If you were a white kid in the 1970s, chances are that your earliest exposure to funk music came from TV theme songs and children's educational programming. As I WAS one of those white kids, who now has an abiding love for funk & soul (not to mention children's educational programming), I'd like to share this tribute to these evocative themes from the days when theme songs were theme songs, and the city streets were for hustlas.
The Rockford Files
by Mike Post & Pete Carpenter
Soul Train '76 from Soul Train (1976-1978)
by The Soul Train Gang
The White Shadow
by Mike Post
Good Times
by Dave Grusin and Alan & Marilyn Bergman
Barney Miller
by Jack Elliot & Allyn Ferguson
One of the fattest bass lines EVER, courtesy of Chuck Berghofer
Movin' On Up from The Jeffersons
by Jeff Barry & Ja'net Dubois
The Sound Of Philadelphia from Soul Train (1973-75)
by Gamble & Huff
Soul
Train actually had several theme songs over the years, which probably
shouldn't come as a surprise given the nature of the show. This one,
however, outfunks them all.
Shaft (TV series)
by Isaac Hayes; arranged by Johnny Pate
I'm sure someone could make the argument that the Shaft theme was largely responsible for kicking off the funky cop theme trend. I'm not going to, but I bet someone could. I had completely forgotten that there was a TV series, but hearing Pate's abbreviated version of Hayes' Oscar winning theme really strips it down to the elements that would so inspire your Mike Posts and and Dave Grusins.
Streets of San Francisco
by Pat Williams
The version from the show, with its wakka-wakka guitar line, plays much funkier than the single, which comes off jazzier, but features some madman drumming. Take your pick, you can't go wrong. Just keep your trout out of the milk.
Baretta
by Grusin & Ames; Performed by El Chicano
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
by Bill Cosby
S.W.A.T.
by Barry DeVorzon; performed by Rhythm Heritage
The Streetbeater from Sanford & Son
by Quincy Jones
Sesame Street - Funky Chimes ClosingOriginal theme by Joe Raposo
Didn't see that coming, did you? This version of the Sesame Street theme played behind the sponsorship and grant announcements at the end of the show in the later 70s and into the 80s, and it's a stone groove.
Groovie Goolies was a Filmation cartoon, spun off from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Remember when someone thought laugh tracks made sense for cartoons? Yeah, this was that era. The Groovie Goolies is the name of a far-out rock-and-roll band featuring Drac, Frankie and Wolfie, in a world inhabited by all sorts of monster caricatures. I blame "The Monster Mash" for this.
Santo & Blue Demon Against the Monsters - 1970
AKA Santo el Enmascarado de Plata y Blue Demon Contra los Monstruos
Written by Rafael Garcia Travesi & Jesus Sotomayor Martinez
Directed by Gilberto Martinez Solares
Featuring: "Franquenstain," werewolf, cyclops, zombies, vampires and mummy
Superstar luchadors, Santo and Blue Demon faced off with all kinds of monsters and foes across more than two dozen films, but this is the one with mas monstruos. It's sort of the Destroy All Monsters of Mexican wrestling films, which evidently means it wasn't as good as it should have been, but hey, look at all the monsters! And oh, did I mention there are musical numbers?
Amid an evident monster craze, in 1971, General Mills began selling monster-themed cereals in "chocolate" and "strawberry" flavors, each represented by a vampire and Frankenstein's monster, respectively. These animated commercials were probably more successful than all other monster cartoons combine at presenting crossover monster camaraderie. They certainly outlasted all the shows.
Dracula vs Frankenstein - 1971
Written by William Pugsley & Samuel M Sherman
Directed by Al Adamson
Featuring: Dracula with a 70s man-perm and a putty-faced Frankenstein's monster
[This film not viewed due to inaccessibility. I'm given to understand that I'm better off that way.]
Dracula contra Frankenstein - 1972
AKA Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein
Written by Paul D'Ales & Jesus Franco
Directed by Jesus Franco
Featuring: Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and a wolf man
In the years 1970 to 1972, there were three different movies released under the title "Dracula vs Frankenstein" although they didn't all start out that way. Paul Naschy's 1970 Spanish/German/Italian Los Monstruos del Terror was renamed Assignment Terror for US theaters, but gained the "versus" title for its VHS release. Al Adamson's DvF came out in 1971 and was sometimes titled Teenage Dracula. Then Jesus Franco's Spanish/French Dracula contra Frankenstein reached America in 1972, often called Dracula: Prisoner of Frankenstein.
The three films carry a combined rating of 11 on IMDb, although I doubt one's enjoyment would have such an additive effect were they to be watched back-to-back.
Rankin/Bass produced this semi-prequel to Mad Monster Party. Rather than using stop motion models as the original had, this one-shot TV special was made with more traditional (and less expensive) cel animation. It was also bereft of the influence of Mad Magazine's Harvey Kurtzman.
Boo Berry - 1973
In 1973, General Mills added Boo Berry (a "blueberry" flavored cereal with a ghost mascot, what else did you expect?) to their successful line-up of monster cereals. I'm pretty surprised it was only 2 years later. To this day, I still think of Boo Berry as the "new" one.
Featuring: Godzilla, Anguirus, King Caesar & Mechagodzilla
Of all the Godzilla movies I've seen lately... this is one of them.
Director Jun Fukuda was responsible for the most notoriously campy Godzilla movies from the 70s, and while GvM is blissfully free of shrill children, it's definitely silly. Fukuda tries to do some "mod" film making with over-saturated colors and stylish framing. The monster sequences sometimes have great angles, and sometimes are shot like a ringside camera at a boxing match. The non-monster parts drag on way too long while making too little sense, which is a shame, because there's some potential in the story. In fact, a key element of the story -- the summoning of King Caesar -- is done much better in the Art Adams' Creature Features (see Part 8). Much of the rest of it involves another alien invasion story and a bunch of nitwitted people who are supposed to be smart running around and getting themselves captured. The effects are pretty lazy. The quality and quantity of miniature use is way down, and the monsters do most of their fighting in what amounts to a wrestling ring cluttered with vague shin-high scenery. King Caesar is as goofy as Mechagodzilla is cool. It's unsurprising that he wasn't used again until Final Wars. It's a shame, again, because he had potential but was poorly executed.
All that being said, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla is a vastly important film for one single reason. It gave us the gift of "Mecha." Everything should have a 'Mecha" version. Try it out for yourself... MechaBatman (Iron Man; Check). MechaAliens (Ripley's power loader; Check). MechaBuffy (Check). MechaJohn McClane (RoboCop; Check). MechaNinjas (multiple; Check). MechaG.I.Joe (Transformers; Check). MechaFreddy Kreuger. MechaVincent Vega. MechaSmurfs. MechaBlack Swan.
I rest my case. Fruit Brute - 1975
Two years later, they added the werewolf-mascotted Fruit Brute. I am shocked to learn that it lasted 9 years.
This was essentially a Saturday Morning Cartoon, but live-action. It was developed by Stanley Ralph Ross who was behind the Batman, Wonder Woman and Monkees TV shows, so that probably gives you a pretty good idea what to expect. It starred Fred "Gopher" Grandy as a night watchman in a wax museum where the statues of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man came to life to fight monster-themed criminals. So that's what THAT's about. It was also about 13 episodes.
