thing about Mondays
posted by DrAstroZoom at 8:00 AM on December 19, 2019
When music television was music television
Alexander Courage's greatest contribution to culture -- You only needed four half notes to know what was up.
The only good thing about Mondays
posted by DrAstroZoom at 8:00 AM on December 19, 2019
You only needed four half notes to know what was up.
The link's broken, but I knew what it was going to be before I clicked on it.
posted by hanov3r at 1:26 PM on December 19, 2019
The link's broken, but I knew what it was going to be before I clicked on it.
posted by hanov3r at 1:26 PM on December 19, 2019
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posted by selfnoise at 12:17 PM on December 13, 2019 [6 favorites]