You know what? This song rules. B.E.R. rules.
August 30, 2017 1:21 PM Subscribe
How a throwaway joke on Teen Titans Go! helped an unknown song, written more than a decade ago, break into the charts.
What makes it great is that they respect the song. Yes, it's basically distilled 80's, but it's a fun song, and they just go with the whole motif.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:31 PM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:31 PM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
Teen Titans Go has been hit or miss (according to me) in the last year as its popularity has grown. They seem to be rushing the episodes out. BUT this multi-episode set was good for sure. My daughter was singing the song for days.
Some of the earlier episodes are beyond reproach, including the excellent Body Adventure.
I do have some minor reservations about the show, since they stole a few things from Art and Franco's Tiny Titans comics, but still--the night begins to shiiiine.
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:42 PM on August 30, 2017
Some of the earlier episodes are beyond reproach, including the excellent Body Adventure.
I do have some minor reservations about the show, since they stole a few things from Art and Franco's Tiny Titans comics, but still--the night begins to shiiiine.
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:42 PM on August 30, 2017
So, this means Teen Titans Go is NOT one of the main things emblematic of the lingering death of Cartoon Network?
posted by Samizdata at 1:45 PM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Samizdata at 1:45 PM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
I just adore this show, and I'm really not the type of person you'd expect that from. My family does the pee pee dance a lot. I feel like I probably shouldn't be letting my six-year-old watch it, but it cracks me up so much. It's the only show ever where I've been able to tolerate watching the same episode, like, six times. My favorite episode is the freak-out one. Raven is my avatar at work right now.
posted by kitcat at 1:47 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by kitcat at 1:47 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
So, this means Teen Titans Go is NOT one of the main things emblematic of the lingering death of Cartoon Network?
No, it's really genuinely quite good. Not my cup of tea as far as something I actively seek out on a regular basis, but it's got a strong sense of itself and a quirky, upbeat sense of humour that I have to admire anyway.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:09 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
No, it's really genuinely quite good. Not my cup of tea as far as something I actively seek out on a regular basis, but it's got a strong sense of itself and a quirky, upbeat sense of humour that I have to admire anyway.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:09 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Carl Burnett, the "B" in B.E.R., helped write and produce the song. He's the one who got the assignment in 2005 to write an '80s-style song for a music library.
That's really neat, I thought this song was actually from the '80s. Also, I didn't know stock music was a thing.
posted by kitcat at 2:29 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
That's really neat, I thought this song was actually from the '80s. Also, I didn't know stock music was a thing.
posted by kitcat at 2:29 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
CAROLE BURNETToh never mind.
posted by maxsparber at 2:32 PM on August 30, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by maxsparber at 2:32 PM on August 30, 2017 [9 favorites]
My son is still obsessed with this song. I may have even awoken a new Weird Al as his version, The Shoes Begin to Tie, has been climbing the charts in the Bleeding household, especially with the crucial We Need To Get Out The Door demo.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:45 PM on August 30, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:45 PM on August 30, 2017 [9 favorites]
A few weeks back my kid asked me to play "Teen Titans Go music" (she's seen about three episodes from the first season), so I searched Spotify and the Cee-Lo Green track came up and I thought, man, this is surprisingly good. And now it's in the charts and on NPR!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:53 PM on August 30, 2017
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:53 PM on August 30, 2017
The Fallout Boy version just sounds like an updated version of the original, with cleaner vocals. The Ceelo version is a true remix, and you can tell he's putting his own production spin on it.
I used to watch this show when nothing else is really on TV. It's hit or miss for me too, but yeah I've had some genuine laughs from the show.
At Momocon in Atlanta earlier this summer, during a Steven Universe panel, a social media person from Cartoon Network was on the panel, and some kid, probably 11 or 12, asked him point blank why where were so few SU reruns and can there be less TTG reruns, and the whole room cheered. Then the social media person said that it's not really in his powers (the kid clearly had no concept that the social media guy has no control over programming), and that believe or not, TTG has a very big fanbase. So from that and what I've notice, TTG is probably carrying the network in terms of eyeballs to ads.
posted by numaner at 3:06 PM on August 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I used to watch this show when nothing else is really on TV. It's hit or miss for me too, but yeah I've had some genuine laughs from the show.
At Momocon in Atlanta earlier this summer, during a Steven Universe panel, a social media person from Cartoon Network was on the panel, and some kid, probably 11 or 12, asked him point blank why where were so few SU reruns and can there be less TTG reruns, and the whole room cheered. Then the social media person said that it's not really in his powers (the kid clearly had no concept that the social media guy has no control over programming), and that believe or not, TTG has a very big fanbase. So from that and what I've notice, TTG is probably carrying the network in terms of eyeballs to ads.
posted by numaner at 3:06 PM on August 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Holy shit. How can I see this whole episode? Hulu? Streaming anywhere? (Can you tell I don't watch much TV?) I've meant to watch TTG for a long time now since I've only seen clips in passing but it's delightful.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:49 PM on August 30, 2017
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:49 PM on August 30, 2017
Library Music!!!
I've always wondered how many songs out there over the years could have been 'hits' and/or made the American pop culture zeitgeist if only the they had the some radio airplay by a few radio stations or included on spotify's playlists.
posted by fizzix at 4:24 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
So, this means Teen Titans Go is NOT one of the main things emblematic of the lingering death of Cartoon Network?
I'd say yes, only for the fact it makes up 80% of CN's actual content by time. The week that the 4 part episode came out it was 100%.
posted by zabuni at 4:46 PM on August 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'd say yes, only for the fact it makes up 80% of CN's actual content by time. The week that the 4 part episode came out it was 100%.
posted by zabuni at 4:46 PM on August 30, 2017 [4 favorites]
Teen Titans Go is a pretty good show (I've always enjoyed it when I've caught it), but it has TAKEN OVER CARTOON NETWORK FOR OVER A YEAR. Regularly over 50% of its air time is damnable Teen Titans Go, and sometimes it's much more. (On preview, what zabuni said.) It's actually worse, it seems, than the time when Spongebob Squarepants was a huge portion of Nickelodeon's airtime.
I wouldn't care usually, except that one of the shows languishing is Steven Universe, which sometimes gets mentioned along with Serious Television. (Peridot was named one of AV Club's 22 best minor characters!) And it's amazing hearing people defend Cartoon Network's choice to turn itself into Teen Titans Go Network. Other networks don't devote themselves so mono-maniacally to one show, but the excuses people give for TTG being everywhere range from it being focused on very young children (it is not, there's a lot of comics injokes in there) to people can use on-demand to view its other shows (so why don't they use that to watch Teen Titans Go?) to (in Steven Universe's case) the show is continuity heavy (so not airing it at all in literally two months is going to help people catch up?!).
posted by JHarris at 4:54 PM on August 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
I wouldn't care usually, except that one of the shows languishing is Steven Universe, which sometimes gets mentioned along with Serious Television. (Peridot was named one of AV Club's 22 best minor characters!) And it's amazing hearing people defend Cartoon Network's choice to turn itself into Teen Titans Go Network. Other networks don't devote themselves so mono-maniacally to one show, but the excuses people give for TTG being everywhere range from it being focused on very young children (it is not, there's a lot of comics injokes in there) to people can use on-demand to view its other shows (so why don't they use that to watch Teen Titans Go?) to (in Steven Universe's case) the show is continuity heavy (so not airing it at all in literally two months is going to help people catch up?!).
posted by JHarris at 4:54 PM on August 30, 2017 [5 favorites]
I think the reason Teen Titans Go is everywhere, really, probably has to do with DC Comics synergy and WB trying to push its properties. But I think that may be at the cost of overexposing TTG, and underexposing other good shows like Adventure Time, now in its twilight, and Steven Universe.
posted by JHarris at 4:59 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 4:59 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
No, it's really genuinely quite good. Not my cup of tea as far as something I actively seek out on a regular basis, but it's got a strong sense of itself and a quirky, upbeat sense of humour that I have to admire anyway.
I have been seeing an awful lot of what seems to be en pointe criticism of Cartoon Network pointing at TTG's almost continual play being a signal of CN's death throes, especially as they seem to show less original animation (which was, IMO, one of their strengths. Of course, I said this right after the network launched and I had to pay a substantial ala carte fee to even watch The Scooby Doo Network.
I'd say yes, only for the fact it makes up 80% of CN's actual content by time. The week that the 4 part episode came out it was 100%.
Which is exactly what the criticism I have seen is saying, and which is roughly paralleled by my experience in their early youth.
(I remember, not too long after the Mystery Machine Incident of '92..." "
Oh," he says. "Three years later."
..."my now ex-wife thought the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "Hungry" in 1995 with Michael Stipe and Lassie was going to result in my immediate hospitalization, as I was in a fetal position, on the floor, bright red, drenched with sweat and completely unable to breathe for a couple of minutes, due to uncontrollable laughter.)
posted by Samizdata at 7:19 PM on August 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I have been seeing an awful lot of what seems to be en pointe criticism of Cartoon Network pointing at TTG's almost continual play being a signal of CN's death throes, especially as they seem to show less original animation (which was, IMO, one of their strengths. Of course, I said this right after the network launched and I had to pay a substantial ala carte fee to even watch The Scooby Doo Network.
I'd say yes, only for the fact it makes up 80% of CN's actual content by time. The week that the 4 part episode came out it was 100%.
Which is exactly what the criticism I have seen is saying, and which is roughly paralleled by my experience in their early youth.
(I remember, not too long after the Mystery Machine Incident of '92..." "
Oh," he says. "Three years later."
..."my now ex-wife thought the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "Hungry" in 1995 with Michael Stipe and Lassie was going to result in my immediate hospitalization, as I was in a fetal position, on the floor, bright red, drenched with sweat and completely unable to breathe for a couple of minutes, due to uncontrollable laughter.)
posted by Samizdata at 7:19 PM on August 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I think the reason Teen Titans Go is everywhere, really, probably has to do with DC Comics synergy and WB trying to push its properties. But I think that may be at the cost of overexposing TTG, and underexposing other good shows like Adventure Time, now in its twilight, and Steven Universe.
I somewhat agree, although I would state it has been due to DC's less than stellar cinematic superhero offerings and MUCH more often than not amazing animated offerings with the same superheroes. As we all know, Hollywood's strategy with something they get right is "MARKET SHARE? RIDE THAT BITCH! RIDE IT HARD! INTO THE GROUND ALREADY! WHY IS IT STILL ALIVE?"
posted by Samizdata at 7:21 PM on August 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
I somewhat agree, although I would state it has been due to DC's less than stellar cinematic superhero offerings and MUCH more often than not amazing animated offerings with the same superheroes. As we all know, Hollywood's strategy with something they get right is "MARKET SHARE? RIDE THAT BITCH! RIDE IT HARD! INTO THE GROUND ALREADY! WHY IS IT STILL ALIVE?"
posted by Samizdata at 7:21 PM on August 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
TTG is amusing and I have no problem with it, but for those wondering it has indeed utterly dominated Cartoon Network in recent years. There have been times in the past few years when 64% of the network's airtime in a given week was devoted to this one show. See here.
posted by Wretch729 at 8:18 PM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Wretch729 at 8:18 PM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
Damn. Scrolled through too fast on first pass and really thought it said Carol Burnett was the B in BER. Thought it was odd but I was willing to roll with it.
Also misheard the lyrics at first, hearing not "when we're dancing" in the chorus but rather "in the desert... the night begins to shine". Which still would have totally fit in an 80's song.
posted by vignettist at 11:08 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also misheard the lyrics at first, hearing not "when we're dancing" in the chorus but rather "in the desert... the night begins to shine". Which still would have totally fit in an 80's song.
posted by vignettist at 11:08 PM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I used to love watching this show with my daughter. But then she started talking like Starfire and it seemed like it was making her stupider, so we had to cut that shit out.
posted by gnutron at 4:04 AM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by gnutron at 4:04 AM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
Interesting story. I had about convinced myself that this was an actual hit from back in the day that I'd just forgotten about.
posted by bryon at 5:38 AM on August 31, 2017
posted by bryon at 5:38 AM on August 31, 2017
TTG is amusing and I have no problem with it, but for those wondering it has indeed utterly dominated Cartoon Network in recent years. There have been times in the past few years when 64% of the network's airtime in a given week was devoted to this one show.
Oh, that's nothing.
posted by JHarris at 9:38 AM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Oh, that's nothing.
posted by JHarris at 9:38 AM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Somehow, the most amazing part of this for me is that Carl Burnett, Frank Enea, and William Reagan are the actual composers of the song. For whatever reason, it never occurred to me that they would use the real composers' names and just pretend they were together in a band. Now I'm wondering if 40%/40%/20% might be an actual royalty split.
posted by mhum at 12:26 PM on August 31, 2017
posted by mhum at 12:26 PM on August 31, 2017
Ok, wow, I had no idea CN's schedule was so monolithic these days. But surely it's not, like, TTG's fault?
posted by tobascodagama at 12:33 PM on August 31, 2017
posted by tobascodagama at 12:33 PM on August 31, 2017
It isn't, and as I and many others have said it's a perfectly fine show. Some fanboys of the original Teen Titans aren't fond of it because of the more recent show's comedy focus, and I can recognize that, but every episode I've happened to see has been entertaining, sometimes very much so. There's one episode that's a bunch of short stories, with a framing device of Batman and Commissioner Gordon having what amounts to a play date in the Batcave, and spying on various characters using Bat Surveillance Cameras scattered throughout the city! Batman lets Gordon try on his cowl! Who cares about secret identity!
Teen Titans Go is great. It's just A. no Steven Universe, which is one of the best shows on TV, B. everywhere, and C. its being everywhere means CN can't show, apparently, any Steven Universe for two months and counting.
posted by JHarris at 3:42 PM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
Teen Titans Go is great. It's just A. no Steven Universe, which is one of the best shows on TV, B. everywhere, and C. its being everywhere means CN can't show, apparently, any Steven Universe for two months and counting.
posted by JHarris at 3:42 PM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
My respect for TTG rose 10-20% after seeing these clips from an upcoming episode about "the sharing economy".
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:27 PM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:27 PM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]
JHarris: “TTG is amusing and I have no problem with it, but for those wondering it has indeed utterly dominated Cartoon Network in recent years. There have been times in the past few years when 64% of the network's airtime in a given week was devoted to this one show.You know, I'd been considering trying to glom on to a friends login and watch more Cartoon Network again. It was such a comfort the last few years when things seemed so bleak. Maybe it's been a good time to take a break from it.
Oh, that's nothing.”
Anyway, I'm glad to see Scott Menville doing well. I loved him in Mission Hill and that's made me enjoy TTG all the more.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:28 PM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]
When CN decides to air other shows they can be great. They did produce Adventure Time, for instance. OK K.O. is a labor of love, and of course there's Steven Universe. You just wouldn't know they have these shows (other than through promotional pieces) because if you throw a dart at the Cartoon Network board you're almost certain to hit Teen Titans Go.
posted by JHarris at 8:15 AM on September 2, 2017
posted by JHarris at 8:15 AM on September 2, 2017
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