Phil Collins, Elton John, and Gloria Estefan dominated Adult Contemporary radio back in the 1980s and '90s, yet have disappeared from modern radio. Seemingly, the only time you ever hear them is at the grocery store or your local CVS. This blog remembers the music, the stories and the quirky characters from my days working in Adult Contemporary radio.
Friday, November 16, 2018
Commodores "Oh No"
Jokes that definitely wouldn't work today: in a scene from the 1983 movie National Lampoon's Vacation, Clark Griswold gets lost driving his family from Chicago to a fictional theme park in California called Walley World. He somehow ends up in South St. Louis, Illinois where he seeks directions back to the highway. The Griswolds drive past numerous burnt-out cars and buildings and various stereotypical African-American characters before a basketball-carrying local offers to help (provided Clark pays him $5). The local ultimately gives him directions to another car where "Jack", his cousin, will help him get back to the highway. While this is happening, the hubcaps from the Griswold's Family Truckster get removed. It's then when Clark's son, Rusty, asks: "I wonder if these guys know the Commodores?". Many years later, the movie's director and former-Ghostbuster, Harold Ramis, apologized for the infamous scene. He explained, "The scene was supposed to be about prejudice, when in fact it is prejudiced."