Rebel Yell

Belushi Slam Dance

Oct 19, 2022

Let’s talk about standing up, fighting for what you believe in, the spark that starts the fire, and finally, what did John Belushi think about Slam Dancing?

Big Thoughts:

Musical Guests

S.N.L. is in its 48th season; if you remember sneaking out of your room and to the top of the stairs to listen to the show in the first few seasons, you are old… S.N.L. was cutting edge in many ways; back in the 70s, the fact that it was a Live show wasn’t even in the top five of cutting edge for the show. The musical guests often were edgy in all sorts of ways. In a recent article, Loudwire wrote up a few of those non-conformist acts that were banned from S.N.L. Most will remember Sinead O’Connor and her affection for the Pope in the 90s, but there are a few other band stories we liked

The Replacements were The Replacements… in 1986, the band stepped in and covered (Replaced) The Pointer Sisters, who canceled at the last minute. The Replacements being The Replacements got so hammered in between the first and second songs that they weren’t banned from S.N.L.; they were banned from S.N.L. and N.B.C.

Elvis Costello changed the song they were playing mid-song. Costello, in various interviews, said he was pissed at the record label for telling him what to play, so he went with the audible. Rumor has it that Lorne Michaels, the legendary Producer of S.N.L., flipped Elvis off for the entire song.

Our favorite, John Belushi, lobbied to have the punk rock band Fear play on the Halloween show in 1981. Belushi wanted the performance to be as punk as possible and brought punks to the front and started a mosh pit that scared the rest of the S.N.L. audience. R.I.P. John, you were many things; we will now add slam dancing, punk rocking, and great musical tastes to that resume.

Sonic Logos

Suppose you merge up catchy brand jingles like the Intel “booong, ba, bing, ba, bing…” with the emergence of Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. In that case, you can see how Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s chief marketing, and communications officer, started developing a plan for the new audio corporate identity program. There are elements of the past relating sounds to brands; Mastercard takes the premise of a jingle and turns it into something the company can use in every global market. The innovation is comprehensive and is so throughout they made a whole album. Hey, competition, can you hear that?

Mastercard Sonic Logo

“My ultimate dream will be when people listen to the Mastercard logo without knowing what it is, they should say, ‘That is Mastercard,’” Rajamannar said. “That unique attribution is our Holy Grail.”

Wedding Bells

Just Married, or about to be, it turns out Saturday, October 22nd, 2022, is the most popular day to get married in 2022. According to The Knot Real Wedding Survey, October is also home to 3 of the top 5 wedding dates in 2022. Approximately 90,000 people are expected to Tie The Knot.

October has been the top wedding month for six years running. Other essential wedding planning factors include; sustainability (in services and products used), safety (lots of outdoor weddings), and headcount (reduced based on security).

Publisher of W.A.S. married October 21st, 19.

Pitchfork, known for having great new release music reviews and commentary, has a best new reissues list, and Blondie, Prince and the Revolution, and Rush are all on the list for this week. Blondie, who came out of the 70s N.Y.C. punk rock, rock scene - heck, created the background. In the 80s, Prince did the same thing in Minneapolis, which helped to bring exposure to The Replacements, Husker Du, and Soul Asylum. It was a wonderful week for reissues.