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01/21/2004: New Article: Fisher Price’s POCKET ROCKERS!

Okay, first of all, that thread about the worst movies you’ve seen in theaters down below is awesome, and proves that there’s a lot more lurkers here than I originally thought. Maybe we should make these kinds of polls and surveys a daily thing? At least it’d let you talk about more than whatever new article there is on a particular day — in this case, Fisher Price’s Pocket Rockers, the miniature tape players from the 80’s that let kids listen to Debbie Gibson in super style. You could wear the players, you could wear the tapes — you could wear pretty much everything contained in the collection, and for my money, that was a much more poignant selling point than hearing two tracks from Tiffany. Some of you will probably remember these…

Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

Discussion Thread: 82 comments

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Didn’t even read it, just want the first comment.

Oh Yeah!

Ghosted by whitemale_98 @ 01/21/2004 12:20 PM EST

Zoom? Zoom onto what…a big white screen?
…Maybe I’ll check back later.

Ghosted by d-d-dave-some @ 01/21/2004 12:24 PM EST

scroll down d-d-dave

Ghosted by saint matthew @ 01/21/2004 12:29 PM EST

my friend had the fat boys/ beachboys collective singing the new hip fresh 80’s version of wipe out. and the band that sang walk like an egyptian.

Ghosted by nick @ 01/21/2004 12:32 PM EST

heh. Yeah, I remember these. Now they have Tiger’s Hit Clips, new tech, same idea. I hated the bastardization of a favorite CCR song to shill these suckers. Out here in OK, only the rich kids could afford to be so new-wave hip and wear the strange color patterns that are the legacy of the 80’s, but in farm country, that just got you beat up. Fashion wise, the best thing about the 80’s is they ain’t the 70’s. Although I love the bizzare transistor radios from back then.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 01/21/2004 12:39 PM EST

I am looking for one of those PXL cameras F-P had out once.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 01/21/2004 12:59 PM EST

Portable entertainment for children. What could be more lucrative? Now semi-affluent kids can watch their 2 favorite episodes of Spongebob Squarepants on those little black-and-white portable Video Now players from Hasbro. Looks like sucksville to me. Luckily for Hasbro, children are suckers.

Ghosted by MadMax1001 @ 01/21/2004 1:06 PM EST

So far I’ve found two (three?) secret links in the article. The ‘zoom’ links to a pic which goes to an old toy article, and if you click on the kid’s sunglasses in the last pic, I think Matt calls you a shithead. Searched it again, and the plus sign in that shit-pic links to a Hungry Hippos ad. This is fun!

Ghosted by Ern @ 01/21/2004 1:18 PM EST

heh

Ghosted by Scourge @ 01/21/2004 1:28 PM EST

Greatness!

Mattos-The Memorymaker!

Ghosted by Slacker @ 01/21/2004 1:44 PM EST

Wait a sec. The Hungry Hungry Hippos I remember went something like:

"Who will win? No one knows! Feed the hungry hip-hip-hoes"

Must be one o’ dem revamps. Carry on.

Ghosted by Slacker @ 01/21/2004 1:47 PM EST

so I remember those charms really well… probably too well since I’m a dude, but I had an older cousin, who I believe was in love with the things. I seem to remember them having a distinct smell, when looking at the picture, I can almost smell it… I remember her having the baby bottle, only I think her’s had a blue top

Ghosted by chad @ 01/21/2004 1:48 PM EST

Hey! I have a VideoNow player!

Ghosted by kingklash @ 01/21/2004 1:57 PM EST

I used to make fun of the people who had these =) Nice.

Ghosted by Killer Duck @ 01/21/2004 1:59 PM EST

Ahhh! How deep does the rabbit hole go? Not-So-Secret, indeed.

Ghosted by Matt (#2?) @ 01/21/2004 1:59 PM EST

Slacker, yea they had several Hungry Hippos songs. The first I remember was "Hungry Hungry hippos…Hungry Hungry Hippos" (try to imagine it). They also had the "cha cha" sounding one with all the Hippos dancing "We love to feed our face, we’re in an eating race". I also remember the one you’re talking about. I think it was somewhere in between.

Ghosted by Killer Duck @ 01/21/2004 2:02 PM EST

I didn’t have the Pocket Rockers but I still have a giant plastic chain full of little plastic charms. I must have been a sick little kid ’cause there’s a whole section on there dedicated to liqour bottles. =)

Ghosted by metalchick666 @ 01/21/2004 2:24 PM EST

Anyone see the Oprah-themed one on The Man Show?

Ghosted by kingklash @ 01/21/2004 2:25 PM EST

DONT THEY HAVE SOMETHING OUT NOW OR AT LEAST IN THE PAST YEAR CALLED "HIP CLIPS" WHICH WERE LITTLE TAPES WITH A COUPLE OF SONGS FOR KIDS. THATS LIKE THE SAME THING.

Ghosted by MIKEY @ 01/21/2004 2:39 PM EST

Holy shit, I rocked the shit out of those terrible things. Err…. I mean, my sister did.

Ghosted by Bryan @ 01/21/2004 2:42 PM EST

damn lunch break, I was about to post something really awsome, then I realiezed it was 11:30, and I had to go pick up my daughter from school….man am I old. Anyway, I remember pining for these things every time I saw the comercial. Nobody at my school ever had them, but I wanted it anyway. I still feel the pain any time I see the little minni cassette recorders.

Ghosted by brandon @ 01/21/2004 2:44 PM EST

HEY MIKEY, THE ALSO HAVE SOMETHING OUT NOW CALLED THE CAPS LOCK KEY, THAT YOU CAN PRESS BEFORE SAYING SOMETHING.

Ghosted by chad @ 01/21/2004 2:50 PM EST

All of this brings to mind my beloved Personics custom made tapes from Sam Goody’s.

Ghosted by Chris @ 01/21/2004 2:51 PM EST

Hehe, I actually don’t remember these, and probably wouldn’t have wanted one even if I knew they existed at the time. I had one of those REAL Sesame Street tape players on which I blared MC Hammer. I also seriously went through the sound test in Castlevania 3 and recorded all the tracks onto tape.

Ghosted by Abob Lyndsae @ 01/21/2004 2:56 PM EST

I have never even heard of these. Guess I was too young in ‘88. But I never fell prey to many fads, either; I was always the outsider.

Ghosted by Cameron @ 01/21/2004 2:57 PM EST

Personics tapes were about a zillion dollars but they were AWESOME. I worked at Sam Goody’s and making those tapes was my favorite thing to do there.

Ghosted by metalchick666 @ 01/21/2004 3:00 PM EST

Pocket Rockers? Can’t say I knew they existed until I read the article. In any case…

Something Matt said made me think of myself. Yes, I know I’m conceited. But I digress. He said he was a "late bloomer" when it comes to music. I was too. I’m a junior in high school, and I got my first CD player two years ago. That’s right, when I turned 15. Talk about late bloomers…

By the way: Barenaked Ladies > j00

Ghosted by Paul @ 01/21/2004 3:02 PM EST

They actually have Pocket Rockers on eBay. Wow, you can find lots of crap on that site!

I first remember about ten years ago getting a Ren and Stimpy CD for Christmas. Now that was big for me.

Ghosted by mjf7583 @ 01/21/2004 3:11 PM EST

What’s strang about Pocket Rockers to me is that I remember the charm necklaces being a lot more popular than the Pocket Rockers themselves. Hmm…maybe it’s just me.

Ghosted by eyeless @ 01/21/2004 3:32 PM EST

Hungry Hungry Oprahs. When the first Burton Batman came out on video, my sister got it for Little Brother and myself that Christmas. We didn’t own a VCR at the time.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 01/21/2004 3:41 PM EST

I enjoyed the movie poll a lot. But it’s already impossible to keep up with all the blog comments! Oh well, I’ve got a lot more free time on my hands now anyway.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 01/21/2004 3:42 PM EST

hey havne’t posted anythign in the last few days, been busy.

I remember those hit clip things, but they weren’t too popular at my school.

What was more popular were those drum stick things that let you play drums in the air, i think they were called air styx or something like that.

They eventually got banned at my school because kids did hte obvious and started hitting other kids with the drumsticks. I beleive the company that made the air drumsticks also made versions for guitar and keyboard

Ghosted by Bright Noah @ 01/21/2004 3:58 PM EST

Just finished reading the Advent Calendar Matt, and that was trully impressive, and unexpected ending.
Kudos.
And not the candy bar (unlesss you like it, in which case Kudos squared).
Was the first onegoing to end violently like that? Were the Mares going to fight it out to the death? Was righteous punishment coming to them for worshipping the donkey?

Ghosted by TOP1214 @ 01/21/2004 4:11 PM EST

I became strangely fascinated with the stupid characters as the month progressed, mostly because I cursed myself to spending the entire month of December with ‘em. Think about that: most of us can remember aspects of virtually every Christmas season since childhood. My memories of the 2003 season involve plastic Playmobil figures. In tribute to that, I wanted to leave it off ambiguously: is Mare dead? It’s up to you to decide.

More honestly, I noticed the Rancor Monster toy nearby, and really wanted to take a picture of it. That’s the story.

Ghosted by Matt @ 01/21/2004 4:14 PM EST

I honestly don’t remember much about these. Then again, when Pocket Rockers were introduced, I was a three-year-old too busy breaking my parents’ turntable to care. Since I’m at a loss, did these things play true, unadulterated songs or bastardized one- or two-minute clips?
Pretty snazzy graphics, though. I suppose I wouldn’t have minded blasting music from one back in the day.

Ghosted by Andrew T. @ 01/21/2004 4:25 PM EST

kingklash:

http://jm3.net/pxl/
"1.1 what is a pxl-2000?
A pxl2000 is a fischer price toy video camera that’s no longer for sale. it records video and audio onto a single audio cassette tape. No smoke, no mirrors, just plain old down-and-dirty eighties tech. The pxl uses similar technology to conventional video camcorders, yet it weighs scant ounces and runs on six AA batteries."

This movie was shot entirely in pixelvision:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0110620/

Ghosted by You know me! @ 01/21/2004 4:30 PM EST

You know me!, nice name. I have contacted my lawyers.

Matt, you brought up Ghostbusters being a song that everyone enjoyed. Everyone that is but Huey Lewis:
http://www.rollingstone.com/features/featuregen.asp?pid=1894

Ray is not done with Huey either:
http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1442127/03232001/lewis_huey.jhtml

Ghosted by ME that you do know @ 01/21/2004 4:42 PM EST

Matt, if you want to make daily polls, make it easier on US – put a gosh darn message board. ‘Bout time for one, no?

Ghosted by Frog @ 01/21/2004 5:15 PM EST

I was always more impressed by my pocket rocker than by any of the older kids’ walkmen, because mine had a speaker in the side and could play the music out loud, which was awesome if you were playing barbies with your friend, and wanted it to be their stereo.

As far as I remember, the cassettes had a full track on each side, which you flipped with a little switch. I wore out my Cutting Crew tape.

Ghosted by meenk @ 01/21/2004 5:46 PM EST

I can’t believe these things existed… well, I can, but geeze! I don’t remember these things (I remember the pxl-2000, tho). What I really remember, tho, was those mini movie viewers they sold in fad shops. They were about a inch cube big and you put these circular cartridges in that contained a small portion of film. The film would go in an endless loop as you pressed the button and looked through the tiny viewport (holding it up to the light, of course).
The most satisfiying part was the cinematic "click-click-click-click-click" sound as the film played.

Ghosted by AlphaCentaurian @ 01/21/2004 6:11 PM EST

I just remembered the dancing Muppet Babies commercial. They each had a classic pop song that played while they danced. What reminded me of it was that like the Pocket Rocker commercial, they also used a version of a Creedence Clearwater Revival song. This is why the great John Fogerty hates his old label and bandmates since he has no publishing rights to his hits with the band.

Ghosted by ME @ 01/21/2004 6:44 PM EST

Yay Matt you took a suggestion from me I think I had bugged you about reviewing Pocket Rockers before like last year or something. I have that ad on tape the short verson on an episode of Finders Keepers.

Ghosted by pikachulover @ 01/21/2004 6:52 PM EST

you know it’s funny because I’m a youngin who was maybe 4 in the 80’s and so when i read this article I immediately thought of Hit Clips. They’re basically the newer version of Pocket rockers with just as crappy of music except switch in Tiffany for Britney Spears. My little cousins love em’ YOu should check them out sometime.

Ghosted by Ally @ 01/21/2004 7:57 PM EST

I do remember Pocket Rockers, although they weren’t big around here for the same reasons Kingklash gave in addition to they just weren’t that availble in the few toy stores in southern NJ. My sisters and I weren’t all that interested, anyway. Why did we need a tiny little Walkman with only 2 Tiffany songs when we all had our own cassettes with 10 tunes that Mom would play on her stereo, or on our ubquitious pink-and-silver tape player?

The charms strike far more memories. All of my sisters and I collected them like fiends throughout the 80s. In fact, they were among the few genuine 80s fads to not only make it down here, but do so in great numbers. I know my fantasy-crazy sister had that blue unicorn (she was a big fan of the unicorn craze of the early-mid 80s). My favorite charm was a fat, red, round strawberry. It was heavy and looked like the real thing. I wore it everywhere for years. My brother may still use my red chain to tie up his action figures.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 01/21/2004 9:12 PM EST

The ’80s hip designs on those Pocket Rockers (which I never had BTW,I was in junior high about this time) remind me of Swatches,which my older sister had. Just one of the reasons I love the eighties.

Ghosted by Overlord @ 01/21/2004 9:32 PM EST

Oh man. They had the Monkees theme? That’s greatness. Before I die, I’m want to own one of these contraptions with that particular tape.

And Hit Clips suck. You don’t even get a whole song. Basically just thirty seconds of one. Not cool, not cool at all.

Ghosted by Denise @ 01/21/2004 9:36 PM EST

dude, I may not remember the 80s as well as some (im only 18) but i collected those charm things! My collection was the same size as the one in the picture…i remember the baby bottle and bells well

Ghosted by Emily @ 01/21/2004 10:35 PM EST

Haha, I had a ton of those charms on that necklace!!! Dangit I really wish I could find them now. Hmm…Do they really sell for as much as 50$!! If so I REALLY wish I could find them! Thanks for that article, it was good reading!

Ghosted by Crissy @ 01/21/2004 10:35 PM EST

Ah,

I remember Pocket Rockers, my sister and I both had ones, and the same tape! I think it had Labamba on one side, and Tequila on the other!

Btw, do you have a copy of the first Pocket Rockers commercial? The one with the CCR song? Unfortunately to this day, when I hear it, I think of Pocket Rockers!

Ghosted by Magic_Amethys80 @ 01/22/2004 12:21 PM EST

Magic_Amethys80 I have a copy of the commerical I would make a copy of the tape and send it to mattif I had another VCR to copy it on or was more comp savy.

Ghosted by pikachulover @ 01/22/2004 1:08 AM EST

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