Mr. T Record: Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!

My sister and I both had Fisher Price Record Players growing up. We didn't have that many records. Sometimes at fast food places, happy meals or whatever would come with small vinyl records. We had kids records, although I don't remember too many of them.

The last time I saw those record players was in 2002, when my parents moved out of my childhood home into a new home farther from the city. We had this HUGE pile of stuff we were giving to Goodwill, and those record players were on the pile... still in very good condition. There was talk from my mom whether to keep them, as if they'd be very valuable someday. Current price on eBay is Buy It Now for $15.00.

Mr. T's album Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool! was the record I remember playing most. It taught children to speak up, and stand up for themselves. It had a very good message. besides an audio record, it had an accompanying video to the program as well... so I'm sure this was probably out on VHS somewhere, or on TV. The TV videos (below) look very familiar, so I'm sure I've seen these too. Did you know Mr. T wears all of those gold chains to represent the pain and agony his ancestors went through coming to and living in America? He tells the children that in the video.

You can still find this program on Google Videos. It's a made for kids program on how to build self-esteem, and act mature for your age. Mr. T had songs he would sing or rap... and I gotta admit, some of them I thought were really good. Of the ones on the record, I remember one about mothers. "My mother, she is no other... my mother - so treat her right - treat her right!"

I would play this record on my plastic Fischer Price record player and take naps. I'd wake up to the record being done with, scratching around on the paper label in the center. I would wake up, flip the record over, and fall asleep to the other side. The label for the record (around the donut) had a rainbow printed on it... which I believe is the mark of the record company, but I thought that was cool too.

What you have to understand here is that Mr.T was THE MAN. He was on the A-Team, he was in Rocky movies, he was in Wrestlemania, and everyone thought he was cool. He even had a cereal that tasted like Cap'n Crunch!

1984: Happy Rock Pt.2 - Bon Jovi

Ritchie Samboa and John Bon Jovi (still) have some of the best vocal harmonies in music (see Mtv Unplugged video at bottom.) "ooh She's a Little Run Away" was the first song I really heard from Bon Jovi. Wanted Dead or Alive was a great one too. These bands came out at a time where as a kid I never really SAW who did these songs. You would hear them on the radio. I was SO young I thought that all songs on the radio were performed live at the radio station. Didn't quite put it together that the radio stations were playing the same records we had in the basement. Somehow, the radio was just different.



Album covers didn't always have their faces on the artwork... and I was too young to pay that much attention. The advent of Mtv, rock magazines and advertising really put a FACE on rock and roll. Bon Jovi had one of the faces that smiled and was really inviting to his music.



Yeah, the "chicks" really dug Bon Jovi, but I didn't think about that stuff. I just thought he'd be a nice guy. And happy all the time. Again, rock with a smile! It was just a stray from the norm. Is the the start of "hair bands?" Or did Bon Jovi just perfect it?

Tommy and Mike's band Defiance covered "Runaway." The keyboards in it sort of remind me of "chopsticks" so I was able to recognize it quickly as a child. I got to see Defiance shows when I was little. I remember sitting on my dad's shoulders and watching them. It was really REALLY loud. There was a wall of speakers, spot lights, and a crazy rock show. It was seemingly the closest you could get to "big time" for high school kids. It really made me wish I was older so I could have been in the band too.

Another interesting thing to note as long as I'm talking about Bon Jovi, I can say that Mtv's inspiration for their Unplugged series came from this (below). There would be many defining moments with Mtv Unplugged... and one of best things Mtv ever did.