Top 20 Childhood Music Videos

Today, I was just looking at some stuff on the ol' Youtube and I came across some music videos from Sesame Street. Huh, I still remember these really well. Anyway, I guess they left quite an impression on me as a kid. They just don't make them like this anymore, so I figured I'd put some of these old music videos into a top twenty list.

This is a somewhat personal list of music videos that stuck out in my mind, so there are no efforts to rate them based on what everybody else liked or what's 'classic'. Please feel free to leave comments, as I AM interested to know what everyone else DID like (but I'm not going to try to guess). The videos are directly embedded into the page, so I apologize in advance for any technical difficulties.

Erica's Top 20 Childhood Music Videos

Let's start the countdown...

#20 "It's in His Kiss"
Tiny Toons
Babs Bunny, featuring Buster Bunny...no..relation...
Oldies vocals, but I dunno which band it is.

Lots of cute references here, including Frankenstein, Superman, Little Mermaid and even Phantom of the Opera. Whatever these cartoonists were on...made them think that putting all those references into "It's in His Kiss" was a good idea...


#19 "Yakkity Yak"
Tiny Toons, Music TV
Plucky Duck, featuring Hampton Pig, ....and four Yaks-

Ok. So they literally have Yaks in this one.



#18 "The Name Game"
Tiny Toons
Elvira, featuring the rest of the regulars, "Darth Vader," and Ralph?-

As utterly annoying and unintelligible as Elvira is, this was where I first heard the name game song. You know, Elvira, vira, bo, bira, banana, fana, fo, fira, fi, fo, mo, mira. Elvira. For some reason, this takes place on the Death Star. Tiny Toons writers were so on crack. I really hoped that Elvira would have blown up with the Death Star but I wasn't so fortunate.



#17 "Money, That's What I Want"
Tiny Toons, Music TV
Max Amillion
Song by Barrett Strong-

How appropriate is it that Max sings this? Julie Bruin makes an appearance too, for all you guys who are into curvaceous, boob-tastic, animated Bears. On a related note, I found out earlier today, before I wrote this, that 'bruin' means 'bear.' So I guess the Milwaukee Bruins were really the Milwaukee Bears. I'm still learning things from cartoons. What a useful piece of information!


#16 "Let's All Exercise"
Sesame Street
Betty Lou (not to be confused with the more innocent Prairie Dawn) as "Olivia Newton John," Grover, et al

I love that Grover is pretty much the top backup singer here. He definitely adds something to this..that just makes it. Good song to think about if you don't feel like working out...not that I would ever do something like that....

#15 "Do You Love Me (Now that I can Dance)"
Tiny Toons, Music TV
Buster Bunny, featuring Babs Bunny...remember..."No Relation"
Vocals by The Contours

There's a Butt Dance...Buster momentarily violates Babs...Near the end of this boy-chases-girl- but-ends-up-harassing-said-girl-story, Babs' coy little head explodes when Buster gives her a "Def Zepplin CD. Literally. Then he starts jammin' out...Then Buster pops up in the corner of the screen disguised in a Hugh Heffner robe and holding a monocle, and starts critically analyzing the lyrics. Lastly, Babs screams "Make it stop..Make it stop!" *Shrug* This video is pretty messed up but the best part about this is the way Buster screams "Do you LOVE me?" No means, no, Buster.



#14 "Conjunction Junction"
Schoolhouse Rock Video

Kinda bores me to watch it now, but this was so damn catchy and educational. Where else did you get rhymes like...yes, I said rhymes, like"I like tyin' up words and phrases and clauses" followed by smarmy back up singers and a swingy ragtime-ish song in the background.



#13"Electricity"
Schoolhouse Rock Video

Okay, seriously. Schoolhouse Rock really knows how to recycle "Conjunction Junction" by slightly modifying some new lyrics and giving it a funkier R&B spin. Now we have some guy awkwardly describing how electricity is produced through a magnetic, spinning generator. Those back up singers are seriously repetitive but I ate this up as a kid...Even more so than Conjunction Junction.



#12 "A New Way to Walk (Walk! Walk!)"
Sesame Street
The Oinker Sisters, (like the...Pointer Sisters..)
Original, Oinker Sisters version:

Staggeringly Lame Destiny's Child Cover:


#11 "Schnizelbank (The International Friendship Song)"
Animaniacs
Professor Otto Van Somethingorother, Wakko, Yakko, and last but not least, Dot

A prophetic commentary on strained international relations. Starts off innocently, but gradually degenerates into the ridiculous humiliation of an unsuspecting large, jolly, German man. Apparently, the German words translate to "Pudding that plays the guitar doesn't taste like toothpaste in tubes."



#10 "Particle Man"
Tiny Toons, Music TV
Plucky Duck (Particle Man) featuring Hampton Pig, Triangle "Man," Universe Man
Vocals by "They Might Be Giants"

Something about Hampton's apathetic tone in the music video juxtaposed with Plucky Duck's doomed plight is just funny here. And I'm sorry but Triangle "Man?" That's a woMAN.



#9 "RESPECT"
Tiny Toons, Music TV
Babs Bunny
Vocals by Aretha Franklin

One of the most memorable Tiny Toons, Music TV episodes. Sorry for the less than stellar video quality. I like the cartoon rendition of Aretha shown at the beginning (on the tape cassette Babs holds in her paws).



#8 "The Simple Things"
Hey Arnold, Mr. Hyunh Goes Country,
Mr. Hyunh
Vocals by Randy Travis
If you've never seen Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold, this is the one episode you should definitely watch. Here, Mr. Hyunh, Arnold's Vietnamese neighbor and Mexican restaurant manager, rises to Country Star fame at a meteoric pace. His vocals are almost as surprising as Paul Potts operatic chops in his first audition on "Britain's Got Talent." Forgive me, the embed code to this video doesn't seem to work:


Here is a link to a review of the episode:
http://www.tv.com/search.php?qs=mr.+hyunh+goes+country&type=11&stype=search

Paul Potts' audition on Britain's Got Talent:



Sesame Street
Cookie Monster and the Letter C

What do we have here? A gluttonous, maniacal blue monster with bad grammar. Horrible singing floating on top of a bastardized, simplistic melody. I smell a classic. That starts with C.


#6 "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
Tiny Toons, Music TV
Plucky Duck and Hampton Pig
Vocals by "They Might be Giants"
Original lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy
Original music by Nat Simon

This is definitely a Tiny Toons Music TV epic and it really tells a story. If anything, check out the violin solo about a minute and a half into the song. Hampton has emo glasses on and Plucky Duck looks like a Beatnik. Then the most annoying character in all of Tiny Toons shows up to ruin everything for these guys.



#5 "Rubber Duckie, You're the One"
Sesame Street
Ernie and Rubber Duckie
Let's just say I had this song on cassette tape as a little kid and I was awfully fond of it.


#4 "Rabbit of Seville"
Warner Bros
Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd

Truly a classic. An elaborate spoof of "Barber of Seville." Understated humor. Brilliant. And it all happened way before Tiny Toons or Animaniacs. And we forget, but, Bugs is definitely the first cartoon character to dress in drag and not feel insecure about it.

Youuuu're so next.


#3 "R-E-C-Y-C-L-E"
Rocko's Modern Life: Zanzibar/"Spring Cleaning"
Entire cast

Here's an obviously bootlegged clip of that catchy tune from one of the funniest, most self-aware musical cartoon episodes ever.



By the way, I say self-aware, because the lyrics sung address what most musicals don't address, namely that everyone seems to know the words to the 'spontaneous' songs their singing because they all rehearsed every week.



Be sure to check out the follow up clip which I like to "You Can't Fight City Hall." It's also a bootleg. Not that I support that kinda thing...







#2 "Nations of the World or is it Countries of the World?"
Animaniacs
Yakko Warner

Was there anyone who wasn't blown away by this? I think it's so cool that Yakko covers the entire globe in such a fluid manner. He's got good flow. I was also waiting to see if he would mention Palestine....oooh. You'll have to check it out to see.







#1 "Wakko's 50 State Capitols"
Animaniacs
Wakko Warner

I guess most people would be more impressed with Yakko's Countries/Nations of the World, but I think that Wakko's 50 State Capitols are easier to sing along with (a testament to its educational value) and more imaginative, since Wakko drops in interesting little factoids here and there. If I remember correctly, there was also a backstory to the 50 State Capitols song. The whole thing is Wakko's 'question' to a answer provided on the set of a "Jeopardy-esque" gameshow. Yakko's song seems out of context, although I could be mistaken.






*Honorable Mention:
-"There is a Flat in Gay Paree," Animaniacs, Les Miseranimals, Rita the Cat (Bernadetter Peters), Song based on "Castle on a Cloud," Les Miserables; Couldn't find footage online.
-"Little Drummer Warners," Animaniacs, Christmas Episode, Wakko, Yakko, and Dot; Couldn't find this one online either।
-"Two Note Song," Animaniacs, Wakko Warner; yet another clip I couldn't locate.
-Flavio and Marita, the hippos on Animaniacs; I KNOW they had at least one music video and I have no doubt that it's hilarious. Couldn't find anything for them online though.
"Is You Is of Is You Ain't My Baby," Tom and Jerry
-"The Planet Song," Blues Clues; didn't feel this was 'old' enough. I didn't really see this as a child. Had Pluto in it as a planet.
-"Beat It," Alvin and the Chipmunks; didn't feel like being irritated by that even though I did enjoy it as a child.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you had any favorites that I missed!

~Erica