Does anyone else remember the Freedom Rock commercial from the 80's? It's definitely one of my favorite commercials of all time. Rachel and I had a (non) Freedom Rock moment this morning when she told me to turn my music down.

Anyway, if you don't remember the commercial, here's the gist of Freedom Rock from the urban dictionary:

Guitar-heavy American rock music of the 1970s. The phrase originated in 1987: "Freedom Rock" was the title of a sold-only-on-TV music compilation. The memorably cheezy commercial featured two aging Cheech and Chong-type hippies sitting at the back of their Tour van; as I recall it, Hippy #1 hears what Hippy #2 is playing on his radio and asks, "Hey, man, is that freedom rock?" Hippy #2, says, "Yeah, man!" and Hippy #1 enthusiastically replies, "Well, turn it up, man!"

What made the commercial even better was that it was extremely low-budget. It was made in that glorious time of abundant Time-Life music compilation offers, all for the low price of $19.95. I think you could even get Freedom Rock on vinyl, which just might be the purest way to enjoy something like Freedom Rock. And, I'm sure many bought it on vinyl.

If you don't know WTF vinyl is, don't feel bad, I didn't either until '96 when I was working at Hasting's in Abilene and someone called to ask if we had the Fugee's on Vinyl. I was working music, so they forwarded the phone call to me. I had no idea what the caller meant. All I knew was that vinyl was some sort of upholstery.
"Vinyl?" asked the caller.

"Yeah, vinyl"

"the Fugee's? the hip-hop group?"

"that's the one."

[long pause, waiting for caller to perceive my confusion and clarify]

"what do you mean by vinyl?" I finally asked a bit annoyed.

"A RECORD!! YOU KNOW THAT BIG BLACK ROUND THING THAT SPINS ON A RECORD PLAYER?"

By this time, the caller was almost angry with me for not knowing that vinyl=record. I probably should have known that, and it's likely that anyone reading this might reasonably call me an idiot. Nevertheless, in my first 19 years on earth, I had never heard the term. But, I bet most connoisseurs of Freedom Rock had.

In the subsequent 10 years, I've developed a great appreciation for the guy who asks for contemporary music on vinyl, just like my appreciation for the cheesy freedom rock commercial has. In fact, when I go into music stores, I'm often tempted to be that guy.

In the last year or so, Rachel and I have had several fun moments remembering something obscure TV moment from childhood. Most of the time we make timely references to Family Ties or The Cosby Show. A few months ago, I wrote a music review (which blogger erased in the publishing process) called "Jammin' on the One!" I'm sure most of you remember that this phrase is taken from the Cosby show episode where they are meet Stevie Wonder and create a mix that they all participate in. Rachel, create a post several months ago entitled "There was a Kangaroo in my Living Room." Anyone remember that episode of Family Ties? We've found that phrase useful in multiple life situations.

So, if anyone still reads this blog, I'd like to know some of you favorite 80's/early 90's TV memories. (Let's take pride in growing old!) Extra points are given for obscurity (You can't talk about "Where's the beef!"). Either leave a comment or, even better, create a post on your own blog. I guess this is kind of like one of those games where we tag each other. But I'm not tagging anyone. I've just enjoyed writing this post, and thought it might be fun for other people too.