I’m not sure where to start with this one. I was even conflicted about submitting these videos since I’m not sure if they are truly kitsch or merely mind bending. I suppose we AWMOKers can argue about it later, that is, if any of you ever speak to me again after sitting through these vids. I ask for your forgiveness in advance! :D
Having (though very long ago!) been able to cut a rug or two myself, I can assure you that it is a choreography no-no to sit very, very still for several measures of a song…But then, here I am sitting on my couch like a slob while this amazing guy is on stage, so who am I to spew criticisms?! Luckily, the rest of his moves save the day…not to mention the amazing musical scoring paired with lyrics that might have well been pilfered from Shakespeare. You know you’ve made it when someone announces your song mid performance.
As if that wasn’t enough (Trust me, I’m holding back here; there are seemingly infinite videos of Den Harrow to choose from.) well, why not accompany a lack of musicality with a pair of jeans hoisted so high up your ass you can’t dance even if the choreographer (erroneously) decides to let you attempt a few kicks and turns? I think my favorite moment is when he dumps the rest of his obviously valuable hand outs on a photographer’s head. Now THAT’S rock-n-roll, baby!!!!!!!
OK, Last one, I promise. I just couldn’t resist. At the risk of insulting our divine Queen of Kitsch, I think the song writing award goes to this little number. You can’t argue with: There are blondes and brunettes/ just like different cigarettes/all their lips are burning hot (furious, jarring, knee dropping, fake mic hand switch!!!) some dress down in chinos/ others wear T-shirts to show/what a shapely bust they’ve got. If you ask me, it shows total commitment when a writer changes the accent and emphasis on a word in an attempt to make it work rhythmically. In this case, I think it’s extra cool that the word of choice is T-shirt….But it’s still cooler yet that the song contains the word “chinos”, especially when it’s used to contrast dressing down with showing off a shapely bust in what is thus implied to be a very dressy t-shirt…
The song title works for me. Apparently, this person is a boy and yes, this is bad.
Allee Willis
ALL HAIL DEN HARROW!! For a trillion reasons…
Mark Milligan
Oh, yeah.
That sit still routine in video one. It occurs to me that he’s attempting to suppress a fart, and has lost concentration at that point. No?
Really fun to watch, this is why I love to come here and see the sights, Windup!
windupkitty
aahaahah yep…hold it…hold it…hold it…wait, what was i doing? oh yeah! lip synching and dancing!
denny
I LOVE Den Harrow!
windupkitty
Denny Harrow…
windupkitty
Hey guys, ya know what’s even MORE kitsch!?! I just read last night that all of his songs were recorded by a couple of other singers (so even though it’s obvious he’s lip synching, it’s not his voice anyway) and that it was a fairly well known fact…no real Milli Vanilli melt down type thing…
It does appear though, that at least one of the vocalists is currently trying to stop our favorite frontman from continuing to offer performances of himself lip synching these oldies…
I just love that the lead singer’s voice changed from album to album and the frontman stayed the same…
I read all this on the internet last night so it all must be true! :D Amazing what I can occupy myself with when trying to stay awake to nurse a sick kitten!
windupkitty
thanks for the double awards, QoK!!!!!!
Douglas Wood
I LIVE for stuff like this. Great post!
BeeJay
Den Harrow – hell yeah! I always wondered of people in the US know him too. Did his music make it over the pond in the 80´s??
That guy was really big here in germany to Italo Disco times. He´s italian and his real name is Stefano Zandri, he´s from Milano I believe.
It´s always a good laugh sharing his vids, I use to send them to my brother when he has a bad day in the office, it cracks up every time from new :D
Gosh – I love these lady-boots! Haha!
Allee Willis
I never heard of him until this post.
windupkitty
Yeah, he was HUGE in Europe!!! A true pop star!! BUt no, Bee, he never made it over here…I can’t imagine why!!!! That’s great about perking up your brother with these videos…I had never seen these until the other night…I knew about him, but never paid much attention back then….wasn’t the kind of music I listened to…..oh, how I’ve missed so much!!!!
Allee Willis
Are there other Kitschtastic stars of the 70’s or 80’s of Den’s genre we should know about BeeJay?
BeeJay
It´s really hard to tell for me which artists from the iltalo-disco era you know in the states or not, but there are a few europeans that became really big in that time.
One of them definately was “Righeira”, they had two hits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTsVJ1PsnMs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9puPWzPZTEM&feature=related
(Really love that video)
Another fave of mine was “Baltimora” with “Tarzan Boy”
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10jej_baltimora-tarzan-boy_music#rel-page-3
A more kitschy video of the same guy you can find here (remarkable suits!!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6XztCYDcX8&feature=related
Valerie Dore also had a few nice videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MufL-OFGDQc&feature=related
A must watch once also is “Fancy”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r59nGnQsytA&feature=related
And of course “Modern Talking”, priceless!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWITX9bJD5U
Allee Willis
I’m nowhere I can watch any of these now – 4AM in Palm Springs picking up my golfball BBQ – but can’t wait to see these.