Webster

The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions." --American Statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852)


Monday, April 13, 2015

Monday Music "Jeopardy" by the Greg Kihn Band and Weird AL's version

I was riding to work and this song was playing on my XM/Sirius, I haven't heard of this song in a while and I remembered it playing a lot on MTV.....you know back when they played music video's rather than crappy reality shows.  This song and video was very popular and it did speak a message about getting married....I guess that is why I waited soo long;)   I also will add a Weird AL version that was also popular and Greg Kihn made a cameo in it.  They say if Weird Al parodies your song....you are a success.


"Jeopardy" is a hit song released in 1983 by The Greg Kihn Band on their album Kihnspiracy. It is the band's first and only Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, reaching number 2 in May 1983 (behind Michael Jackson's "Beat It") and also hitting number 1 on the dance charts for two weeks a month earlier. The song also reached number 63 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's only charting song in the UK. The song is written in the key of D minor. The song switches to the relative F Major Key in the song's Pre-Chorus.


A bride-to-be gets out of her car screen right and enters a church. Soon afterwards a groom-to-be (portrayed by Kihn himself) gets out of another car screen left and enters an adjoining church. Entering in the groom's back entrance, he is readied for his impending marriage (to another bride) by his parents, who nudge him into the church's main hall. Inside the main hall, a children's choir is seen singing the song's first chorus, the minister, the rest of the groom's family, as well as the groom's ushers (portrayed by Kihn's band). The (other) bride is led by her father, who rather forcefully gives her to Kihn. As the minister recites the vow questions, Kihn turns his head backwards multiple times, as he cannot help feeling that something is amiss at the ceremony. He looks at his parents and notices that they are handcuffed together. The minister asks Kihn for the ring. He looks at this bride's parents and sees that the hands that are being held together in a handshake of friendship merge and morph into a bone-destroying blob. The minister asks Kihn for the ring again. He looks at his aunt and uncle and notices that they are literally joined at the hip. The minister asks Kihn for the ring a third time, this time using sign language. He reaches into his coat pocket and finds the ring, puts it on the bride's hand and takes off the veil. The bride proves to be a zombie, who lets out an earth-shattering screech. (This is a possible reference to Bride of the Monster.) Kihn screeches in horror at the sight. The entire congregation turns into zombies (possibly referencing Night of the Living Dead) except for Kihn, who makes his first attempt at escaping. Just as he is halfway down the aisle between the church's pews, a gigantic, tentacled monster emerges from the church's podium. The monster pulls him to the center of the church. Kihn, in retaliation, breaks off a piece of a pew and uses it as a spear. He pokes and cuts into the tentacle with the "pew spear," and the monster goes back down into the floorboards. Kihn then uses it like a guitar and sings the last verse to the crowd. He then makes a second run for the door, the congregation coming after him, and this time he succeeds. Next is seen what looks like a successful end to the proceedings, but it is revealed to be a movie watched by burning skeletons of the bride and groom. The screen dissolves to reveal that this has all been a dream of Kihn's. Kihn then takes a bottle of champagne and sneaks out the back way of the church. He jumps into a convertible and glances over, just in time to see the bride-to-be from the video's beginning running away from her own wedding. He pulls in front of her, and she gets into his car. (Its license plate reads "LIPS.") They pop the cork of the champagne bottle and ride off into the sunset.

Video production

 

 

"I Lost on Jeopardy" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from his second album, "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D. The song is a parody of "Jeopardy" by The Greg Kihn Band, and its refrain "Our love's in jeopardy". The parody's lyrics center on the then-former game show Jeopardy!, hosted by Art Fleming; a syndicated revival, with Alex Trebek, began three months after the single's release.
The song became the fourth music video released by Yankovic, and featured a number of cameo appearances including Kihn, Fleming, Yankovic's mentor Dr. Demento, original Jeopardy! announcer Don Pardo, and Yankovic's parents.


The song has been referenced several times on the game show itself, including once as a category on the current Alex Trebek-hosted version, and later when Yankovic appeared on Rock & Roll Jeopardy!. It was the subject of an Audio Daily Double on the daytime episode that originally aired on October 23, 1984, when the contestant who got the clue was asked to identify the artist of the song from an audio sample of the song but failed to do so, and the subject of a Daily Double on the April 27, 2012 episode of the show, but the contestant receiving the clue--which consisted of the release year and some lyrics--failed to identify the song. The song was played over the closing credits on the second episode of Rock & Roll Jeopardy! on which Yankovic appeared.

The music video, shot on May 24 and 25, 1984 and directed by Francis Delia, takes place on a reproduction of the 1964–1975 Jeopardy! set.
In his game, Yankovic plays against a plumber (Mr. Leroy Finkelstein from Brooklyn, New York) and an architect (Mr. Millard Snofgen from Carbondale, Illinois), both with a Ph.D. The board contains a series of befuddling and nearly-impossible clues from these categories: "T.V. Themes", "Nuclear Physics", "World Geography", "Food", "Potpourri", and "Famous Accordion Players". Although the other contestants manage to get their questions right, Yankovic misses every clue, finishing with a score of -$6,750 and proceeding to give up.
Don Pardo proceeds to tell Yankovic of what he did not win: neither consolation prizes nor "a lousy copy" of the home game. Furthermore, Pardo tells Yankovic that he has made himself look like a jerk in front of millions of people, and has brought shame and disgrace to his family name for generations to come as a result of his disastrous showing while his score continues to plummet and his podium begins to break down. Pardo tells Yankovic that he will not come back the next day and that he is a "complete loser" as the camera cuts to the board, now replaced with cards saying "complete loser". Art Fleming raspberries Yankovic as security guards come to kick him out from the studio. Embarrassed but undaunted, Yankovic hopes his luck will change "next weekend on The Price Is Right", and is literally thrown out from the studio into a convertible driven by Greg Kihn himself. Kihn described the car as "a vintage sports car to approximate the one I drove in the original 'Jeopardy' video."



Radio personality Dr. Demento, the man credited with discovering Yankovic, makes a cameo appearance as a control booth technician at the 1:59 and 3:00 marks.


  


2 comments:

  1. I honestly don't think I ever heard that one... LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. I honestly don't think I ever heard that one... LOL

    ReplyDelete

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