Freaks & Geeks Soundtrack Moment OPO

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oh, apologies chuck, misread fr a moment.

cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 00:34 (nineteen years ago) link

So this thread has now completely morphed from Great Musical Moments in F&G to Why Did They Pull Their Punches Vis-A-Vis Sadistic Bullying On F&G? I'd rather stick to the other thread sidetrack- F&G Meets The Cast of Star Trek, TOS. Sample Episode: Cafeteria On The Edge of Forever: In Which Captain Kirk Demonstrates The Art Of Courtship To Bill By Moving In On Ms. Foote During Bill's Convalescence And Mr. Spock Wows The Freaks With A Demonstration Of Future State Of The Art Carburetor Technology.

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:22 (nineteen years ago) link

don't make me go look for f&g slash.

cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:23 (nineteen years ago) link

fascinating.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:28 (nineteen years ago) link

What is, Shakey?

xpost:
don't make ME go look for f&g axl!

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:31 (nineteen years ago) link

yr Cafeteria on the Edge of Forever synopsis looked like it required my favorite Spock "catchphrase".

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, I see. Perhaps a raised eyebrow emoticon would have helped (if such a thing exists), if not an mp3 soundbite of the bass lick that is the Mr. Spock theme music.

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 01:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Here's another stab: All The World's A Stage: In Which Captain Kirk, Pretending To Be A Visiting Geek Uncle, Hams It Up At The McKinley High Christmas Pageant, While Neil, Trapped On Board The Enterprise, Does His Best Shatner Imitation In Order To Save The Ship/The Earth/The Universe. Meanwhile, Mr. Spock Helps Improve The Order Flow At The A1 Sporting Goods Store And Dr. McCoy Chastely Romances Bill's Mom.

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 02:47 (nineteen years ago) link

OK, I found one other tiny potential accuracy quibble- the math competition. We never stood up and answered the questions orally like the did on the show- it seems more like a spelling bee to me the way they did it. I'm assuming they made this change because everbody thought it would be boring to film people filling out little pieces of paper, plus then you wouldn't get to hear the math. But I could be wrong. Was anybody a mathlete in that part of the country? Chuck?

Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 13 March 2005 12:39 (nineteen years ago) link

"where anybody spells out what suburb, exactly, they're located in?"

the show takes place in Chippewa, wherever that is (this tidbit is dropped at the beginning of the "punk" episode when Ken wonders why anyone would drop out of school and then "stay in Chippewa")

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 14 March 2005 19:28 (nineteen years ago) link

They also make some reference to Lindsay's dad's store being out on 18 mile (in the episode where Reagan comes to visit), so I assume this is a reference to what suburb of Detroit it is supposed to be set in. (Appears to be Sterling Heights?)

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 14 March 2005 19:40 (nineteen years ago) link

(please note I have zero understanding of the actual geography of the Detroit/Michigan area)

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 14 March 2005 19:42 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't either, but I had heard of the infamous 8 Mile, so I figured it out from there via google.

jocelyn (Jocelyn), Monday, 14 March 2005 19:43 (nineteen years ago) link

>Was anybody a mathlete in that part of the country? Chuck?<

I never even HEARD of matheletes back then. They definitely never had them at my school; I don't *think* any other suburban Michigan schools had them then (because if they did, I'm sure West Bloomfield would have, too), though I could be wrong. (Either way, am I the only one who thinks it's weird that none of the matheletes are male? And my daughter Coco, who is 15, likes the show a lot but is pissed that there are really no *female* geeks on it; the only *hint* otherwise, in almost the entire series, is one scene where one of the mathelete gals at a table in the cafeteria makes a one-off joke about asotopes - though I guess Millie or Tuba Girl might sort of count; depends what your definition is {not to mention how strict your definition of "girl" is, I guess, in Tuba's case). Either way, I agree that Lindsey is never convincingly either geeky or post-geeky; Coco says she's just whiney, and generally can't stand her. Though I say she's at least not as whiney as Angela Chase on *My So Called Life* was.) (NO girls on Freaks and Geeks are anywhere near as interesting as Rayanne Graf, though, I don't think. Though then again, who is?)

Um, there is one scene where the bowling alley disco is identified as being on 15 Mile, which = Maple Road, which is where the one on Orchard Lake Road on the border of Farmington Hills & West Bloomfield would have been. Chipewa is a non-existent place, I am 99.9999 per cent sure. 18 Mile would be pretty far out -- Milford, Walled Lake, Waterford, Utica, maybe? Though that's only if this is Northern Oakland County. I'd think Sterling Heights would be way closer to Detroit than 18 Mile (if there actually is an 18 Mile Road in real life - I forget), though I could be wrong. Don't have a map handy.

xhuxk, Monday, 14 March 2005 20:08 (nineteen years ago) link

And anyway, Sterling Heights, from what I've seen, looks more grimey and less lawn-manicured than the neighborhood on the show. (Though that may have been different circa 1981, I guess.) (And come to think of it, where the freaks on the show seem to live is more rednecky and rural-looking than where Lindsey's family lives. TOTALLY could be Keego Harbor to the more affluent non-freaks' West Bloomfield -- I actually think the show depicts class distinctions pretty well.) (The Keego Harbor of *Home Improvement* looked NOTHING like Keego Harbor, by the way, though we were told that's where that '90s show was set.)

xhuxk, Monday, 14 March 2005 20:15 (nineteen years ago) link

(and by "where the freaks live", i mean burnout slutgirl kelly and the guy who spends early episodes imitating vinnie barbarino then winds up liking punk, not the one whose dad is a military officer and who winds up liking disco. my favorite freak by far -- in fact, possibly my favorite character on the show, give or take the ex-geek dungeons and dragons kid -- is the deadpan-sarcastic freak who winds up liking tuba girls, but i don't think we ever see where he lives.)

xhuxk, Monday, 14 March 2005 20:29 (nineteen years ago) link

Googling of fan pages tells me that the the guy from Detroit, Paul Feig, graduated from Chippewa high school, which was in Sterling Heights I think.

Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 March 2005 21:05 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, Ken's the one central character who's home/family we *never* see.

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 14 March 2005 21:12 (nineteen years ago) link

That's a good point. Presumably they were saving that for second season, but no mention is made on any commentary I heard.

Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:23 (nineteen years ago) link

I get the feeling they weren't sure where to take his character, and the tuba girl episode was them really taking a first crack at it (that episode's pretty good, tho its kinda getting into Degrassi Jr High territory - actually my fave scene is the one where Chowkevski "comes out", which was inexplicably cut from the actual episode). Obviously they had a better handle on the rest of the Freaks from the get-go, whereas Ken seemed to be there just to provide one-liners.

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 14 March 2005 22:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, in fact at one point I was surprised that he was featured in the opening credits. They seemed to have liked the guy- I never watched it, but apparently he was in "Undeclared."

Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:46 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, I saw a couple episodes of "Undeclared", it just didn't quite work, the format was too short for any of the characters to really do much (and I think Feig and Co. say this on one of the commentaries). Cuz it was 30 minutes, but it wasn't staged like a sitcom.

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 14 March 2005 22:51 (nineteen years ago) link

I never even HEARD of matheletes back then. They definitely never had them at my school
Would you have egged them on Halloween if they had existed?

Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 March 2005 23:07 (nineteen years ago) link

x-post to Chuck

My wife also complained about the heavily-female-slanted Mathletes team, saying that in reality it would all have been guys (tho I should point out there ARE a couple male Mathletes shown in the series). The Mathletes plotline seems to be an amalgamation of a lot of different acamedic "competitions" that go on in high school (Academic Decathlon, Mock Trial, etc.), rather than anything in particular - as such I think it should be forgiven whatever factual lapses it contains. It def. provides a lot of great scenes (mostly because of Millie, and the bitchy chick that Lindsay makes a catty point of defeating)

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 14 March 2005 23:12 (nineteen years ago) link

and fwiw, no, in general the top academic over-achievers in my high school class were not all guys, in fact, my memory is that it was mostly girls who were into that shit.

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 14 March 2005 23:16 (nineteen years ago) link

>I never even HEARD of matheletes back then. They definitely never had them at my school
Would you have egged them on Halloween if they had existed? <

Honestly? I probably would have *been* one. Scored 200 points higher in math than in verbal on my SATs; 99th percentile. School counselor damn near had a nervous breakdown when I decided to major in journalism in college.

xhuxk, Monday, 14 March 2005 23:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I was on the debate team and forensics team, though (we didn't have academic decathalon or mock trial or anything like that); both seemed pretty evenly split between girls and guys. (Were there male matheletes at Lindsey's own school? I know the competing school had a couple, but all the scenes I remember with Millie's team seemed to be all girls, both during the competition and in the cafeteria.)

xhuxk, Monday, 14 March 2005 23:59 (nineteen years ago) link

I think there are a couple guys in the room when Kowchevski tells the team Lindsay's back on in Millie's place...? I'd have to re-watch tho. But yeah, the competing team had at least one guy, a black guy.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 02:16 (nineteen years ago) link

I tried to listen to the commentary from the real life parents last night, and the mother of the actress who played Millie was there but she didn't say much and when she did it was hard to hear. John Daley's father was an actor who was on the set all the time and knew everything about everybody- I thought he was a producer for a while.

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 02:21 (nineteen years ago) link

Going back to the original question - jocelyn got it right: it's Nick and Millie singing the song from Jesus Christ Superstar at the party. Second best: Nick's terrible song that he wrote about Lindsay.

n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Thanks for getting us back on topic, Nick, but is "Jesus Is Just Alright" really in Jesus Christ Superstar?

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Eh who cares.

n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:43 (nineteen years ago) link

It's all about Millie being serious and Nick being really into it but goofy and not really knowing the words (similar to the scene when Mr. Rosso plays "I'm Eighteen" in the guidance office and everyone's all freaked out but Nick's kinda diggin' it).

n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:44 (nineteen years ago) link

Or Nick dancing with Lindsay's parents to the old-time records.

xpost:
Perhaps the Doobie Brothers care.

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:49 (nineteen years ago) link

Ken's the one central character who's home/family we *never* see.

i'm fairly sure that there's one scene of ken in his bedroom, looking depressed. it's pretty modest, certainly not what i would expect considering his confession that he was raised by a nanny. perhaps full-time childcare was cheap in 70s suburban michigan?

lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 11:42 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah there is, lauren, he's playing disco and thinking he's gay but chuck's right we don't really get to see his 'home life' (interaction w. mum & dad &c.)

there is a boy mathlete but he is on the other team : /

(for the geeky trivia spotters: the boy mathlete on the other team is veronica mars' best friend, wallace)

cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 11:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Geils' "Flamethrower" in the store where what's his name goes to buy his blue polyster one-piece leisure suit or whatever it is. (Part of the reason this gets my vote is because "Flamethrower" was ONLY a dance hit in early '80s Detroit, thanks to Electrifying Mojo. By the way, has anybody talked much about the historical accuracy of a lot of the show? I graduated from West Bloomfield High School in 1978, and I've been to the bowling alley disco at Orchard Lake and Maple -- at least, I'm pretty positive that's the one in the show. Are there any instances in the show where anybody spells out what suburb, exactly, they're located in? I'm really curious about that. What school did the main show creator guy graduate from? There are a couple people with his last name in my old yearbooks; I checked.)
(Honorable mention: April Wine!)

(And you guys have all seen the website where the freaks review '70s albums, right? It's pretty funny; somebody should link to it.)

-- chuck (cedd...), February 28th, 2005.

In one episode they mention something about going to hang out on 16 mile -- my friend lived on 16 mile. And they go to Pine Knobb, obviously.

David Allen (David Allen), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Wait, do we ever see Daniel's family?

Magic City (ano ano), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link

Yes. His mother wants him to go pick up medicine for his father one morning so he is late for school. Kim gives him grief because she left a notebook in his car that she needed for an open-book test that morning.

Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 15:15 (nineteen years ago) link

five years pass...

<3 This show, finally saw it recently and hunted down the entire run. I was looking through this wikipedia list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks_and_Geeks_(soundtrack) for best soundtrack moment and I couldn't pin it down! Too many good ones! Ones that stick out are the awesome Van Halen selection, that one episode where it's mostly Who songs (including "Boris the Spider"!!!), the Rush tracks (remind me of my little brother's Peart phase), the solo from the best Queen song ever ("Keep Yourself Alive"), "White Room", The Amboy Dukes.... So many great moments in this show, so many great songs!

Adam Bruneau, Saturday, 5 June 2010 04:03 (thirteen years ago) link

OK, is it just me, or is one of the Disco hits played during the Disco episode missing from this list?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks_and_Geeks_(soundtrack)#118:_Discos_and_Dragons

PappaWheelie V, Saturday, 5 June 2010 05:25 (thirteen years ago) link

Man, this is near impossible.... But at the moment I'll go with "Whipping Post."

billstevejim, Saturday, 5 June 2010 08:32 (thirteen years ago) link

...coming from someone who does not enjoy The Allman Brothers at all, but this episode was the first time I ever enjoyed hearing it.

billstevejim, Saturday, 5 June 2010 08:33 (thirteen years ago) link

ten years pass...

Revisiting random episodes, just got done with the fake ID one, and the Billy Joel songs are low-key great usages.

Also Kevin Corrigan coming on to Lindsay: "Wanna see Yes at Cobo?...Richie Blackmore's Rainbow is opening..."

"what are you DOING to fleetwood mac??" (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 23 February 2021 02:20 (three years ago) link

Heh, was wondering who would start such a thread.

The Ballad of Mel Cooley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 23 February 2021 04:05 (three years ago) link

"Box of Rain," "White Room" and "I'm One" close.

clemenza, Tuesday, 23 February 2021 04:32 (three years ago) link


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