Don't Trust Any Rock Stars Over Twenty

May 28, 2007 12:11 PM

Kids Rock! Reaching puberty is not a prerequisite to rocking out. Check out Gary and the Hornets, Tony and the Tigers (featuring two sons of Soupy Sales), The Collins Kids (with more clips here and here), a 10-year-old Fergie singing the Pretenders' "The Middle of the Road," mini-skatepunks Old Skull, the Minibeats, Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point 3rd Grade Class, the Electric Company's Short Circus (featuring a pre-teen Irene Cara and intros from Morgan Freeman as DJ Mel Mounds), the Double Deckers, Smoosh on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Les Poppys, the Bantams, and Mulligan's Stew getting down with the four food groups. (YouTube-a-palooza!)
posted by jonp72 (37 comments total)

Kids Incorporated! K! I! D! S!
posted by the_bone at 12:17 PM on May 28, 2007

Wow, Old Skull is like Black Flag, only better. This is me throwing away my copy of "Damaged."
posted by nasreddin at 12:19 PM on May 28, 2007

No, no, they don't...
posted by Samizdata at 12:24 PM on May 28, 2007

Great post. Who knew Martika was not the most famous one to come out of Kids Inc.? And did I see Mario "A.C. Slater" Lopez's name in the credits there, too?
posted by Rock Steady at 12:24 PM on May 28, 2007

"The Paul Green School of Rock Music is the nation’s premier performance - based rock music program. (They) accept students from ages 7-18 and turn them into genuine rock stars..."
posted by blaneyphoto at 12:37 PM on May 28, 2007

Devo 2.0, Whip It
posted by jonp72 at 12:46 PM on May 28, 2007

And did I see Mario "A.C. Slater" Lopez's name in the credits there, too?

You did, indeed. He was a backup dancer on the show. I think it also might be him sitting behind the drums in the Fergie clip, but I'm not totally sure about that.
posted by jonp72 at 12:47 PM on May 28, 2007

The Sales brothers were also in Tin Machine with Bowie...
posted by chuckdarwin at 12:49 PM on May 28, 2007

The Sales brothers were also in Tin Machine with Bowie...

Yup, they also played and toured with Iggy Pop.
posted by jonp72 at 12:55 PM on May 28, 2007

That Devo 2.0 crap really pisses on the original concept (de-evolution) behind Devo.
posted by Burhanistan at 1:15 PM on May 28, 2007

Um, how could you forget?
posted by jonmc at 1:37 PM on May 28, 2007

Here's more kid rock from the recently deceased (stupid CRB) radio station I costarted.
posted by bigschmoove at 1:52 PM on May 28, 2007

(BTW - The chick in the Minibeats video was kinda hot...)
posted by Samizdata at 1:53 PM on May 28, 2007

(side note: the kiddie rock depicted here has mutated into something kind of weird. Up until six months ago, I worked as a clerk at a music database company, where we catalogued just about everything that came through. One 'Kids Music' record had on it's cover a stencil style 'stamp' proclaiming 'GUARANTEED: NO ADULT VOICES!' I can only assume this was to reassure the pedoaudiophiliac demographic. or something.)
posted by jonmc at 2:04 PM on May 28, 2007

Don't forget The Blisters.
posted by kyleg at 2:07 PM on May 28, 2007

And there's Rock Camp For Girls, which spawned the documentary Girls Rock!
posted by dw at 2:14 PM on May 28, 2007

Also, Smoosh just added on another sister; they're opening for the Pipettes this summer.
posted by dw at 2:16 PM on May 28, 2007

Outl4w is pretty good.
posted by mike3k at 2:33 PM on May 28, 2007

and there is also The Langley Schools Music Project?
posted by nimsey lou at 3:19 PM on May 28, 2007

Ah, grad school in Madison, Wisconsin, the end of the 80s, and Old Skull were.... around. Good times.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 3:25 PM on May 28, 2007

minipops was just disturbing
posted by vronsky at 3:31 PM on May 28, 2007

no one remembers the Rolling Scabs. 'My Mom Smokes Pot' is a classic.

well, there's always Eyeball Skeleton.
posted by tremspeed at 3:53 PM on May 28, 2007

Wow, Morgan Freeman back in the day. And Soupy Sales! I need to spend more quality time with YouTube.

(BTW - The chick in the Minibeats video was kinda hot...)

Dunno about hot, but cute, sure; she really had the moves down. Nicole from Devo 2.0 is gonna break her share of hearts one day, too.

I pretty much forgot about Hanson after their fifteen minutes of fame was up, but I remember really liking MMMBop.
posted by pax digita at 3:54 PM on May 28, 2007

Special Delivery (featuring Brad Laner of Medicine) with the Captain and Tennille.
posted by item at 4:05 PM on May 28, 2007

Found some more... Jimmy Briscoe & the Little Beavers sing the anti-Vietnam soul tune, "Bring The Boys Home," while Finger 5 tries to be a Japanese version of the Jackson 5. There's also this kiddie rock band from Japan I can't identify.
posted by jonp72 at 6:19 PM on May 28, 2007

I saw Smoosh open for the Eels on my last birthday, 364 days ago. It was fun seeing them play, the music was very listen-able, and they demurely said "Thank you" to the applause after each song in their set. When they later on joined E on stage (working a quasi-militaristic vibe the whole show) and pogo-ed in frenetic joy during the finale, it was pretty clear they were having a great time on tour.

I had, of course, first heard about them on the blue. Possibly in a thread about Prussian Blue (aka the Racist Sisters)?
posted by now i'm piste at 6:49 PM on May 28, 2007

Got Volume 2 of The Electric Company on DVD, and my almost six year old son watched Sweet Sweet Sway over and over for at least half an hour.

There are worse songs you could have drilled into your head.
posted by Lucinda at 7:03 PM on May 28, 2007

Mindwalk does King's X better than King's X does King's X presently.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:50 PM on May 28, 2007

Nice Fat Bottomed Girls too.
posted by Samizdata at 8:34 PM on May 28, 2007

The Gauchos perform Iron Maiden's "The Trooper." Surprisingly competent, and the girl is priceless.
posted by evisceratordeath at 9:26 PM on May 28, 2007

Wanna give another shout out to Eyeball Skeleton. Those kids freakin' rule. Also, Tina Piña Trachtenburg has been drumming for her costume designer/slideshow operator mom and melody-maker dad since her preteens.
posted by carsonb at 11:41 PM on May 28, 2007

jonmc, THANKS for the the Collins Kids link. My life is changed.
posted by gum at 1:03 AM on May 29, 2007

Looks like Larry Collins co-wrote "Delta Dawn" too.

Curses, looks like I must track some Collins Kids down for my rocka/psychobilly collection now...
posted by Samizdata at 1:32 AM on May 29, 2007

Also, Tina Piña Trachtenburg has been drumming for her costume designer/slideshow operator mom and melody-maker dad since her preteens.

Actually, Tina is the Mom's name. Piña is her maiden name. The drummer daughter is Rachel Trachtenburg. When I saw them in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the audience had both Harrisburg's extremely small bohemian/gay/hipster/goth community and just about every 70-year-old Jewish guy from a 15-mile radius. Evidently, Jason Trachtenburg had gone to elementary school in Harrisburg, so there were a lot of older Jewish men asking, "Are you related to Milton Trachtenburg?"
posted by jonp72 at 4:22 AM on May 29, 2007

NARF! Thanks, Brain.
posted by carsonb at 6:13 AM on May 29, 2007

How can we forget Minipops?
posted by Dr.Pill at 12:06 PM on May 29, 2007

Got Volume 2 of The Electric Company on DVD, and my almost six year old son watched Sweet Sweet Sway over and over for at least half an hour.

There are worse songs you could have drilled into your head.
posted by Lucinda at 7:03 PM on May 28

I am so sorry I clicked this link. Now I can't get it out of my head!
posted by nevafeva at 5:24 PM on May 29, 2007