4 Easy Installments of $29.99 (plus shipping and handling)

After watching the Herschell Gordon Lewis crapfest Just For the Hell Of It on Saturday evening, I found myself totally hypnotized by an infomercial. It was an ad for a Time-Life CD collection entitled 70's Music Explosion, hosted by Barry "Greg Brady" Williams and some hot lady whose name I can't remember. It was the typical spiel - "Didn't the 70's produce the greatest hits ever? Time-Life has collected them all, digitally remastered them, and compiled them on 10 CD's. Do you know how MUCH it would cost to try and collect all of these great old songs on your own?" Blah blah blah, you know the drill... During the ad, they would show an old film clip of some long forgotten artist performing their big hit - a few seconds later, they'd put the name of the artist and the song on the screen. As the ad proceeded I found that I was able to name the artist as soon as the film clip and music started, before they revealed who was performing. And we're not talking big acts here: Pilot, Alan O'Day, Jigsaw, Starbuck, Rupert Holmes, Blue Swede, Albert Hammond, First Class, Starland Vocal Band, Stories, Paper Lace, and Terry Jacks to name just a few. Most of these artists had one hit tune I remember from AM radio when I was a kid - hardly great stuff, but apparently it made some sort of impression on me. Oh, and I was pretty much batting 1000 as I kept playing this little game. When I saw the same Captain and Tennille clip for the third time I realized it was time to go to bed. The whole experience led me to two conclusions regarding myself - I have way too much useless trivia cluttering up my brain, and I am way too easily entertained by this same useless trivia. Oh well, at least I finally know what the Bellamy Brothers look like, and it beats watching reality television.

On a side note, I was a bit confused by the claim that the 70's had the best music ever. I was led to believe by Davy Jones and some hot lady whose name I can't remember in a different Time-Life infomercial I saw a year or so ago that it was the 60's that had the best music ever. Who should I trust more - a Monkee or a Brady? That decision isn't made any easier by the fact that the Monkee in question once made a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch…