Ziggy Ziggy Sputnik
October 15, 2013 9:58 AM   Subscribe

The Day My Kid Went Punk Afterschool Special - Teen decides to make himself noticed from the rest of the crowd by becoming a Punk Rocker (SLYT)
posted by fearfulsymmetry (43 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
In case you need more reason to watch this, it also has, according to the credits in the first two minutes, Doc from The Love Boat, Mr. Shorofsky from Fame, and Ms. Roxie Roker from being awesome.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:17 AM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Oh, oh, oh, and the cold distant mother is played by Ricky's cold distant mother from Silver Spoons. (And not the mom from Mrs. Belvedere as I initially inspected.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:21 AM on October 15, 2013


it all starts with a desire to get your ear pierced
posted by philip-random at 10:24 AM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


And now the governor from Benson. This is a goddamn cavalcade of TV's biggest stars (as cast by me in 1984). I can't keep watching now but if anybody is interested, the punk transformation happens around 8:40 or so.

In a bus station bathroom, because, of course.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:29 AM on October 15, 2013 [5 favorites]


My fave bit is the fact he goes away for the whole summer and takes what appears to be one set of clothes in a tiny suitcase... punk as fuck
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:34 AM on October 15, 2013 [8 favorites]


I saw this in middle school, on a tv mounted on one of those tippy death carts.
posted by RakDaddy at 10:44 AM on October 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


Amazing coincidence -- Tippy Death Carts was actually the name of my punk band.
posted by neroli at 10:56 AM on October 15, 2013 [13 favorites]


That is weird; my punk bad has called Amazing Coincidence.
posted by entropicamericana at 11:01 AM on October 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


Contact lenses and spray-on hair color. Punk as fuck.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:01 AM on October 15, 2013


neroli: Amazing coincidence -- Tippy Death Carts was actually the name of my punk band.

I remember your band! My emo band paid tribute to you, and we named ourselves My Love For You Is Like An Unstable Death Cart Pushed Down An Uneven Hallway. When we lost the mopey lead singer (he found true love, he's fine), we became an instrumental guitar and drums indie rock band and called ourselves Tippedeathcarts and Tyler: Two.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:04 AM on October 15, 2013 [19 favorites]


Contact lenses? Goth as fuck.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:06 AM on October 15, 2013


Little-known fact: the goths were created to wipe out the punks. Little did we know that we were unleashing a greater evil upon the world...
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:11 AM on October 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


That kid is a real Space Ace.
posted by mintcake! at 11:13 AM on October 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


The eponysterical thing about this is, the drummer in my high school punk band really did want to be called "Fearful Symmetry"! The guitar player wanted to be called "Twisted Logic Bomb" and I wanted to be called "The Lindbergh Babies." In point of fact, none of us were even a tenth as punk as fuck.
posted by escabeche at 11:21 AM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Little-known fact: the goths were created to wipe out the punks. Little did we know that we were unleashing a greater evil upon the world...

No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the goths simply freeze to death.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:22 AM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


The Goths were created to wipe out the Punks
They rebelled
They evolved
They look and feel human
Some are programmed to think they are human
And they have a plan
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:23 AM on October 15, 2013 [21 favorites]


This is RIPE with potential for the Mystery Science Theater treatment.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 11:30 AM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Love, love, LOVE this! I was 15 or so when this first came on and had a burgeoning crush on The Boy Who Could Fly and guys who had their ears pierced, so this was like catnip for me. I don't even want to admit to how many times I watched this in my formative years.

Was there an epidemic of kids going punk or something? I remember most of these ABC Afterschool Specials being fairly timely, but even in the punk heyday of 1987 this one seemed particularly odd to me.
posted by BrianJ at 12:40 PM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


I missed this one, but network TV didn't let me down. As a little kid growing up in whitebread rural New England, I learned everything I knew about punks from the CHiPs Battle of the Bands episode (featuring William Forsythe!)
posted by usonian at 12:45 PM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


My 4-year-old is probably a little young for a powerful, important message like that, so I have to wait a few hours before I can watch.

I can only hope it's as punk as my favorite episode of Quincy, M.E.. "NEXT STOP NOWHERE! AND I WANNA GET OFF!"
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:31 PM on October 15, 2013


Buncha Quincy punks, all of em.
posted by evil otto at 1:37 PM on October 15, 2013


Here's where I admit that I used to think "Quincy Punx!" came from the town South of Boston on the Red Line. ("Kwin-zee")
posted by whuppy at 1:52 PM on October 15, 2013


That was just way too punk rock for a Tuesday.
posted by ernielundquist at 2:18 PM on October 15, 2013 [2 favorites]


That kid reminds me of Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, especially in the very beginning after the concert when the conductor talks to him.
posted by gucci mane at 2:32 PM on October 15, 2013


Funny, 1987 must have been some sort of punk pop culture tipping point, because that's the year that 9-year-old me went as a "punk" for Halloween. I believe my costume involved temporary spray-on pink hair dye and a denim vest.
posted by lunasol at 3:17 PM on October 15, 2013


on a tv mounted on one of those tippy death carts.


The tippy death carts! Infused with the smell of dust and melted 16mm copies of "Hemo The Magnificent!" Those! They almost killed me and I love them!
posted by louche mustachio at 3:24 PM on October 15, 2013


I want to ask all of you to come to my house and watch the whole series of After School Specials with me. Seriously.
posted by orange swan at 3:29 PM on October 15, 2013 [4 favorites]


I think it was even more punk when he started just frigging bursting into flames at will.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:48 PM on October 15, 2013


Some punk rockers might consider shooting it up, but that dude is more New Wave than punk. To find out what happened to the kid, watch Valley Girl.
posted by Chuffy at 4:22 PM on October 15, 2013


This should have been titled The Sweetest Punk Rock Boy Ever.
posted by PHINC at 4:31 PM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ziggy ziggy sputnik...huh, didn't know that band spawned members of The Sisters of Mercy and Big Audio Dynamite. Wikipedia reference for anyone not familiar with the band.
posted by Chuffy at 4:34 PM on October 15, 2013


As a little kid growing up in whitebread rural New England, I learned everything I knew about punks from the CHiPs Battle of the Bands episode

Poser. The only real punk on TV was on CPO Sharkey. That was 1978. By 1987, punk was long dead. The video in the OP was proof (as if CHIPS and Quincy wasn't enough proof).
posted by charlie don't surf at 4:37 PM on October 15, 2013 [3 favorites]


All the punks are gonna scream "yippy!"
Cuz it's the thing that only eats hippies!
posted by NedKoppel at 4:43 PM on October 15, 2013 [3 favorites]


"Over my dead body!"
"Make sure the needle's sterilized..."
FORESHADOWING.
posted by artof.mulata at 7:47 PM on October 15, 2013


Wearing a food smock to use the microwave? Now that's punk.
posted by Dr. Zira at 7:52 PM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


I can only hope it's as punk as my favorite episode of Quincy, M.E..

"What are these kids doing to themselves?!"
posted by ovvl at 8:00 PM on October 15, 2013


THERE ARE LEVELS OF IRONY HERE THAT COULD SPAWN 1000s OF DISSERTATIONS.
posted by artof.mulata at 8:03 PM on October 15, 2013


THE JOKER: YEAR ONE.
posted by artof.mulata at 8:06 PM on October 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


I think we're all missing the real moral of this story: If you want to get tenure, make sure you book the classiest hotel in town.
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:18 PM on October 15, 2013 [3 favorites]


man was that disturbing...
posted by artof.mulata at 8:35 PM on October 15, 2013


I think it was even more punk when he started just frigging bursting into flames at will.

Well spotted!
posted by Mezentian at 2:38 AM on October 16, 2013


I have nothing to add other than I'm old enough that I saw this on TV when I was in middle school.
posted by wintermind at 6:17 PM on October 16, 2013


I'm just so glad it had a happy ending.
posted by Mezentian at 6:30 AM on October 17, 2013


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