Punky Chips Ahoy!
August 30, 2006 1:35 PM   Subscribe

That's Punksploitation!! Can punk rock episodes of old TV shows kill? Check out punk episodes from Quincy, CHiPs (Part 1 and Part 2), 21 Jump Street (Part 1 and Part 2), as well as the appearance of the Dickies on the Don Rickles sitcom, CPO Sharkey. Other prime vintage examples of media cluelessness on punk rock include a fashion show and a scaremongering Time magazine article, although a recent cookie commercial may revive the punksploitation genre.
posted by jonp72 (55 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
the appearance of the Dickies on the Don Rickles sitcom, CPO Sharkey

That's kind of match made in heaven, don'tcha think?
posted by jonmc at 1:38 PM on August 30, 2006


This post is ten kinds of awesome.
posted by bardic at 1:43 PM on August 30, 2006


I love how in the CHiPs episodes, the punks all ride expensive motorcycles.
posted by mds35 at 1:47 PM on August 30, 2006


The fashion show is incredible. Now I know why the punks look so laughably pathetic in old Zippy the Pinhead comic strips - people actually dressed like that.
posted by fleetmouse at 1:49 PM on August 30, 2006


Hehe, I was struck by the cluelessness and irrelevance of that Chips Ahoy commercial the first time I saw it. WHO ARE THE AD WIZARDS WHO CAME UP WITH THAT ONE?!
posted by sklero at 1:50 PM on August 30, 2006


In fairness, the punk rock (pardon me... "hooligan rock") episode of WKRP was pretty good.
posted by bobo123 at 1:52 PM on August 30, 2006


Mmmmm, CHiPs and cheese.
posted by tommasz at 1:52 PM on August 30, 2006


White Dopes on Punk.
posted by Divine_Wino at 1:52 PM on August 30, 2006 [2 favorites]


posted "a scaremongering Time magazine article"

C'mon, that article really isn't "scaremongering". It actually gives the music a pretty fair shake, I thought. The stuff about the fashion was a little over-the-top, but it didn't really try to portray punk as a threat; it was more tongue-in-cheek ridicule than anything. And it gave serious props to Television and the Ramones...
posted by mr_roboto at 2:09 PM on August 30, 2006


Punks got nothin' on Blue Boy.
posted by grabbingsand at 2:12 PM on August 30, 2006


I bet Cop Rock would still be on the air if they'd done a punk episode.
posted by Shecky at 2:14 PM on August 30, 2006


the punk rock (pardon me... "hooligan rock") episode of WKRP was pretty good

Was that this one?
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:18 PM on August 30, 2006


awesome post. \m/ thanks.
posted by Stynxno at 2:25 PM on August 30, 2006


also, victoria's secret tried to call these sandals punk.

and the "Fashion: ROCKS" concert that's coming up had a huge magazine in Galmor showcasing designer tartan pants for 2200 dollars....and studded high heel shoes for several hundred too.
posted by Stynxno at 2:35 PM on August 30, 2006


The Quincy punk band was so terrible . . .
posted by Ironmouth at 2:41 PM on August 30, 2006


On the other hand, Quincy Punx (the band) rocked.
posted by huskerdont at 2:45 PM on August 30, 2006


"The surburbs can be a ghetto too, John."

Those Chips guys don't know a thing about first-aid. They just dragged that poor guy right out of his car. What would've happened if he had a spinal injury?
posted by popcassady at 2:45 PM on August 30, 2006


How about William Forsythe as "Thrasher" in the CHiPS episode. That's a very early one for him. I knew I recognized that voice.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:47 PM on August 30, 2006


There was an Incredible Hulk episode in which a singer described as "punk rock" was actually Mackenzie Phillips in KISS-style make-up.
posted by barjo at 3:29 PM on August 30, 2006


If I opened up a donut shop, I would call it Punk'n Donuts.
posted by Skygazer at 3:30 PM on August 30, 2006


And let's not forget Kid Superpower Hour with Shazam! Sorry to say, this page is the only one where I can find a picture of the character named "Punk Rock".
posted by barjo at 3:36 PM on August 30, 2006


Random punk to Quincy: "You're the killers! Your whole sick society, man!"

Really enjoyed this post.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 3:37 PM on August 30, 2006


I think the Chips Ahoy commercial, in all fairness, can draw a fairly straight line of family relation right to Malcom Mclaren^.

Except you could argue that the commercial has more integrity, I suppose.
posted by illovich at 3:37 PM on August 30, 2006


I so remember a 60 Minutes piece. And that Quincy episode. When they first aired. It TERRIFIED me.

"They spit on eachother to acknowledge how the music moves them."

So, naturally, I went to go see the first punk show I could. I think that was the Boomtown Rats in 1979.

Remember whan almost ALL bad guys were supposed punks? From Rumble in the Bronx to Road Warrior.
posted by tkchrist at 3:45 PM on August 30, 2006


God, I WISH I could see the clip of Johnny Rotten being baited by some old TV fart interviewer into saying "fuck" on air in the UK around that time.

It was an end-of-the-world discussion point in every outraged newspaper the next day, naturally. (Though the critic Ken Tynan had done it some years before, they said.) I must have seen a heavily edited re-run soon afterwards, because I remember how cringe-making the baiting was - but was denied the moment of filth itself.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 4:04 PM on August 30, 2006


Nothing, a naughty word.
posted by popcassady at 4:30 PM on August 30, 2006


Scum of the Earth on WKRP were the high-water mark of bad punk representation on TV for me. Although I also have a soft spot for the Queen Haters bit on SCTV.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 4:42 PM on August 30, 2006


Oh, fiddlesticks!

Popcassady - thanks very, very much. I loved every second anyway.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 4:43 PM on August 30, 2006


Remember whan almost ALL bad guys were supposed punks? From Rumble in the Bronx to Road Warrior.

Wait, so it's possible to dress like a punk and not be the villain.

Damn it.

That ruins my plan of wearing my combat boots, safety pins and a mohawk to demonstrate my bad guy-ness to all those around me.

Guess I'll just have to go back to my original idea: naked, drunk, screaming, grenade launcher. That should show them.
posted by quin at 4:56 PM on August 30, 2006 [1 favorite]


"Punk, punk, punketty punk!" - Tim
posted by dansdata at 5:23 PM on August 30, 2006


Um. Does anyone know why the cop in the Chips Ahoy commercial is a chimpanzee?
posted by hifiparasol at 5:27 PM on August 30, 2006


So, naturally, I went to go see the first punk show I could

I saw it as a rerun not long after I saw my first punk show (black flag). I'm so glad to see it again, it's always cracked me up.

I think I might get my band to cover that song...
posted by lumpenprole at 6:14 PM on August 30, 2006


How could you have left The Goodies' *Punkerella* episode out of this FPP?

The rapidly growing punk craze sees Tim as the lone defender of shiny shoes and niceness after both Graeme and Bill have sunk to punk, but even Tim wants to be able to go the Trendsetters Ball.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:25 PM on August 30, 2006


d'oh! dansdata beat me to it.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:27 PM on August 30, 2006


Hee! Brilliant post!
posted by dejah420 at 6:29 PM on August 30, 2006


God, I WISH I could see the clip of Johnny Rotten being baited by some old TV fart interviewer into saying "fuck" on air in the UK around that time.

This newspaper headline about the incident became the title of this movie and this website.
posted by TedW at 6:35 PM on August 30, 2006


The link button failed me; this movie.
posted by TedW at 6:35 PM on August 30, 2006


It was about 1983 that SNFU put out a single called "Real Men Don't Watch Quincy" in resonse to the episode. We scoured the channels for ages trying to catch it. It was a bit of a letdown when we did, but it was fun to watch what eeeevil people the punks were. heh.
posted by Zack_Replica at 6:39 PM on August 30, 2006


errr. response.
posted by Zack_Replica at 6:39 PM on August 30, 2006


In the 1980s, Spiderman and Daredevil couldn't go more than a block or two without encountering some bemohawked miscreant mugging some poor citizen in a Manhattan alley. Grim times.
posted by Phlogiston at 6:44 PM on August 30, 2006


Oh, and it seems that the person who did the Quincy thing left out one of the best scenes - at the end Quincy and his ladyfriend are slow dancing to some old waltzy shit and he says, "Why do they listen to music that makes you hate, when you can listen to music that makes you love?"

*ack*ptooie* fuckin' old people!
posted by Zack_Replica at 6:53 PM on August 30, 2006




WHO ARE THE AD WIZARDS WHO CAME UP WITH THAT ONE?!
When that ad came on my younger brother turned to me and said, "I guess they're trying to sell you cookies." (I'm 39.)
posted by Opposite George at 7:52 PM on August 30, 2006


How I long to see the FEAR appearance on Saturday Night Live.
posted by Busithoth at 8:01 PM on August 30, 2006


Nothing, a naughty word.

That clip seems to be the edited version that Jody Tresidder is referring to.

I seem to recall that in the original, Bill Grundy was leching over Souxie Sue, and Cook or Jones starts making comments like "What a pervert. What a fucking rotter."
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:25 PM on August 30, 2006


I also have a soft spot for the Queen Haters bit on SCTV.

The great thing about that skit is that it's actually a decent punk song.

I've always had a dream
I'd like to meet the queen
I'd punch her in the face
Yeah that would make me laugh

posted by oncogenesis at 1:27 AM on August 31, 2006


Busithoth, here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPy2_tTHsB4
posted by AJaffe at 6:09 AM on August 31, 2006


"That clip seems to be the edited version that Jody Tresidder is referring to.

I seem to recall that in the original, Bill Grundy was leching over Souxie Sue, and Cook or Jones starts making comments like "What a pervert. What a fucking rotter."

posted by PeterMcDermott

Though I loved popcassady's clip - I am still vaguely fretting why my memory links newspaper pundit discussions of Ken Tynan's TV use of "fuck" to the same specific word I thought was aired during an infamous Sex Pistols TV interview.

(Though I can see why Tynan might have been mentioned in the context of "shit" too.)

I also have a rather different image to the one in popcassady's clip of who was sitting where when the word was blurted - and later bleeped.

Age I guess!
posted by Jody Tresidder at 6:46 AM on August 31, 2006


I'm looking forward to the day that death/black metal is similarly defanged.

"Remember back when Deicide was on 'Scrubs'? Yeah, that was classic..."
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:48 AM on August 31, 2006


Wait, this isn't about The Young Ones?
posted by OmieWise at 7:00 AM on August 31, 2006


Punky Chips Ahoy! Oi! Oi! Oi!
posted by wfc123 at 8:57 AM on August 31, 2006


The cookie clip made me picture Skrewdriver eating them after a show. Strange.
posted by bardic at 10:53 AM on August 31, 2006


God, I WISH I could see the clip of Johnny Rotten being baited by some old TV fart interviewer into saying "fuck" on air in the UK around that time.

You can, it's featured prominently in The Filth and the Fury.
posted by Hypnic jerk at 11:26 AM on August 31, 2006


Quincy Punk Episode, by Spoon.
posted by Hypnic jerk at 11:35 AM on August 31, 2006


I seem to recall that in the original, Bill Grundy was leching over Souxie Sue

Yeah, and the great part is how hammered Grundy obviously is. Those were the days man, interviewer drunk, interviewees drunk, everybody shocked over language.

*sigh*
posted by lumpenprole at 5:29 PM on August 31, 2006


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