Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Tag: Humorous pop

"Body Surfing With the Jet Set"
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“Body Surfing With the Jet Set”: Anyone for Beach Bums?

The words of Rod McKuen and music of Anita Kerr effortlessly intertwine on this breezy romp through the Pacific Coast of one’s mind: “Body Surfing With the Jet Set“ The San Sebastian Strings (1970) “Body Surfing With the Jet Set” serves, fittingly, as side one’s closing track of 1970 album,

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"TV Commercials"
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“TV Commercials”: ‘Mad Men’ Cautionary Tale

Don Bowman, in February 1961, presciently grasped the enormity of Madison Avenue and advertising’s outsized influence on American attitudes and marketplace behavior in his first single, “T.V. Commercials“: “T.V. Commercials” served as the B-side of “Coward at the Alamo” and, judging by its catalog number, appears to be among the last

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"B-A Bay"
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“B-A Bay” vs. “The Name Game”: Tongue Twister Showdown

I remember being a bit intimidated when I first heard “The Name Game,” Shirley Ellis‘s big tongue twister of a hit — half fearing I would never be able to break the code behind the rhyming game (fortunately, with persistence, I one day did).  “The Name Game,” it is worth

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"Frequency Response Test"
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Frequency Response Test – A Public Service from Zero to 180

I would love to know just how many hi-fi enthusiasts back in vinyl’s heyday relied on stereo demonstration recordings to test the performance caliber of their stereo sound system. I get the sense that National Lampoon’s Ed Subitzky found this whole business of scrutinizing the quality of your stereo output

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"Vitamin L"
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“Vitamin L”: Musically Nutritious

I remember fondly the 1970s soap opera spoof, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman — so named because show creator, Norman Lear, and his writers believed that “everything that was said on a soap opera was said twice.” Mary Kay Place recorded a Grammy-nominated album, Tonite! At the Capri Lounge, Loretta Haggers,

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"Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga Sewing Circle, Book Review & Timing Association"
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Jan & Dean: Avant-Pop Pioneers?

I picked up a double album anthology of Jan & Dean‘s best work and found myself rather bemused by one particular track — and outright befuddled by an entire album side. First, the song — 1964’s “The Anaheim, Azusa & Cucamonga Sewing Circle, Book Review and Timing Association,” one of

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