What is at least one aspect of pop culture (or any similar thing) that you thought was scary in your childhood, but looking at it now, doesn’t seem to be as scary?
One big example for me is The Prudential College Football Report from Jim Nantz’s first two years @ CBS (he presented it for those first two years with Pat Haden, IIRC). I thought, the first time I saw it, that it was awfully scary, something that I would never want to relive. What made it scary was the opening music from the same, which was changed in 1987 to the current music that CBS uses for college football. For the next quarter-century (more, as a matter-of-fact), I tried to avoid it and stick with the 1987 version. Well, I managed to find a 1985 game between Notre Dame and Miami (the broadcast was from WCPO in Cincinnati, which was then the CBS station, but is now with ABC), and lo-and-behold, the College Football Report was included. My heart raced when I discovered it, because I wasn’t sure how this would turn out upon unearthing this long-lost childhood memory. I asked for courage to face my fears, and then I turned up the sound and listened. I discovered then that the opening music in 1985 was not as scary as I once thought; rather, I found that it was based on the old NCAA Today theme song (The NCAA Today was the college gridiron studio show that Brent Musburger once presented before Jim Nantz started presenting the CFR). Upon unearthing it, then, what was once a scary memory turned into somewhat of a pleasant one.
Don Robertson’s opening billboard: “CBS Sports presents…The Prudential College Football Report…sponsored by The Prudential, offering a full range of insurance and financial services. The Prudential: the Rock…it’s strong, it’s on the move, it’s bigger than life.”
Here’s the clip (the CFR starts at the 1:34:34 mark):
Another one of mine would be ABC’s “Star Tunnel” movie opening. I thought, upon originally seeing it, that the “a-b-c” letters went down the middle of the tunnel as it progressed. Well, I found out much later that the tunnel progressed with its color changes, and then the “a-b-c” letters went down the middle at the end.
Here’s an example from '85 for the premiere of Moonlighting:
I was afraid of the movie “The Shaggy Dog” even though I had only seen the previews/ads on television. It was terrifying to me to see the young boy looking in the mirror and more and more hair growing on his face. Years later, I finally saw the movie and realized it was supposed to be a comedy.
I can’t believe that I am the first to say flying monkeys. On the other hand I have never seen Wizard of Oz as an adult. I have no doubt the whole thing would be laughable to the now-grown me. On the other hand–flying monkeys!
Thanks for reminding me of this great song.I always loved it but now I can totally see how a child could find it creepy. The song that always gave me the shivers was Silly Love Songs by Wings. Well, just the spooky ass intro.
The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, at about nine years old. Saw it on TV in the middle of the afternoon and had to sleep with Mom that night.
At a younger age, I saw a Christopher Lee vampire movie and again slept with Mom, plus I woke her up to see her teeth every hour.
From reading comments on YouTube (very scientific, I know), it seems that quite a few people were skeeved out by various “Sesame Street” segments–the orange singing Bizet, the I-beam in the steel mill, the song with the toys and robots. I didn’t especially mind any of those, but there was one I hated.
The little film showing how saxophones were made. Yikes. When that one came on (and I recognized it within a few seconds) I was out of the room. I thought the saxophone noises that accompanied the images were creepy and made it seem like the instrument was alive in some way.
When I was 5 I was terrified of Gene Simmons from KISS. Didn’t help that my babysitter’s asshole son used to shove pictures of Gene Simmons at me while I hid terrified under the bed.
(Funny story: fast-forward 30 years and I was at a KISS cover band show one Halloween. I’m not even a fan, I like their songs but this band just happened to be playing at the bar that night. So I’m pretty much the only non-KISS fan there and the guy playing Gene Simmons walked off the stage and stood in front of me doing the whole Gene Simmons schtick. All I could think was “Out of all the REAL fans here - why me?!”)
…as for music: the opening theme to “Tales from the Darkside”, where they show idyllic country scenes but the music is creepy as hell. I always had to turn the sound down.
The Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams” used to give me she creepy-shivers too.
I’m with you! I was born in 1961, and remember when CBS used to re-broadcast The Wizard of Oz every year. I first saw it on an old, small, black & white TV back around 1965… and it terrified me. I still get teased about that by my Mom, considering how tame that looks today.
But the SCARIEST thing I ever saw on TV as a kid was an old episode of ***The Outer Limits. *** The episode was called “The Zanti Misfits,” and it was about these evil, horrible ants who came to Earth from outer space. Those ants gave me nightmares.
Decades later, I saw that episode again, and realized two things:
The ants’ first victim was played by a young Bruce Dern
Those ants were hilariously phony looking! Even at the age of 5 or 6, I should have been laughing through that entire episode! http://homevideos.com/outerlimits/ol14.htm
There was a Sunday School film I saw when I was 6 or 7, telling the story of the Crucifixion with Jesus as a clown, being killed on marionette strings by an evil ringmaster. Eventually the ringmaster realized what he had done, put on greasepaint and continued Clown Jesus’ work. It was my first association with clowns and creepiness, although now it seems like a cool idea. Wish I knew the name of it.
