Saturday, August 22, 2009

Music of Eddie Eel

If there is anything about cartoons that people will associate with 1st, it would have to be music. What is the 1st thing most people will get out of a cartoon show; a theme song or opening sequence. Even back to the 1930s once sound was introduced, the music that would play during each cartoon would set it apart from the others. Bad cartoons of those days would desperately try to emulate what other cartoons were doing, as there were so many Betty Boop or Micky Mouse Knock offs, but we knew who had the truer sound.

While visually a cartoon has to look good, many cartoons can get lost in the cartoon lineup by having a boring go nowhere sound track. While Spongebob suffers from a never ending sound track, where there are hardly a few moments that let your ears rest from the overly used stock music, Spongebob still is unique by implementing sea tunes, pirate themes, Hawaiian melodies and 50's house wife stock music. Mighty B is a beautiful show to look at and a lot of effort to make it move well and look interesting, but it uses the 50's house wife stock music, that's been used in more then three shows. Camp Lazlo used this same music and see where it got it's self (plus I think there is something terribly unpopular about the color scheme Camp L and MightyB use that cause them to just be a blur of cartoon madness to the general public but I'll go into that later...I think America just hates camping.)


Regardless of it's screaming madness and sometimes sloppy visuals, Chowder has a STRONG soundtrack, with a music style I've never heard in modern cartoons before. It was that concept that inspired me to realize that Eddie's show has to have a uniquely sounding soundtrack, regardless of how annoying it might be, it would need to fit well to create a great backdrop for the characters to act around. A while back I took a trip to Disneyland, that inspired me to look into more of their music. I came across a favorite tune, The Main Street Electrical Parade Theme. It's very electrical and happy, only a sound that could be made in the 70s. Through further research I found just WHO made the original theme. It's called the Baroque Hoedown and it was composed by Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley (Perrey-Kingsley). Below are a few samples of their music. They're both alive today and still performing when they can, even over 90 years old. A great dream would be to have Mr. Perrey or Kingsley score a few peices of the show for me but for now I'll enjoy the music they've made so far.







1 comment:

DMajorBoss said...

I like the idea and concept behind this show, and that (mixed with the style) makes me think of an amalgam between Super Jail and Spongebob Squarepants, with a little bit of Pee Wee's Playhouse mixed in for flavor.

Music does help in the overall essence of a show, and a good enough theme will have you thinking of that series often, even when the show isn't on. Honestly, some songs I hear that sound anything like my favorite show triggers that series in my mind.

I really like what you're doing with this, and I can only describe some of what's on today as "gonzo" in its style, presentation, and acceptance by the hoi polloi. Not all shows look that great but, in this weird look, it offers a zany goodness that keeps the viewer attracted. Considering the things you've created before, I know you can pull this off quite well.

Thank you very much for sharing this with us all. Keep up the goodness, and may you have good fortune upon all of your creative endeavors.