Music that makes you feel gay (as in happy)
0 Comments Published by Steven Friedman on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 11:34 AM.
Good Lord. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack. It's amazing how things you've painstakingly been trying to find for years on end can just suddenly fall into your lap when you least expect it. In this particular case, I'm talking about those quirky 50's-style lounge tunes with all those pizzicato violins and happy-go-lucky melodies. If you've ever seen a Ren & Stimpy-cartoon (and I sincerely hope you have), chances are you've heard the songs I'm talking about.Now trying to find these tunes proved to be a veritable mission impossible. I think I've been looking for this particular brand of music ever since Ren & Stimpy hit the small screen, and that was back in 1991. But where do you begin? There wasn't a record store that knew what the hell I was talking about (cue embarrassing humming in an attempt to clarify myself). I even remember writing Nickelodeon about this, asking them if they could unravel the mystery of that joyful music for me. Alas, they never replied.
Ah, thank God for the glory that is the internet. Though it certainly took a while before I was able to track down that elusive 50's style music, I recently had the luck of just stumbling upon it. While googling for 'music production', I came across a music genre called 'production music'. And that proved to be the key to unlocking the secret!
While 'production music' isn't a music genre per sé, it was widely used by filmmakers and television show producers (especially those on a tight budget) in the 30's, 40's en 50's. Stock music avant la lettre, if you will. That's exactly the reason why many people (myself included) associate that type of playful music with commercials for household appliances and such, especially those from the 50's.
Anyway, reading more about production music, I eventually came across this blog, run by Kirk Demarais (who, from now on, will always be a hero in my book). This brave soul managed to compile over 300 (!) of these production music-tracks, used on the Ren & Stimpy-show. He also created a track listing based on musical styles and handcrafted a nifty album cover. Best of all: you can download the ENTIRE COLLECTION from his blog!!!
To put it in the words of Stimpson J. Cat: JOY!!!!
