80's PSAs = Little nuggets of YouTube gold
I'm sick. Boooo. I have a whole day to catch up on something called My Life. Yayyyyy!
It's not all work, work, work at my job though, as a recent conversation with a co-worker of mine will attest. Somehow the conversation turned to the concept of the PSA ie the Public Service Announcement. There's a really special place in my heart for the PSAs of my childhood, as they have taught me many things, given me that edge on pop culture trivia, and mostly gave me too many nightmares to count.
I start with a classic, the hallmark of all PSAs. The one that started the aforementioned conversation and sent us down memory lane - a clip from the wildly popular Singing Pills.
If you grew up on Saturday morning cartoons in the Tri-State area, you know this clip. And you know that these singing pills made look in your parents' medicine cabinet to see if theirs sang too.
Next up, a PSA from He-Man and She-Ra.
Well-intentioned, maybe. But would you want a steroid-pumped Little Lord Fauntleroy, dressed in medieval bondage gear, talking to you about being touched in bad ways?I didn't think so.
Sometimes, PSAs are required as part of a celebrity's probation agreement when they've been really bad boys and girls. Yet they wind up making us feel like we're the ones being punished when we have to watch it.
Remember, crack is whack.
Moving on, one of the popular "Time for Timer" PSAs. In brief, witness the birth of my cheese obsession and sudden, Tourettes-like outbursts of "I hanker for a hunka cheese!" throughout the course of my life.
Now, here lies the difference between East Coast and West Coast PSAs which warn us not to use drugs. In the West Coast version, it's a pop video with dancers in candy colors while Duckie sings in the background.
West Coast PSA (YouTube vid link is broken)
But on the East Coast, we don't play around. We just try to scare the ever-loving shit out of you.
And finally, this one is not the 80s, but an honorable mention from the 90s. How do you develop a life long fear of New York City rats, before moving to New York City or encountering a rat? You watch a PSA directed by David Lynch of Twin Peaks. 'Nuff said.
Is that rat smiling???
It's not all work, work, work at my job though, as a recent conversation with a co-worker of mine will attest. Somehow the conversation turned to the concept of the PSA ie the Public Service Announcement. There's a really special place in my heart for the PSAs of my childhood, as they have taught me many things, given me that edge on pop culture trivia, and mostly gave me too many nightmares to count.
I start with a classic, the hallmark of all PSAs. The one that started the aforementioned conversation and sent us down memory lane - a clip from the wildly popular Singing Pills.
If you grew up on Saturday morning cartoons in the Tri-State area, you know this clip. And you know that these singing pills made look in your parents' medicine cabinet to see if theirs sang too.
Next up, a PSA from He-Man and She-Ra.
Well-intentioned, maybe. But would you want a steroid-pumped Little Lord Fauntleroy, dressed in medieval bondage gear, talking to you about being touched in bad ways?I didn't think so.
Sometimes, PSAs are required as part of a celebrity's probation agreement when they've been really bad boys and girls. Yet they wind up making us feel like we're the ones being punished when we have to watch it.
Remember, crack is whack.
Moving on, one of the popular "Time for Timer" PSAs. In brief, witness the birth of my cheese obsession and sudden, Tourettes-like outbursts of "I hanker for a hunka cheese!" throughout the course of my life.
Now, here lies the difference between East Coast and West Coast PSAs which warn us not to use drugs. In the West Coast version, it's a pop video with dancers in candy colors while Duckie sings in the background.
West Coast PSA (YouTube vid link is broken)
But on the East Coast, we don't play around. We just try to scare the ever-loving shit out of you.
And finally, this one is not the 80s, but an honorable mention from the 90s. How do you develop a life long fear of New York City rats, before moving to New York City or encountering a rat? You watch a PSA directed by David Lynch of Twin Peaks. 'Nuff said.
Is that rat smiling???
posted by Currin Girl at 8:30 AM
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