This was fantastic Steve! Can’t say I’ve ever heard of any of those Saturday morning TV shows. Growing up in Bermuda we were lucky if we had one terrestrial TV channel; there was a period when we had none! I remember shows like Looney Tunes, Isis, Shazam, Fat Albert, Mighty Mouse, Captain Kangaroo, The Wuzzles.
I enjoy bananas and from time to time they become my favorite fruit for a while. My wife and I have distinctly different tastes in bananas. I like them ripe. She likes them green, so unripe I refer to them as “roots”. I also absolutely love good banana bread - it’s a weakness of mine for sure!
Gotta admit, that Banana Splits theme is a catchy song. I think I’m partial to the Liz Phair version as The Dickies is a little frenetic for a Saturday morning.
That’s a fantastic fruits playlist! Humbug Mountain Song was my entree to Fruit Bats, a band I’ve really come to love over the last decade (as well as Eric D. Johnson’s work with Bonny Light Horseman). The only fruit bands that comes to mind would be a couple of Canadian acts: Rymes With Orange (“The Taking of David”) and Wild Strawberries (“Never Run To You” but also anything from 1995’s Heroine or 1998’s Bet You Think I’m Lonely). Oh, and also “Into Your Arms” by The Lemonheads.
Thanks, Mark. The shows you mention we had as well. I can't say I remember The Wuzzles, but the rest I watched. Ha, "roots" made me laugh.
Thanks for the additional Canadian fruit entries to the playlist. I think I've heard of both but I can't remember. I was a fan of Fruit Bats prior to Humbug Mountain, but that song quickly became my favorite and might still be. Love Bonny Light Horseman. I need to give Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free more as it's a massive double album. I did really like it but it was wanting more attention than I was able to give it on first couple of listens.
Oh man, I loved the Banana Splits. Each episode was like a little variety show, with shows-within-shows, sort of like Smothers Brothers or Laugh-In, and most of it must have been written under chemical influences. The best part was the series-within-a-series called Danger Island, which was sort of Bomba the Jungle-boy meets Gilligan's Island. The whole thing was nuts, but we didn't realize that. Explains a lot, I guess.
Like any Dickies cover, their version of the Banana Splits theme is the best thing ever. I would argue though that the Butthole Surfers’ version of Underdog gives it serious competition. From this indispensable album:
What the skibidi Steve! Are you inside my brain? I just made banana chocolate chips muffins (and ate 1) after watching our bananas obsessed bloodhound moon over the over ripe bananas. Banana bread/cake was a staple in our home growing up and one of the first baked treats I taught my daughter and son to make
I am inside your brain. I'm harvesting lower right cerebellum quadrants. I figured you wouldn't need yours. I have to curb my banana bread making habit or else I won't fit in the suit I need to wear at a wedding next month. It's actually in Boston! Haven't been there before and am hoping November isn't too cold.
Look, man- I have written extensively about Hanna-Barbera, and I'm definitely sure that William Hanna and Joseph Barbera weren't acid users. Maybe some of the younger guys at the studio were doing it, but not the founders.
Guilt by association. Or maybe the equivalent of 2nd-hand pot smoke. Sometimes I write with a psychedelic energy after reading William Burroughs. Influence is a powerful drug.
David is right. It's one of the more pedantic points that fans of S&MK (like myself) often make, but Banana Splits is NOT a Krofft show (despite the fact that Sid designed the costumes, and the Krofft brothers directed several episodes). It's a Hanna Barbera show.
And here's why that point matters to Krofft devotees: the Kroffts' experience working for Hanna Barbera specifically opened their eyes to the money that could be made in doing live-action television, especially when the production and residuals could belong to them and not to someone else. They very quickly recycled their "Luther the Dragon" character from their Six Flags puppet shows, turned him into a character named "HR Pufnstuf", and produced a 1969 live-action TV show featuring the titular character under the "World of Sid & Marty Krofft" banner. The rest was 70s TV history.
GREAT post - wow, what a memory blast! I (know) remember so many influences of Sid and Marty Krofft. Fantastic stuff.
But as for bananas .... they are indisputable proof that there is no divine creator, etc. of any sort. They lure you in ... they're a the perfect fruit - easy to peal, clean, etc. - but all that hides the fact that they possess a flavour that rivals (I presume) French kissing a toilet. Hideous.
Ha - bananas are a controversial fruit for sure. Wait, are we supposed to clean bananas? And you saved yourself with the word "presume" but I know the truth. They say that toilets, like dogs' mouths are cleaner than human mouths. Who "they" are though is still a mystery.
I hadn't caught the reference for Buffalo Soldier before! Now I can't unhear it! I am betting a lot of songs have been influenced by the Hanna Barbera team.
Liz rocks! And I love bananas, too. They make great binding agents for those of us who cannot do gluten on our baked goods.
This was fantastic Steve! Can’t say I’ve ever heard of any of those Saturday morning TV shows. Growing up in Bermuda we were lucky if we had one terrestrial TV channel; there was a period when we had none! I remember shows like Looney Tunes, Isis, Shazam, Fat Albert, Mighty Mouse, Captain Kangaroo, The Wuzzles.
I enjoy bananas and from time to time they become my favorite fruit for a while. My wife and I have distinctly different tastes in bananas. I like them ripe. She likes them green, so unripe I refer to them as “roots”. I also absolutely love good banana bread - it’s a weakness of mine for sure!
Gotta admit, that Banana Splits theme is a catchy song. I think I’m partial to the Liz Phair version as The Dickies is a little frenetic for a Saturday morning.
That’s a fantastic fruits playlist! Humbug Mountain Song was my entree to Fruit Bats, a band I’ve really come to love over the last decade (as well as Eric D. Johnson’s work with Bonny Light Horseman). The only fruit bands that comes to mind would be a couple of Canadian acts: Rymes With Orange (“The Taking of David”) and Wild Strawberries (“Never Run To You” but also anything from 1995’s Heroine or 1998’s Bet You Think I’m Lonely). Oh, and also “Into Your Arms” by The Lemonheads.
Thanks, Mark. The shows you mention we had as well. I can't say I remember The Wuzzles, but the rest I watched. Ha, "roots" made me laugh.
Thanks for the additional Canadian fruit entries to the playlist. I think I've heard of both but I can't remember. I was a fan of Fruit Bats prior to Humbug Mountain, but that song quickly became my favorite and might still be. Love Bonny Light Horseman. I need to give Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free more as it's a massive double album. I did really like it but it was wanting more attention than I was able to give it on first couple of listens.
I give you the Savanah Bananas ...
https://jimgeschke.substack.com/p/the-greatest-show-in-sports
Yeah, that's one of my favorite pieces of yours. I remember thinking that the first time.
Oh man, I loved the Banana Splits. Each episode was like a little variety show, with shows-within-shows, sort of like Smothers Brothers or Laugh-In, and most of it must have been written under chemical influences. The best part was the series-within-a-series called Danger Island, which was sort of Bomba the Jungle-boy meets Gilligan's Island. The whole thing was nuts, but we didn't realize that. Explains a lot, I guess.
Yeah, it's been a while since I watched a full episode but I do remember Danger Island quite vividly. Might be worth a revisit.
I didn't know about the Banana Splits horror movie until you mentioned it in your piece. Did you actually see it?
Like any Dickies cover, their version of the Banana Splits theme is the best thing ever. I would argue though that the Butthole Surfers’ version of Underdog gives it serious competition. From this indispensable album:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Morning:_Cartoons'_Greatest_Hits
Agreed with everything. That BS Underdog cover is so great.
All I had to do was see the subject of your post and the song started playing in my head! (Yet, I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday...)
I was also a big fan of Sigmund & the Sea Monsters. My favorite may have been Land of the Lost though.
(Yet, I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday...)….Our brains are mysterious, jokester organs.
What the skibidi Steve! Are you inside my brain? I just made banana chocolate chips muffins (and ate 1) after watching our bananas obsessed bloodhound moon over the over ripe bananas. Banana bread/cake was a staple in our home growing up and one of the first baked treats I taught my daughter and son to make
I am inside your brain. I'm harvesting lower right cerebellum quadrants. I figured you wouldn't need yours. I have to curb my banana bread making habit or else I won't fit in the suit I need to wear at a wedding next month. It's actually in Boston! Haven't been there before and am hoping November isn't too cold.
Look, man- I have written extensively about Hanna-Barbera, and I'm definitely sure that William Hanna and Joseph Barbera weren't acid users. Maybe some of the younger guys at the studio were doing it, but not the founders.
Guilt by association. Or maybe the equivalent of 2nd-hand pot smoke. Sometimes I write with a psychedelic energy after reading William Burroughs. Influence is a powerful drug.
Sid and Marty Krofft were mentioned earlier, and their influence is very evident. This is probably the best of their kind of show they didn't make.
David is right. It's one of the more pedantic points that fans of S&MK (like myself) often make, but Banana Splits is NOT a Krofft show (despite the fact that Sid designed the costumes, and the Krofft brothers directed several episodes). It's a Hanna Barbera show.
And here's why that point matters to Krofft devotees: the Kroffts' experience working for Hanna Barbera specifically opened their eyes to the money that could be made in doing live-action television, especially when the production and residuals could belong to them and not to someone else. They very quickly recycled their "Luther the Dragon" character from their Six Flags puppet shows, turned him into a character named "HR Pufnstuf", and produced a 1969 live-action TV show featuring the titular character under the "World of Sid & Marty Krofft" banner. The rest was 70s TV history.
GREAT post - wow, what a memory blast! I (know) remember so many influences of Sid and Marty Krofft. Fantastic stuff.
But as for bananas .... they are indisputable proof that there is no divine creator, etc. of any sort. They lure you in ... they're a the perfect fruit - easy to peal, clean, etc. - but all that hides the fact that they possess a flavour that rivals (I presume) French kissing a toilet. Hideous.
Ha - bananas are a controversial fruit for sure. Wait, are we supposed to clean bananas? And you saved yourself with the word "presume" but I know the truth. They say that toilets, like dogs' mouths are cleaner than human mouths. Who "they" are though is still a mystery.
Yes! As I’m the same age as you, I loved it as a kid. The goofy sound effects and costumes were much needed colour in 70s Britain.
Bob Marley loved it too — as he seems to have ripped the na na na for Buffalo Soldier.
Ha! Same when I was told.
I hadn't caught the reference for Buffalo Soldier before! Now I can't unhear it! I am betting a lot of songs have been influenced by the Hanna Barbera team.