The guilty pleasure of informercials! (??)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by head_unit, Jun 9, 2016.

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  1. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    I'm actually watching an informericial, one of those Time Life Classics hawking a giant set of compilation CDs. Sounds nutty, but the reason I like to watch is all the really rare live footage they turn up. Right now they showed a clip from the Frampton Comes Alive tour, then Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" and Argent doing "Hold Your Head Up"-I didn't even know any of this existed. Oh perhaps today you can find it on YouTube but it would take forever and I doubt it's ALL there. Actually it makes me think I could find some of it and see the whole clips. Either way, it's really fascinating to see some of these bands back in the day, and be reminded of a bunch of cool songs.

    They also just had Boston doing "More Than A Feeling" which took me back to modifying a best friends' husbands speakers many years ago. That was the first song I put on and a grin spread across my face actually with shock at how much better they sounded. (They were just some low cost TEAC I think, came in a package with a stereo he bought as a graduate student. He wanted new speakers, but he really had no idea what size or shape or number of channels. So as a "stopgap" I stuffed them with fiberglass, coated the insides with auto undercoat, and shoved in a bunch of cross bracing. The transformation was absolutely remarkable).
     
  2. Pinknik

    Pinknik Senior Member

    I find myself stopping to watch them too, up until they start to repeat tunes. I also like the bit where they say the remastered sound is much better than an old LP, which they play and it sounds like a recording of a beat up 78 played over a telephone. Slight exaggeration for comic effect. :)
     
  3. T'mershi Duween

    T'mershi Duween Forum Resident

    Location:
    Y'allywood
    I've kinda grown fond of that old cowboy hawking those "nearly painless" catheters.

    "I've been cowboy-ing for nearly 50 years, so I know pain... And boy, I don't want any more of it"

    Whoa there cow-poke, you had me at nearly painless! :D
     
    VicB, MikaelaArsenault and Pinknik like this.
  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    God, no.
     
  5. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    I used to love those Time Life commercials. I think I started a thread on it long ago. I used to record them to DVD - my favorite was the soft rock one with Air Supply. That and the Oldies but Goodies with the Sha Na Na guy.
     
  6. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    When I first read the title I thought you were nuts, but when I saw it was for classic rock CDs I agreed.
     
  7. Kossoff is God

    Kossoff is God Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicagoland
  8. minerwerks

    minerwerks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA
    Mike!
     
  9. Dave Garrett

    Dave Garrett Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, TX
     
  10. drasil

    drasil Former Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I have spent more than a few nights in an altered state watching infomercials. they rule.

    I love the extreme, forced amazement of the presenters at something relatively mundane, like a kitchen appliance. wow! it's so amazing! and revolutionary! my outlook on life heretofore will be altered by this miniature blender!

    this goes double--or triple, even--for QVC. now there's some mindblowing late-nite stoned television. RIP, Jeanne Bice.
     
  11. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    MikaelaArsenault and head_unit like this.
  12. The Wanderer

    The Wanderer Seeker of Truth

    Location:
    NYC
    let me get this straight - I'm paying to watch 'info'mercials?
     
  13. d.r.cook

    d.r.cook Senior Member

    2words:

    Larry.

    King.
     
  14. Muzyck

    Muzyck Pardon my scruffy hospitality

    Location:
    Long Island
    I don't know about that. Maybe Christie Brinkley getting a workout on the "Total Gym", but that's about it. Can't get enough of the word pilates.

     
  15. Peace N. Love

    Peace N. Love Forum Resident

  16. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Mike who?
     
  17. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
  18. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
  19. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
  20. driverdrummer

    driverdrummer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Irmo, SC
  21. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
  22. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
  23. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    Seriously, does the audience at these things get free merchandise? 'Cause it's hard to imagine real human beings getting that excited about a countertop broiler without getting one for free.

    I always postscript the financials -- "Only six payments of $29.99" --with, "Or $5.00 at next summer's yard sales."
     
  24. Holy Diver

    Holy Diver Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Not an infomercial, but still a classic.

     
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