Hothouse Flowers are next up in the set. I've heard the name over the years, but don't know anything about them and can't recall ever hearing any of their songs. I think I conflate them in my mind with Red House Painters just because of the similar name and another band I've heard of but am not very familiar with.
Ah, I'm a little surprised to learn they're an Irish band. Without even hearing them, I bet they get a lot of U2 comparisons.
Hothouse Flowers - "Don't Go"
Looks like their two best-remembered tracks in the US are "Don't Go" and a cover of "I Can See Clearly Now". Listening to some of their greatest hits while working on this post, they remind me a little of the Alarm, Call, and Simple Minds at times. Oh, and some Waterboys. Surprised it's unfamiliar to me, as this stuff would be right up my alley in the early 90s, but I guess my local alternative radio station didn't play them much.
Reading up on them on their Wikipedia entry, Hothouse Flowers are still a band all these years later, with their latest album being released in 2016.
Hothouse Flowers - "I Can See Clearly Now"
CUSTOM CORNER
Ok, normally I use the Custom Corner segment to make a card for a favorite of mine who's not in the 1991 MusiCards set. This time for a twist, it's a band I'm not at all familiar with, but I think it'd be funny to pair up the Hothouse Flowers with the Red House Painters, and maybe forcing myself into a compare-and-contrast will help me finally keep them separate in my brain.
Dibs on the first Blank-House-Blankers band go to Hothouse Flowers who started in 1985, while Red House Painters followed in 1988. They're from San Francisco.
Per Wikipedia, Red House Painters "were one of the most prominent acts associated with the slowcore/sadcore subgenre." So like, mellow, melancholy rock songs. Frontman Mark Kozelek eventually morphed the band into Sun Kil Moon. I'm a bit more familiar with Sun Kil Moon, but haven't listened to a whole lot from them either.
Red House Painters' most popular song is "Katy Song". As I did with Hothouse Flowers, I'm checking out some of their stuff while drafting this post. Some really good tracks! Some of it might be a little too "dreary" to stick in my rotation, but for the post part I can see myself turning to these guys when I'm in a low-key mood.
"Between Days" is one of their more rockin' numbers.
In conclusion, I should now be able to remember the difference between these two bands. Hothouse Flowers are an Irish rock band that have been around since '85. Red House Painters are an indie band out of San Francisco who became Sun Kil Moon and usually keep things mellow. I can dig them both fine.
How about you readers? Are you on one side of the Hothouse Flowers vs. Red House Painters question? Both? Neither?
Hey everybody, 2022 finds us up to number 51 in the 1991 MusiCards set with Bruce Hornsby. Fine live shot here with Bruce at the Baldwin and The Range tucked in to his right. Seems a little cramped; is this an edited shot or are they really that huddled together?
In case you didn't get a good enough look at him on the front, there's a clear headshot of Bruce on the back. I consider The Way It Is to be one of my all-time favorite albums. Just an incredible group of piano-forward Americana pop-rock songs to make you tip your cap to Bruce and his associates. That record had a couple big hits, and his collaboration with Don Henley on "End of the Innocence" in 1989 was another big hit for him. That's basically what I know him from, but he's kept at it for years, releasing over 20 albums and still going strong at 67.
Bruce Hornsby and the Range - "Every Little Kiss"
I should really check out more of his stuff besides the The Way It Is album. I bought the CD for my mom as a Christmas or birthday gift one year circa '91, and while she liked it fine, I liked it more and it eventually found a home in my music collection. (Not one of my better gifts, I suppose!) So I know that album like the back of my hand, but couldn't name you any of his other songs or albums off the top of my head. The only other thing from him in my music library is Intersections (1985–2005), a 4-CD collection of mostly unreleased recordings. Some lovely instrumental pieces there along with jam-band jams.
Grateful Dead ft. Bruce Hornsby - intro jam + "The Valley Road" (live October 30, 1990, Wembley Arena, London)
Back to the card, must have been really cool for Bruce become a touring member of the Grateful Dead after he was in a cover band in college with several Dead selections in their repertoire. With the Dead, he performed over 100 gigs from September 1990 to March 1992. (I'm always curious trying to nail down the deadline for the back write-ups, seeing how late into 1990 [or maybe even early 1991?] they cover.) Bruce also had the honor of inducting the band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Strangely enough, the Grateful Dead aren't included in the 1991 MusiCards set, not even in the whole subset of concert posters of late '60s gigs from the Bay Area. (We'll start hitting those cards after we get into the 200s of the set.) Perhaps the Dead had already signed an exclusive card deal with Brockum, who put out a 10-card "Grateful Dead Legacy" insert set, which I assume was available in packs of 1991 Brockum Rock Cards, a competing line of music cards from '91 that focused more on metal of the era, but slipped in a few mellower oldies too.
CUSTOM CORNER
Yes, it's the return of the Custom Corner! No more old calendars of mine! The technical difficulties that hampered me in 2021 have been mostly squared away and now I'm getting back into the groove of making customs in Photoshop. Seeing as I've noticed the Dead are conspicuously absent from the '91 MusiCards set, we've got a clear choice of who to feature in today's Custom Corner!
I decided to make this card in a "Legends" style to mix things up since we haven't had one of those in a while.
I was never a real "deadhead" though have been a casual Grateful Dead fan for a long time. As a teen, I bought their album American Beauty (though that was mainly because it includes "Ripple", which had been covered by my favorite band at the time, Jane's Addiction.) Some all-time classics on that record, with "Box of Rain"/"Friend of the Devil"/"Sugar Magnolia" making for a very strong opening.
Grateful Dead - "Box of Rain"
My mom bought Workingman's Dead-- I believe a selection from the brief window she was signed up for the BMG Music Club scheme-- so I heard that one a lot growing up too, with "Casey Jones" and "Uncle John's Band" among the highlights. I eventually got Anthem of the Sun and Aoxomoxoa on CD as well and enjoyed the majority of those cuts. As an adult, I've checked out most of their other studio albums and of course some live recordings, but you've really gotta be deadicated (sic) to delve into their live recordings, as you could probably listen to nothing but live Dead for the rest of your life and still never listen to the same recording twice.
Grateful Dead - "Bird Song" (live)
These days, I'd probably give the nod to "Bird Song" as my favorite Grateful Dead track. Technically it was originally released on Jerry Garcia's first solo album, though it became a frequent part of Dead setlists for years. I just now learned it was written by lyricist Robert Hunter as a tribute to Janis Joplin. (Hey, I'll have to feature her in a Custom Corner one of these days. She doesn't have a solo MusiCard, though Big Brother and the Holding Company has a concert poster card coming up at #254.) But yeah, it's a gorgeous song that I've turned to from time to time in recent years when I've needed to chill out from high anxiety getting me down.
Bonus Jerry Garcia custom.
That'll do it for this post. Please feel free to share your thoughts on Bruce Hornsby and/or the Grateful Dead in the comments below.
Oh yeah-- update on last year's contesty-thing... All 4 "thanks for commenting" prizes were mailed out on Wednesday (1/26), so those should start arriving soon.
Hoodoo Gurus are card #50 in the 1991 Pro Set MusiCards Super Stars set. They're a band I've heard of, but couldn't name a song of theirs for you as I begin drafting this post. The photo here is an awkward posed shot, with the cropping making it look like half the guys are very tall (or the other half very short).
That's a pretty big write-up, as far as these cards go, though still doesn't give you much of an idea what they sound like. As for the back picture, it's something we haven't see so far-- not a photo or a band name wordmark, but a photo negative transparency.
I'm listening to a mix of their songs right now and "Miss Freelove '69" just came on and I lit up. Love this song! Guess I had forgotten the artist. So yes, I do in fact know a Hoodoo Gurus song after all.
It was the first single off their fifth record Kinky that came out in early '91. (I can't be the first to think the singer looks a bit like actor Elijah Wood, right?) That was their last album to really grab "the adulation of college audiences" mentioned on the cardback, with their subsequent albums no longer gaining widespread attention in the post-Nevermind era.
But while they might not be well-known in the States these days, they're Hall of Famers in their native Australia. The band formed in Sydney in 1981 and are still active 40 years later, currently finishing up their tenth studio album. There's a pretty extensive Hoodoo Gurus Wikipedia entry if you wanna read up on them further.
Hoodoo Gurus - "The Right Time" (live at the 1994 Australian Recording Industry Association Awards)
Listening to their songs now, this stuff is right up my alley and I'm surprised I haven't heard more from them. So hey, this blog continues to help me find new things to listen to. Pretty cool.
Any of you regular readers familiar with the Hoodoo Gurus? Let me know in the comments if you've got any favorite songs of theirs.
The Return of MusiCards, kinda
Changing gears, 2021 saw the return of new ProSet Super Stars cards in the form of Leaf autographs. Yep, looks like the entrepreneur guy who bought the Leaf name also brought in the rights to ProSet, and 2021 Leaf Metal Pop Century features stickergraphs inspired by the early MusiCard promos.
The checklist is a dozen subjects deep, with a range of musicians (plus a couple ladies known more for their work in front of the camera but also do some signing.. so, close enough).
checklist: 6ix9ine Debbie Gibson Edwin McCain Fetty Wap Jesse McCartney Lindsay Lohan Mark McGrath Nelly Sean Kingston Sisqo Tone Lōc Traci Lords
I can't see myself trying to go after that entire set, but I figured I'd pick up a couple of them as extracurriculars for my MusiCards "master set" I've got going.
Lōc-ed After Dark, boasting the crossover hits "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina", was one of the first cassettes I ever bought with my own allowance money back as a young'un. Loved that album start to finish and still have a soft spot for it today, even if Tone hasn't done much to be proud of since Ace Ventura. He's got OG MusiCards so we'll talk more about him later, starting at card #137.
As for Traci Lords... well, she's a very attractive woman. She was pretty good in the 1990 John Waters movie Cry-Baby, which I think is the source material for this photo. Leaf really flooded the market with her autos this year, it seems, with Traci having a ton of different autos in 2021 Leaf Metal Pop Century.
I thought it'd be interesting to see these new cards side-by-side with original Pro Set Super Stars promo cards from 1990 that provided the inspiration. I think Leaf did a fine job on their revamp. The 2021 cards are refractors or prizms or whatever the Leaf-equivalent is for a card that's on a Chrome-like cardstock and gets some rainbow shine in the light. But anyways, there are many different parallels, as you could imagine.. various colors and/or sparkly action.
The backs are reasonably faithful to the originals, too. An alternate photo would have been a nice touch rather than repeating the front, but oh well.
And notice that the word "MusiCards" never appears on the 2021 versions? I wonder if perhaps that's a separate trademark that Leaf doesn't own?
I personally would love to see Leaf show 1991 MusiCards some love, such as more new cards like these, but using the main, more familiar MusiCard design for current musicians, preferably a decent base set in addition to autos and even buyback autos of the 1991 cards. That would be cool, but I won't hold my breath.
This Month in 1991
Woo!, we've made it through the end of this year-long lookback at what my life was like as a middle school kid in 1991. Pretty sure this is the only childhood calendar I've held onto over the years. I must have had an inkling that someday I'd be writing a blog involving the year 1991, lol.
December '91 was a glorious month of no school for me.
My wife and I decided against having children of our own, and it's not often that I have any regrets about that, but if I had a kid of my own one thing I'd be excited about is celebrating St. Nick's Day. It's essentially a little bonus holiday where you put out your shoes in front of your bedroom door, and you'd awaken to them filled with stocking stuffers like little gifts and candy. At least that's how it went down at my house. Made me feel like hot shit to have a bonus gift-getting holiday that none of my friends knew about. High five, Mom! Always lots of fun "pre-funking" the holiday season, so to speak, though some years we forgot to do it. But we were on top of it in 1991, written in on 12/5.
Other than a painful trip to the gum doctor, Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky day for me, getting a new Nintendo game, Super C (Contra 2) and beating it later that day (surely with Genie codes, because that's not that easy of a game!). I also got a Play Ball puzzle that I finished the next day; I don't remember much about it but I think it was a generic baseball scene. Also on the 14th, another new video game with Adventure Island and we got a Christmas tree. Man, I haven't had a real Christmas tree in a long time! I don't miss the hassle, but it was kinda fun and the Christmasy smell is nice. The next day we decorated the tree and made cookies. Always loved getting creative decorating the Christmas cookies! "You bet your ass there's gonna be a rainbow turkey this year! Lots of red hots for wreath berries and tree ornaments!"
Baseball card relevance! I can say with no doubt that I got my first 1992 Donruss baseball cards on 12/19/91. That must've been a nice pick-me-up after the orthodontist tightening my braces that day.
Cracker - "Happy Birthday to Me" (this song was released in March '92, so hey, it was probably written in 1991)
On my birthday I went with my mom and possibly other family to the candle-lighting service at her church. I was never much into church, and I'd usually just go once a year for the Christmas Eve thing as like a "gift" for my mom (ok, and the 4th of July BBQ because the church was right across the street from the high school field where the local firework display launched).
Here's a photo of me and my haul from Christmas morning '91 (wearing a robe over the swapmeet bootleg Bart Simpson shirt that I used as pajamas for a while), though I can tell from other photos that this trove also includes birthday gifts from the day before. I think the Sears catalog offered 3-packs of team-branded soft cushion balls.. I mainly wanted Chicago for the Bulls b-ball that came with a plastic hoop you could install. (Not sure I ever got around to putting it up.) There are a few new video games here, including 4 for the Sega Master System and a pair of NES games with Double Dragon III showing. The big money items here are the Reggie Jackson signed plaque and baseball (I had picked them out earlier at the overpriced card/memorabilia shop in the mall). Reggie was "my guy" at the time, and it was pretty cool to now have his autograph (twice). I eventually sold the ball years later, but still have the plaque. Card-wise, we can see minor league team sets from 1990 Pro Cards (the wood border ones).. I think one is the Tulsa Drillers and there's one with Scott (Gavin) Erickson in the Twins chain. I don't see it visible, but I know I also got a Blue Jays affiliate team set with an early Carlos Delgado card (that I still own today) and a Phillies one with Mike Lieberthal as the top card. And behind some cash there's a box of Topps Traded.. I believe that's the recently-released 1991 Topps Traded set. Loved the Olympic cards in there, plus first Topps cards of Bagwell and Pudge. Finally, a 365 Sports Facts A Year desk calendar-- not sure I kept up with it for all of 1992, but might have. Oh, and I think that's a little mail-order "1991 draft picks" set behind the baseball. By the Sega games are some stocking stuffing, including candy plus my mom would often throw in crap like fruit and walnuts because that's the kind of stuff she got as a kid in her stocking and I guess she wanted to keep that tradition going... though I didn't care too much about getting oranges and nuts as gifts, lol.
We had Christmas dinner with family friend Ken, whom I talked a bit about back in the August calendar segment. I remember this as possibly the lowest-key Christmas of my life. My mom and I just hanging out with a buddy in his small apartment, not the usual big family meal I was more used to with Christmas music playing and lots going on. But it was still a good time. I think we all played a board game together.
I ripped my first 1992 Topps on 12/28/91, then New Years Eve was celebrated at a party of a friend-of-a-family-friend in a real nice house in Leucadia, a fancy beach community Encinitas. I remember some epic hide-and-seek games on the property with the other kids. Honestly, it was so much fun, it's one of those memories I'd like to tap into in a crazy sci-fi way to relive again!
And so it's fitting I closed out 1991 on a high note. It really was a great year for me. I probably should have posted more photos in this segment over the year, and maybe then it would have helped it resonate a bit better. But the thing is, 1991 was me in peak "awkward stage" with bad acne, braces, questionable fashion and hair choices... so there's not a ton of shots I'm eager to share with the internet.
Thanks For a Great Year
But anyways, thanks for indulging me these past 12 months. I'm never going to "write my memoirs" or anything like that, so rambling about my childhood on a blog a couple dozen guys will ever read helps me feel like I've "told my story" to some degree, and there's some record of my life floating around somewhere in space after I'm gone. Again, no kids for me, so this saga will not produce a sequel to carry on the tale. But I'm just late night rambling, perhaps having partaken in something recreational this evening, on the night of my last day before the big 44. (Always been a favorite number of mine.. Aaron! Reggie! McCovey!)
Back a year ago I said I wanted to do a big year-long contest type thing to thank the folks who take a moment to read and comment on the blog. I'm not sure if anyone remembers who was gonna call me on it, but even though my grand plans haven't come together yet, I'm still intending to make good on my word and formerly thank the top commenting people with a little something.
Time to scan through the posts from the past year and confirm who are the folks who commented on the majority of the posts. With 15 posts, that means commenting on 8 or more posts got you onto the winners' podium.
drum roll...
Fuji and Night Owl tied for the title of top commenter, followed closely by Brett Alan and Billy Kingsley.
Special thanks to you four guys for engaging and being generous enough to share your thoughts here at least 50% of the time! You're going on my nice list and I'll get something neat sent your respective ways soon to show my appreciation.
You other readers are still appreciated, don't get me wrong!, but please don't be shy to chime in with your perspective on these artists and songs and stuff as we cover another batch of pop stars in 2022 here on the blog, and maybe next year I'll be working on something special to send you!
Thanks again for reading.. Happy Holidays and all the best in the new year.
Here's the Hoodoo Gurus covering "Little Drummer Boy" to close us out for the year.
Today's forecast calls for a double dose of Hall & Oates. We start with 1991 Pro Set MusiCards #48. This photo feels cramped, like it probably should have been zoomed out instead of blocking out chunks of the duo's heads. John Oates smirks while Daryl Hall seems a little out of focus. Best thing about this photo might be how you can kinda see the photographer in the sunglasses reflection.
The glasses are off on the back photo featuring a classic back-to-back pose. The write-up reminds you they were a hit-song powerhouse from the late 70s through the 80s. Their days lingering in the Top 10 were behind them by the time this card was being pulled from packs, though their current LP at the time, Change of Season, did spawn the #11 single "So Close", their final Top 40 hit.
I liked "So Close" a lot.. not enough to buy the CD or single, but enough to tape it off the radio in my waning days of tuning to pop music stations. In fact, the version I'm most familiar with features the local San Diego DJ chatting over the intro section (not the slow part in the video, but the main part that starts with the drum hit), smugly talking about how the Dodgers lost... but he stumbles on his words a bit and ends up finishing his sentence over the first line of the song-- one of the worst sins a DJ can make!
Here's card #49. The guys seem to be bored of posing for the photoshoot. Oates smirking in the background again, while Hall shows off the unusual guitar in his possession.
The back photo is from the same shoot, but now Hall is messing around on the ax (Is that an 8-string guitar? crazy), while Oates dares you to talk smack about his seahorses t-shirt.
The text basically repeats the previous card by listing their popular songs, but now you also get to know some of the non-#1s, such as "Sara Smile" (#4), "She's Gone" (#7), "Did It in a Minute" (#9), and "Everything Your Heart Desires" (#3). The biggest snub here by the Pro Set employee tasked with writing the back is "Say It Isn't So", which went to #2 in 1983.
Only the coincidentally titled "Say Say Say" by Paul McCartney featuring Michael Jackson managed to keep "Say It Isn't So" from the top spot for a span of four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
Things quieted down for the band after these MusiCards came out, not releasing another studio album until 1997's Marigold Sky, which didn't make much of a splash. (I'm listening to it for the first time while drafting this post, and it's not too bad.) But they're still at it all these years later. They've both put out a few solo albums, too. I've heard good things about Live from Daryl's House, the show where Daryl Hall jams with other great musicians, though I haven't watched much of it yet.
What's your favorite Hall & Oates song? "You Make My Dreams" (peaked at #5) is probably mine.
Just a fun song that always seems to improve my mood, even if somewhat overplayed at this point.
THIS MONTH IN 1991
Licking lions preside over November '91.
Lots of NES action for me this month, playing through Double Dragon II, Little Nemo: The Dream Master, Legend of Zelda, Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II, Street Fighter 2010, and Bart vs. the Space Mutants. You can see I wasn't above cheating using a Game Genie. If you're not familiar, it's a device you plug a game into that lets you enter cheat codes for stuff like infinite lives or mega jump. I've never been that great of a gamer, or had the patience to play games for hours on end to really get better at them, so I was happy to get a leg-up thanks to cheat codes, and still to this day I'm not above codes and save-states when I play video games. I realize it's more rewarding to beat a tough game fairly, but for me it just doesn't outweigh all the time and frustration of dying a hundred times. But I feel guilty enough to notate "(w/ Genie)" when I make the claim to have beaten a game, even though that's usually my default, lol. Bart vs. the Space Mutants (the first Simpsons game on Nintendo) is an especially brutal game to complete, even with Genie codes, so it's worthy of the all-caps and exclamation point I've given it here on the 20th.
Oh hey, cool for me to discover the specific day I got Dan Walters' autograph (11/9/91). I wrote a big ol' post about it on Baseball Card Breakdown last year after he passed, but I had misestimated the timeline as summer of '92. I've now added a little note with the card in the Walters PC so I won't forget again. I got a total of 4 in-person baseball autographs during my childhood stint of collecting, but my memory is blurry as to the order I got them, and I'm hoping to one day have it all sorted out. At least now I can confirm Dan Walters came before the still-unidentified old-timer Indians coach I got at a spring training game in '92.
Dodgers fans like Night Owl may be pleased to see I acquired a Los Angeles jersey on 11/16. I really was a "baseball fan" first-- back then and still today but less so-- rockin' gear of several different teams, naively unburdened by any rivalries.
Then we took a vacation to Louisville for a big family Thanksgiving. That trip was notable for meeting my cousin's newborn Alexis. She's all grown up now, finally getting married next year to her long-time baby-daddy. (I only remember this trip now from looking at my old photo album. I bust it out to confirm '92 was a year I went to Arizona and therefore the year I caught a spring training game in Yuma. I was also curious if the smiley face I doodled by my orthodontist [11/15] signified me getting my braces off that day, but no, looking at photos from Xmas '91, I was still a metal-mouth.)
Anyways, we'll close out this old calendar shtick next month with December 1991 and another MusiCard. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to let me know what you think about Hall & Oates in the comments if you wanna.
Card #47 in the 1991 MusiCards set features the Go-Go's. Nice huddled-together group shot with some big smiles. It's their only card in the set, though you may recall lead singer Belinda Carlisle also had a pair of solo cards back at #36 and 37.
The back features a stylized wordmark rather than a photo along with the write-up.
The Go-Go's had pretty much already had their heyday by the time I was really getting into music as a kid, but their hits "Our Lips Are Sealed", "We Got the Beat", and "Vacation" were unavoidable, then and still today. In fact, I think I liked them more back in the 90s; at this point I'm kind of sick of those three songs, honestly. I've just heard them so much in my life, lol! And I don't think I could name another Go-Go's song off the top of my head.
But I poked around on Spotify in the interest of this post, listening to a dozen more songs of theirs trying to check out some deeper cuts, and while the songs were fine, I didn't find anything I felt compelled to add to my library. But still, the Go-Go's are A-OK in my book.
I've always thought Jane Wiedlin was especially badass. She did a little acting, but never quite popped as much as she probably could've/should've.
On the subject of popular 80s rock bands comprised by women, I'm surprised The Bangles never got a MusiCard. I'll have to spotlight them in a future Custom Corner. (That segment of mine has kinda been paused this year due to technical difficulties, but it should be returning to the blog in 2022. In the meantime, here's the bonus feature that's been filling in...)
This Month in 1991
Chimpanzees rule the roost in October 1991.
Not a very exciting month for middle school me. The novelty of these old calendar pages of mine has kinda worn off, but dang it, I've come this far, I want to close out the year! Just a couple more after this one. Don't worry, there will be no more old calendar pages in 2022!
So looks like October '91 featured some birthdays to go along with the Halloweentime later in the month. You also get a look at my report card grades, which I'd say are representative of my entire academic career. That's pretty good when you consider how many "sick" days we've seen on this calendar over these past few months. Goes to show you I've always been a slacker. Not a dummy, but not driven enough to ever really make something of himself. And I'm ok with that.
I believe the minor league set received on the 1st must've been 1991 Classic Best, which as I mentioned in a recent Baseball Card Breakdown post, is the only full-length set from my childhood collection that survived "the great possessions purge" as I prepared to move out-of-state years back. But I'm not sure what the checklist received on the 12th was. I wanna say it was maybe a big checklist for the 1990 Pro-Cards minor league cards. I was really into those for a few months back then.
Ok, I'd better hurry and get this published so I can keep up my quota of at least one post per month here. Next month will be Hall & Oates.. oh yeah!
Any of you readers big Go-Go's fans? Any lesser-known favorite songs of theirs to recommend?
I wasn't familiar with the Gipsy Kings outside of putting this set/blog together, but turns out they've been at it with a poppy interpretation of flamenco music since well before this card came out and they're still active today.
Their recordings have been used in popular movies, so I'm sure we've all heard them even if we don't realize it. The Big Lebowski ("Hotel California"), Toy Story 3 ("You've Got a Friend in Me"), and 2016's Sing ["Bamboleo"].
I don't mind this type of music, though I don't typically seek it out or know much about it. I've listened to a couple Gipsy Kings albums on Spotify while drafting this post, and I've enjoyed it all fine, but not sure they'll stick in my regular rotation or anything.
So yeah, not a lot for me to say about MusiCard #46 here. You can read more about this long-running family band at the Gipsy Kings Wikipedia entry.
Oh, here's something I whipped up for a quick Custom Corner...
How could I not?! Had to make a Gypsy Queen Gipsy Kings card. I believe these gentlemen are the remaining original members.
Now it's time for This Month in 1991.
Ha, I had no idea that note was hiding in this old calendar of mine until I went to take a photo of September. Must've stuck it there for semi-safe keeping. I generally don't save "thanks for the trade" notes (though I appreciate them, don't get me wrong), but this one is from a famous person, so it was too cool for me to throw away. Craig here is Craig McCracken, best known as the creator of The Powerpuff Girls and other very successful animation work. We were online acquaintances for a few years back around the turn of the millenium, brought together by our shared love for the music of Frank Black. I traded him plenty of rockin' live recordings and oddities I'd collected of Mr. Black, and Craig hooked me up with lots of cool Cartoon Network swag and other fun stuff, such as a copy of the Heroes & Villains compilation CD he put together with some of his favorite bands contributing songs about the Powerpuff Girls, which I believe is the context of this note.
Craig also drew a couple original pictures for me and gave me a PPG animation cel, all among my most-treasured collectable keepsakes. (I've showed off some of these a few years ago on my other blog.) His new show on Netflix is called Kid Cosmic and I don't think you can find a better "for the whole family" cartoon out there these days. Very well done all around and worth doing yourself a favor by watching. (I'm still finishing up season 1, though season 2 recently dropped to rave reviews, and a third season is forthcoming.)
Anyways, let's remove the sticky note and take a look at what I was up to 30 years ago..
Pretty slow month compared to August from a couple posts ago. Summer fun gave way to back-to-school. On the 5th, I got to endure sore teeth from a braces tightening before tuning into the Video Music Awards on MTV later that evening.
Highlights from the VMAs that year included the return of Pee-wee Herman after the unpleasantness in the naughty movie theatre. Notable music numbers performed at the Arsenio-hosted show were "Poundcake" by Van Halen, "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, and "Gett Off" by Prince with his butt-cheeks out.
I bought a box of Line Drive minor league baseball cards on the 8th for $20. It was probably a situation where I was browsing at the local card shop, PV's Baseball Cards, and I made Paul an offer of $20 for the remainder of an open retail box. I remember doing that occasionally as a kid. Not quite ponying up for a sealed box, but getting a nice per-pack discount by taking a half-full box. This was the 1991 Line Drive "Pre-Rookie" set that mixed AA and AAA players. The above 7 cards might be all I've hung onto from the 30-year old purchase-- a few guys who went on to solid careers-- found in an old binder of mine.
Then on the 15th, I beat the NES game Strider again (so, not for the first time, but not sure if 2nd, 3rd time, or what). Strider is still one of my all-time favorite video games. I just played through it yet again one evening last month. I consider it almost a companion game to Bionic Commando, another late 80s game Capcom put out for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Both have great music, engaging action, semi-non-linear gameplay, and are a lot of fun. The jumping control might be what prevented both games from being more popular. Your guy can't jump in Bionic Commando, but rather you swing around with a go-go-gadget robotic arm, sort of like Spider-Man and his web slinging. In Strider, you can jump, but the game designers kinda shit the bed on the jumping control and it gets a little glitchy at times. But besides that occasional frustration with tricky jumps, and perhaps some bugs with special item usage, it's a terrific game. It's not exactly a well-remembered game today, at least not the Nintendo version, though the arcade and Genesis versions (both plenty different than the NES port) tend to get more respect.
I didn't have it marked on the calendar, but 9/26/91 would become kind of an important date for me because it marked the final concert of Jane's Addiction, who I would get really into as the 90s progressed. Basically for the years that I wasn't collecting baseball cards, I was collecting Jane's Addiction bootlegs instead. At my peak, I owned damn-near every live recording of theirs that was in circulation amongst fans (and several super-rare ones that hardly anybody else had). Over the years, my obsession faded and the band has done various half-hearted reunions, but 9/26/91 still sticks in my head as an important date, and since I notice it's the 30 year anniversary as I write this, figured I'd mention it.
That's it for this post. Any of you readers into the Gipsy Kings? Ever rip any '91 Line Drive packs? Ever play Strider?
Ready for an onslaught of Debbie Gibson cards? By my count, there are 6 different Debbie Gibson cards in the 1991 MusiCards master set: 4 consecutive base cards, plus a variation and a promo card. We'll be taking a look at all of them in this post.
MusiCard #42 features a live photograph of Deborah at the piano, likely performing a ballad such as "Lost In Your Eyes", by the looks of it. It's an interesting shot-- Can you think of another instance where you get 2 angles of the subject from the same moment in time on one trading card?-- but feels like it was taken by a fan in the audience, a bit washed-out and far away.
Oh my, I really like that headshot on the back. Attractive young woman, no doubt! As this blurb reminds us, Debbie Gibson actually wrote her own songs and was a skilled musician, unlike most teenage pop princesses you might be tempted to lump her in with. Gotta respect that!
Debbie Gibson - "Only In My Dreams"
Here's card #43. Apparently she's working out a charley horse in her foot, lol. It almost appears as though Debbie is rocking dreadlocks, which isn't really on-brand for her. But I think it's more of a "bedhead" look. A somewhat weird card.
And there are 2 different versions of this weird card.
Yep, for Series II, the project manager assigned to the MusiCards product at Pro Set at the time decided that white-dread Debbie's sexy foot-fondling was TOO HOT for the kids of '91, and called upon a censored version. Nah, I'm just being silly, of course. I'm not sure why they made a variation that just moves the Super Stars logo box from one corner to another (The photo has been moved slightly too-- compare the white space above her name). But the back reveals why an updated variation of this card was called for. Let's flip them over; Take a look for yourself and see if you can spot it....
Did you catch the mistake? It's at the last line of text.
Yes, this isn't a simple case of "alternate" variations, but rather a good old fashioned "Error vs. Corrected" situation. Debbie's history-making #1 single was titled "Foolish Beat", not "Foolish Heart" as the initial version of the card erroneously states.
Debbie Gibson - "Foolish Beat"
Oh yeah. While "Foolish Beat" didn't ring a bell for me at first (nor did "Foolish Heart" for that matter, unless we're talking about Steve Perry-- great song), after listening to it, I now definitely remember hearing it on the radio a lot back then, though it was never one of my favorites. But still, very impressive that the track made the Gibson the youngest female artist to write, produce, and perform a Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, a feat that I don't believe has been matched or bested yet.
Back to the card back above, notice the second pressing also adds a tiny copyright line under the back photo (which, like the prior card, features a gorgeous headshot of the young pop star), crediting it to 1991 Gibson Productions. This is slightly notable because these cards generally don't tell you what year they're from (the retail boxes and packs don't mention a specific year-- this would appear to be planned as a one-and-done product right from the start). Sometimes folks mistakenly put the cards down as being released in 1992 or "1991-92". It's a bit confusing because it seems there isn't a consensus in the hobby world on what exactly to officially call this set. Should "Super Stars" be written as one word or two? Same question for "Pro Set". Hell, even on this blog, I refer to it by several different names, though I mostly keep it simple with just 1991 MusiCards.
TCDB lists it as 1991 Pro Set SuperStars MusiCards
COMC currently calls it 1991-92 ProSet Super Stars MusiCards
Beckett Marketplace calls it 1991-92 Superstars MusiCards
PSA dates it as 1991, though beyond that isn't always consistent.
See? Nobody can agree what exactly to call it. As for the year, the cards were released in 1991 and I think trying to squeeze "-92" on there like this is a basketball or hockey set is just dumb. Maybe Series 2 was released in early 1992, you suggest? Nope. Just check the "Instant Win" game inserts that came in every pack. The Series 1 contest (Grand Prize: a trip to London) ran from March 1, 1991 through December 31, 1991. The Series 2 contest (Grand Prize: a trip to Australia) ran from September 15, 1991 through October 1, 1992. Perhaps Pro Set tried to "rebrand" the cards as being "1991-92" when selling Series 2 boxes to dealers in late 1991 and early 1992, you know, in an effort to make them seem relevant longer, kinda like how comic books and magazines typically come out weeks before the official date printed on them just to try to extend the window to keep them on retail shelves. But yeah, these cards are from 1991 and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Anyways, sorry for that tangent. I do want to try to look into narrowing down timeframes with the set as we continue on. I'm curious, for example, which album or single or event mentioned was the most recent. It'd be interesting to try figuring out the deadline for the write-ups. If Series 1 was on shelves starting in or around March '91, they must have been finalized for the printers around late '90.. but how late are we talking here?
But back to the card at hand, this is the first error card we've come to in the set so far... well, not counting uncorrected errors. The other "move the logo to the other corner" variations we've seen have not featured a similar typo-correction as far as I can tell. I spent a solid minute comparing the #17 Jimmy Page variations, and the backs seem to be exactly the same. But at least with #43 here, Pro Set actually had a good reason for updating the card: fixing a dumb mistake. (I wonder how they caught it. Do you think Debbie herself complained? "Hey guys, my song was called 'Foolish Beat'! And by the way, that photo is copyrighted by Gibson Productions, 1991. Please make these updates at your earliest convenience.")
I need to quickly mention that as of drafting this post, TCDB lists a 3rd variation for #43: with the logo box moved to the bottom but no changes to the back. I'm 98% sure this is just a mix up caused by the person who originally uploaded the back photo to TCDB in 2013 not realizing they were different on the back so he reuploaded his other scan instead of scanning anew. Hey, I'd love if there were another rare MusiCard for me to track down, so please prove me wrong, but I just don't believe it. Similar to the #15 John Lennon fictional 3rd variation that used to be listed on TCDB when I started this blog but has since been correctly removed because it doesn't actually exist.
Next up..
Here's card #44. I'm going to go on record selecting this one as my favorite of Debbie's several MusiCards. You get a nice clear look at her, without a bad hair day to distract you. A little more of a smile would have been nice, but I'm not the type to make the mistake of telling a woman she should smile more. I hear that she's super cool with her fans and is a generous through-the-mail autograph signer, so I've been meaning to send her a copy of this card to sign one of these days. I think it'd look nice with a signature on it. And sure, I might not be able to name more than 3 or 4 Debbie Gibson songs off the top of my head, but I like her just fine.
Debbie Gibson - "Shake Your Love"
"Shake Your Love" is my favorite song of hers. Just a fun, booty-movin' pop song.
Wow, yet again, ProSet puts the more-appealing (IMHO) photo on the back. I wouldn't have minded seeing that fun shot on the front of a card instead of confined to a tiny thumbnail. Way better than the "dreads" photo, right?! Oh well, what's done is done.
The write-up talks about her childhood and is what I imagine is one of the very few trading cards to refer to its subject as "extraordinarily precocious".
Hey, we've now come to the finale of Debbie's run in the checklist. Card #45 here features a heavily makeuped cutie apparently posing with some sort of cycle. Makes me think of Dottie from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. "I'm a loner, Dottie, a rebel." If I hadn't seen this photo before and you asked me to identify the person, I don't think I'd guess it was Debbie Gibson. Cute, though. I probably wouldn't use this card for a TTM autograph attempt due to all the dark area that might hide the ink (in addition to the fact that I don't think it looks much like her).
Haha, ProSet's streak of putting the, um, sultrier photo on the back comes to a screeching halt with this one! Looks like she's on her way to equestrian class or someshit. Say hi to Butterscotch for us, Debbie. What's with that hat? Dude, is she wearing her grampa's jacket? And that crouch doesn't look very comfortable.
The text opts for lists of her releases rather than a narrative blurb. Her days lingering near the top of the charts were starting to wane by the time this set was on shelves ["1991-92"], but she's kept on with her music career over the years. Here's the link to her Wikipedia entry if you wanna read more. Thanks to writing this post, I had a thought I didn't expect I'd ever have: "I want to listen to the new Debbie Gibson album." Yeah, her 10th album The Body Remembers came out just a month ago and I'm checking it out right now. It's some finely-crafted pop! Too bad it seems like she's gotten pigeonholed as a 80s teen star and couldn't quite remain relevant in the pop music scene. It's hard to do, I suppose. Not a lot of Beyonce-type careers for young singers. She went by Deborah for a while, but is back to Debbie now.
"Lost In Your Eyes" stands as her biggest song, so I'd better throw that into the post before we wrap up here. Personally, I'd be fine never hearing that song again.. not that it's bad, just a bit sappy and way overplayed by this point. It's gotten stuck in my head several times over the weekend I've been working on this post.
And back to the card, this one also has a promo version. Here they are side by side...
The difference here is the text in the logo box. The promo version (right) has a more Comic Sans type of font, but they decided on a no-nonsense font for the finished product.
Flipping them over...
The back of the promo is different, as we can see above. The write up was not repeated on a base card, but calls to mind card #42, mentioning her debut single, while the back photo would appear on that dreaded card #43 (see what I did there?). Note the solid colors in the design were swapped. I think they should have kept it the way it was on the promo. The name is easier to read in lime green than hot pink.
There are 11 of these "no-number" promos: 10 artists and 1 header card (which is hard to find-- I'm still looking for the header, but I've got the others). This is the second such promo we've come to so far, the first being #24 Led Zeppelin back in the opening Legends subset. These unnumbered promos should be distinguished from the other promos that are numbered and feature an alternate design, but we'll take a look at those down the line.
She was not featured in the UK edition of the set despite 1989's Electric Youth reaching #8 on the UK charts, so this is a wrap on Debbie for the blog.... unless I end up with a TTM success to show off at some point.
WS1988 Gm1: Debbie Gibson performs national anthem
One fun fact to mention about her, here on this blog whose readers are mostly baseball card collectors, Debbie sang the national anthem for Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Seriously?! Yep, the Gibson magic was in full effect on October 15, 1988, with Debbie's strong performance surely setting the stage for Kirk (no relation) to eventually come off the bench and hit his improbable home run off Dennis Eckersley.
Another choice fun fact about Debbie Gibson is that she made her film debut (uncredited) as a little kid playing the "birthday girl" in Ghostbusters in the scene where Rick Moranis' character is overtaken by the demon dog and gets possessed by Vinz Clortho.
Ok, that's enough for this long post. Thanks for reading and please consider yourself invited to comment below with any relevant thoughts to share. The next card on-deck is a "who?" situation for me, so I'm looking forward to digging into an unfamiliar group. Chances are that'll be short, but we'll also hit September's "This Month in 1991" segment, so that'll help fill up the post. Stay tuned.
