Saturday, May 25, 2013

A Collection:














Johnny Rivers - C'est la vie




American Bandstand 30 Year Special - 1982






The show was parodied in the single "Russian Bandstand", in 1959.
The show was featured prominently in the 2002--2005 NBC-TV drama series American Dreams, which like Bandstand was executive produced by Dick Clark. In a 2005 episode of American Dreams, Eddie Kelly and Bunny Gibson—one of the most famous couples to appear on American Bandstand in the Philadelphia years—were the only two to make cameo appearances on the acclaimed TV series. Along with that, Ed (Eddie) Kelly and Bunny Gibson were named a number of times in the script and Eddie Kelly referred to in the last episode. Actor Paul D. Roberts made frequent appearances as Dick Clark, while Michael Burger played announcer Charlie O'Donnell.
In the movie Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro, watches couples dancing on American Bandstand on television during one scene.
In the movie Grease, Rydell High School plays host for a dance contest on a televised show similar to American Bandstand, called National Bandstand.
In 1988, the John Waters film Hairspray's The Corny Collins Show is a mix between this and Baltimore's Buddy Deane Show.
In the 1989 film Dead Poets Society, English teacher John Keating, played by Robin Williams, belittles the school's poetry textbook's introduction to poetry. The introduction describes a method of giving poems numerical scores of "perfection." He derides this by saying "we're not laying pipe, we're talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? "I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can't dance to it!"
A season one episode of "That '70s Show," titled "The Pill" (aired 2/21/99), references "American Bandstand." As the episode opens, Eric Forman (Topher Grace) is shown in his family's basement watching the show. While only the back of the TV set was shown, host Dick Clark is heard announcing that the guests for that particular show include mimes Shields and Yarnell, as well as Elton John and Kiki Dee. Dick then proceeds to introduce the Spotlight Dance, featuring the 1976 R&B hit "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" by Lou Rawls. As the music plays, Eric gets up from the couch and begins to attempt the dance moves he sees on the show.
In 2001, IGT acquired the rights from Dick Clark Productions and created and developed a slot machine based on the long running music series.
In 2004, the band Low released the compilation album A Lifetime of Temporary Relief: 10 Years of B-Sides and Rarities, featuring the track "Peanut Butter Toast And American Bandstand" which mentions the show.
In 2005, rapper Bow Wow came out with the featured single "Fresh Azimiz" from the album Wanted. The song, produced by Jermaine Dupri mentioned the popularity of American Bandstand in the line, "I'm goin' down in history like American Bandstand."
In June of 2008 five Regulars performed on Broadway in the revue The Radio Hits of 1958.
A popular 1990s American rap group called The Fugees rapped about American Bandstand in their song "Fu-Gee-La". With Wyclef Jean rapping the verse, the reference is as follows. "I'm your candy handyman/ Me without you is like American without the Bandstand/ Cool fellow/ dance hard, stay mellow/ All that gun talk, man who'd a thought you'd die yellow..."
In 1972, on the Cheech & Chong album Big Bambu, on their TV medley, included is a show called "Un-American Bandstand".
In the book The Secret Life of Bees, when May commits suicide, everyone is watching American Bandstand when she picks up the phone, which then causes her to commit suicide.
CKCO-TV in London, Ontario, Canada produced the Canadian adaptation of the series, Canadian Bandstand. It aired from 1958 through the 1960s and was hosted by Gary McLaren.


(extract from Wikipedia 2011)




The Story of LA's Whisky a Go-Go Club