How many times during breaking news events have we posted .gifs or said “I need more popcorn”? Well… today I’m gonna give you more “Popcorn” than you can stand!
If you’re of a certain age (born at or before the beginning of Gen X), then you may remember this ditty when it first hit the airwaves (and resent the crap outta me for inserting this worm back into your ear! evil grin) If you’re one of the youngsters here, well… welcome to “Popcorn,” population: you!
A documentary on how “Popcorn” was born:
“Popcorn” was written in 1969 by Gershon Kingsley for the Moog synthesizer; he released a couple of versions of it which had limited success. His first version appeared on his 1969 albumn, “Music to Moog By.” Imagine sitting in a movie theater waiting for the feature to start, and this comes on the screen:
The song became the first synthpop/technopop hit in history when it was released by a group called Hot Butter in 1972. This is the version you remember, but with a dance you might not…
The guy in the middle looked like he might have been questioning his life choices of going into dance instead of becoming an engineer, like his parents were pushing him to be. Also, cinematography by the horny cameraman…
If you can’t get enough of fairly straight covers of “Popcorn,” then check out this 17-minute compilation video of 13 versions:
But enough of straight covers! Let’s get into some weird and wonderful variations on the theme!
Midi version with fun animation, from Sir Gagarin:
A couple dance versions, because when enjoying “Popcorn,” you might want to get up and shake your groove thang!
A techno/dance mix from Slotmachine, featuring Gemini 7:
My favorite dance version, which is the microwave mix (get it?), from Mikko Perkele:
Jazz/swing/big band covers:
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass:
I can see why that wasn’t released…
Primus Brass, with their great and peppy cover:
Uncle & the Bacon’s swing/big band cover:
Maybe not so wonderful, but at least you’ve been warned!
Hey, did you know there are versions with lyrics? Now you do! And this version is from Anarchic Systems, back in 1972:
I didn’t promise you it would be good…
Maybe both weird and wonderful?:
Here’s a French lady named Yvette Horner playing “Popcorn” live on her accordian:
Drumorg, playing “Popcorn” on an organ with drum accompaniment:
Here’s Luvienne on her electric violin:
Quieter and calmer versions of “Popcorn:
Here’s a group playing “Popcorn” on their traditional instruments:
A variation played on a traditional Finnish instrument called a kantele, by Elli:
And because you can never have too much bardcore covers in your life, here’s a version using medieval instruments:
Improvised instruments:
First up, an unnamed street performer in Budapest (on the Pest side of the river) who plays all kinds of songs on his water glasses, including this rendition of “Popcorn”:
Nicolas Bras makes his own instrument of PVC pipes in the first and then plays the song with it in the second:
His process is fascinating:
And now his performance of the song:
And finally, this version made me giggle and laugh. Ruben Stelli plays “Popcorn” with toilet paper rolls:
So which bag of “Popcorn” will you grab, the next time the news brings you something to get excited about? You might want to bookmark it or this page for future reference!