Best Educational Shows for Kids

I think the title is pretty self explanatory. This list focuses on kid shows from the 80's and 90's that gave us a proper television education growing up.

5. Beakman's World (1992-1997)

What do you get when you combine a mad scientist, his energetic lab assistant, and a strange man in a filthy rat suit? Saturday morning gold, is what. The whole show was about these three weirdos hanging out in laboratory answering viewer's questions with zany experiments and demonstrations. While the questions they tackled covered a wide range of topics, I remember a lot were about gross biological questions (eg. Why do we have snot?).

For all the slime and farts there was a lot you could learn and it was really funny and entertaining. For kids it was a winning combination of craziness, humour, and facts. The only question they never answered was if Lester was supposed to be an overgrown lab rat, or just some creepy hobo in a costume.

4. OWL/TV (1985-1994)

Of course we need to get our Canadian content in here. I have to be honest, there was something about this show that was kind of strange. I don't know if it was the animated owl wearing sneakers, the shrinking children, the talking skeleton, or just the ugly 80's hair and clothes, but I just have weird memories of the show.

Anyway, much of the show focussed on kids learning about animals, human biology and nature (a Canadian show about Nature!? Surprise!) and participating in environmental projects. It was fun, engaging, and eye-opening. Plus as a bonus, it has a pretty catchy theme song.

3. Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993-1998)

If you couldn't guess, this is a science show.

It shared similarities with "Beakman's World", but it was on the slightly more mature side (meaning less rats and boogers). Each episode of the show was great at teaching a specific topic in an understandable and interesting way, using segments with elaborate props, experiments, parodies of famous songs, and more.

It used the fun Disney approach, but it never treated the viewer like an idiot. Bill Nye tells it like it is, in his own fast-paced and funny way. It's obvious the guy cares about science and spreading an appreciation for the subject. The show is smart enough to be used in classroom learning, and fun enough that you'd watch it at home too.

2. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (1991-1995)

A game show about geography might seem like a boring concept, but this was anything but boring. You got your contestants playing as detectives trying to catch an ambitious thief, tracking her and her goons around the globe and hunting for clues along the way. I really wanted to be on this show. Too many times I found myself yelling at the screen because some kid running around a giant map couldn't find Norway.

The show had interesting characters and, as Cole has pointed out, a wicked theme song. By having the players facing a common enemy it made a competitive game show more like a battle of good vs. evil. You were learning AND fighting injustice. I mean, that bitch stole the beans from Lima, people.

1. Sesame Street (1969- Present)

Is there really any need for me to explain why this is number one? Look at how long it's been on the air for crying out loud. The show, the characters, and lessons are hardwired into every child's brain. Sesame Street is the quintessential educational kid show; it lays the groundwork for early childhood learning.

But of course, Sesame Street is for every age group, because it presents basic concepts in clever and creative ways: skits, musical parodies, animated segments, celebrity appearances, and a main storyline.

Yes, this show introduced us to the upsetting and annoying, Elmo, but we can forgive that since every other character is awesome and memorable: Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Bert and Ernie, Kermit, to name a few. On Sesame Street kids saw that a large bird, a hairy mammoth, a trash monster, and humans could all get along and work together.

Not only did these colourful characters teach us how to count, spell, and sing, but they taught us important life lessons. To be independent, to solve problems, to treat everyone equally and fairly, to share, to cooperate, to care for each other and the earth. Because of this show millions of kids had a foundation of information to become smarter, better people, and that makes it the greatest educational show for kids ever.

The Lighter Side of Friday the 13th

We all know the Friday the 13th films for the flagrant use of gore and teenage sex, but we can't ignore just how hilarious some moments can be in this horror franchise. This year, I thought it might be nice to highlight some of my favourite funny dialogue from the series.

5. "We love premarital sex!" - VR Teen Girl #1 and #2 (Kaye Penaflor and Tania Maro)

I personally consider Jason X to be one of the worst films in the Friday the 13th franchise. A lot of this film falls flat, but it has its moments. In a tongue-in-cheek scene meant to poke fun at the series as a whole, we are treated to probably one of the best moments in the film.

Jason, who has now become some kind of cybernetic super killer (ugh), is stalking the last of his would-be prey throughout a spaceship in the distant future (double ugh). In a last ditch effort to give themselves some time to escape, the remaining crew turn on a VR simulation of Crystal Lake as it would have been in the 80s.

Instantly the landscape changes to a picturesque sunset over the breathtaking Crystal Lake. As Jason turns to take it all in he sees two young, supposedly teenage girls standing scantily clad just a few feet away.

One has a beer in her hand and the other a joint. They then go into this hilarious exchange about how much they love to drink and smoke pot. Then they bust out about how much they love to have premarital sex and begin to strip off right there.

As funny as that is, it isn't the punch line. We cut back to the crew, frantically trying to use this time to their advantage and when we return to the VR scene, we see that Jason has stuffed the two girls into sleeping bags and is smashing them off some trees. This is a nice nod to Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, for those in the know.

It's just nice to see that the film wasn't taking itself too seriously (which it couldn't... I mean, future Jason in space, remember people?) and Todd Farmer, the writer of the film, threw in this cute little nod to the yesteryears of the series.

4. "Sit on it, Tonto!" - Officer Dorf (Ron Millkie)

This is one of those serendipitous moments in the Friday the 13th series that can never be planned or replicated. Ron Millkie, having known Sean Cunningham (director of Friday the 13th) early in his career, called Cunningham up to see if there was a part for him in the film. Having intended to play Officer Dorf himself, Cunningham passed the part on to Millkie and the rest is history.

Officer Dorf is one of those pumped up, over-confident, big men cops. When he gets a call to check out Camp Crystal Lake he makes sure to impose his presence over the youngsters there.

I believe this scene is mostly improvised by Millkie and the whole thing comes off as comedic gold. He plays this perfect cross between total jerk and benign dork. He starts off by asking the counsellors if they're smoking a plethora of drugs, trying to use their "lingo", and ensures to impress his authority on all the young people before speeding off into the wilderness.

One of the funniest parts is that Millkie had no idea how to ride a motorcycle, so when he attempts to start it up before leaving he just looks so stupid, it adds to the dorkiness of the Officer Dorf character. A stunt double from the local Sheriff's department had to be hired to drive the motorcycle away for the rest of the shot.


3. "God, I'm horny." - Jim (Crispin Glover)

In what could be argued to be the best film in the series, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, we are treated to two amazing characters by the names of Teddy and Jim. In a pack of good-looking teenagers, Teddy and Jim instantly stand out as lovable dorks. They have several funny conversations in the film, but my favourite is when we're first introduced to the duo in their car ride to Crystal Lake.

Sitting in the back of the packed station wagon, Jim is pouring his soul out to his best friend Teddy about his girlfriend, Betty, dumping him. Ted makes sure to crunch the numbers as to why ol' Jimbo might have lost his girl into his trusty imaginary computer. The result: Jim is a "dead fuck".

I found the dialogue between these two to actually be well written, which is certainly not a staple of the series. But best of all was their camaraderie. You actually feel like this is two best friends giving each other shit. I can't say that for the rest of the group. They almost seem like strangers, but not Teddy and Jim.

To make any of the scenes between these two characters even better, Jim is played by Crispin Glover. To say he's a strange person would be an understatement. Glover is known to often improvise his scenes and add stuff into them that is completely inexplicable (i.e. the dancing scene later in the film). After he and Teddy talk about Jim's problems, leaving Jim feeling completely demoralized and less of a man, he quietly utters into his own hands, "God, I'm horny."

I lose it laughing every single time he does that.

2. "Those damn enchiladas!" - Demon (Miguel A. Nunez, Jr.)

These last two entries are actually from the same film, Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning. The dark horse of the Friday franchise, Part V is a new take on the mythos of the films that most people either love or hate.

I happen to love this movie.

It's actually a pretty extreme movie that has a lot of everything. It has boobs, blood and a twist ending. One thing it certainly doesn't lack in is comedy.

In this scene we see Reggie (the Wreckless) meeting his brother Demon in a trailer park, where Demon is staying with his new girlfriend. Of course as soon as you see these two you know that the only reason for them to have met up with Reggie was so that they could be offed in horrible fashion later in the film.

Once Reggie hits the road Demon chills out with a nice joint and some Mexican food to relax for the evening (because eating Mexican while sleeping within the confines of a van is a great idea). Suddenly he leaps up from the back of van and screeches for the bathroom screaming, "Those daaaamn enchiladas!"

After you've had a good laugh at that line, you're treated to one of the most inexplicable scenes in the series. His girlfriend shows up to scare him by shaking the shithouse he's in. Demon then drops the manly line, "You're gonna get it, bitch!" Once the two have settled down, they decide that this is an opportune time to sing love songs to one another.

This is, of course, capped off by Jason having his way with the two of them, but up until then the scene is just too strange to believe, and has me in stitches every time I watch the movie.

1. "Holy shit! Who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you want?" - Ethel (Carol Locatell)

As funny as the stuff with Demon is, it doesn't hold a candle to any of the scenes that include Ethel and Junior Hubbard. Ethel and Junior are town legends for their crazy, red-necked antics. I can't possibly choose just one scene that they're in to highlight in this list, so you'll just have to go watch the movie and see it all for yourself.

One of my favourite lines, though, does come from Ethel when she meets up with a drifter looking for a bed and a hot meal. She is startled by the man at her step and screams out, "Holy shit! Who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you want!?" The shocked look on her face coupled with multiple f-bombs from this diminutive woman totally land the line

As she relays what just happened to her to half-witted son, Junior, the two have a hilarious back and forth, in which Ethel proceeds to call her son a "big dildo" and force feeds the man her "stew". Having watched this movie many times, my best estimates are that this stew includes copious amounts of water, some kind of green garnish, tomatoes, whole chicken parts and chunks of carrots. Whatever the case, Junior can't heave the stuff into his gullet fast enough.

Every single scene that Ethel is in, she steals, but Junior plays a great prop for her antics and the two make what I consider to be the best comedy pairing of the entire series, bar none.

Now that I've talked about all these great (and not-so-great) movies, why don't you go out and watch a few! Happy Friday the 13th!

Underrated Mega Man Songs

The same songs are always mentioned when the question of “What are the best Mega Man songs?” comes up. I thought it might be fun to point out a few songs you never hear about.

5. Mega Man and Bass (GBA) – Pirate Man - “Marine Wreck”

This one has a really fresh feel to it. It’s a calm, subdued sort of tune, which is few and far between in the world of Mega Man. It has a beat to it, and keeps a pretty strong pace throughout the song, but the whispered tones of the notes hold on to that relaxed vibe.

Oddly enough it’s a water stage tune. I don’t know what it is about video game soundtracks and using soft, melodic tunes for their water-themed stages, but I love it.

This one in particular is incredibly relaxing. When you listen to it away from the game, you can hardly believe that it would fit into a Mega Man game. Go ahead, give it a listen.

4. Rock Man Battle and Chase (PS) – Wily’s Course - “Duel”

This song opens with a really cheesy, over-the-top introduction that makes you feel like you’re listening to some kind of 80s movie soundtrack featuring hair metal bands or something.

I assure you the song completely changes tone within a few seconds. 16 to 17 seconds, to be exact.

It still holds on to some kind of weird hair metal band feel to it, but in that awesome Japanese way. It switches between this heavy, high-powered riff to a softer and much more melodic touch (with dual guitars and synths!) which just sounds awesome.

This is an awesome song to get you pumped up and completely suits this game, which features Mega Man characters in a sort of Mario Kart rip-off. I say rip-off, but the reality is that all the video game companies have done this sort of thing. Namco even had a Pac-Man racing game.

Anyway, tangent aside, this is an awesome tune. Go, enjoy.

3. Mega Man II (GB) – “Air Man's Theme”

That’s right, there’s another Air Man theme! I know what you’re thinking. It can’t possibly be better than the theme from the NES title, and it’s not. That doesn’t take away from the fact that this tune is also really awesome.

I actually really like Mega Man II – aka Rockman World 2 in Japan – for the Game Boy. In the past I’ve often given up on Game Boy games because of the simple, monochrome graphics. That is a regret of mine, but one game I totally gave a chance and loved was Mega Man II.

I snagged a copy of it when I got my Game Boy Advance, many moons ago, and I couldn’t put it down. Here I was amidst all kinds of great handheld titles like Golden Sun and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and I still found the time to hammer out this old Game Boy game.

One of my favourite parts – which surprised me totally – was the music, and the song that stuck out for me the most was Air Man’s stage.

It is very Mega Man – if that can be a description – but I think you get what I’m laying down. It feels like an old 8-bit Mega Man theme song from stem to stern. It’s just really solid. You can sort of feel the limitations of the hardware, but the song is still there. Give it a listen.

2. Mega Man IV (GB) – “Title Theme”

I love this song, but, in my opinion, it does not fit a title screen. It always shocks me that they decided not use this in a stage of the game.

The song has a very interesting vibe and hook to it. It just gives you that amped up feel only a Mega Man tune can. To me, this is a song you find in a Wily Stage, while you’re winding down the game.

It is a little more placid than, say, one of the final Wily Stages, but it totally suits a Wily Stage 1 or something along those lines.

It has the epic touches you’d expect to excite you for the final parts of the game. It should have at least made its way into one of the robot master’s stages, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. It is still a great song, and you can enjoy it here.

1. Mega Man 7 (SNES) - "Wily Stage 1"

Now here is a Wily Stage 1 theme! I might be totally making this up in my head, but I find that there is a distinct feel to a Wily Stage 1 theme in the Mega Man games. Heck, not just a Wily Stage 1, but the first of the final stages in general. Compare this song to, I don’t know, Sigma Stage 1 from Mega Man X and you’ll hear what I mean.

It’s what I alluded to in the second entry of this list. They have a sort of specific feel and air to them that makes them a Wily Stage 1 theme. They exhilarate you for what is coming up, but at the same time not so much as music you’ll often find in the very last stage.

This song certainly fits that archetype. It has a slick atmosphere to it. Much like a few of the other songs on this list, it’s very cool and soft. It however builds well, helping to push the player on as he/she enters the final stretch of a Mega Man game.

Say what you will about Mega Man 7, but if you listen to this song, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Fifty-Goal Scorers You've Never Heard Of

Ever since the great Maurice Richard first accomplished the feat way back in 1945, scoring fifty goals in an NHL season has been a benchmark for offensive greatness. It was sixteen years before another player, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion (also a Hab) would do it. Besides being the first player to ever hit the mark, The Rocket also managed it in just fifty games, setting another even more difficult measurement of scoring ability. The list of players to hit fifty in fifty (or less) is short indeed.

But still, reaching fifty goals in a single season remains a remarkable achievement in hockey and many of the game's brightest offensive stars never did it. Ron Francis never did it (never even came close). Neither did Adam Oates or Peter Stastny (although he'd have forty or more five times). Gilbert Perreault was a wonderful scorer and while he would help linemate Rick Martin do it twice (and 49 once), he never actually reached the mark himself. (note: I just read today, March 13, that Rick Martin passed away at the age of fifty-nine. My condolences go out to his family and friends. He was a great hockey player and, I'm sure, person.) Mark Messier, who has 694 career goals, only ever scored fifty once, way back in his third season. Gordie Howe, Mister Hockey himself, never potted fifty in a season although he would come very close a couple times.

However, to date there are 87 different NHL players with at least one fifty goal season to their name and some of them are hardly household names. With expansion came an increase in scoring as the early to mid seventies featured some truly terrible teams with terrible goaltending. This was the decade where Phil Esposito would smash the scoring record with a 76 goal season and he would top sixty three more times. The eighties would see a crop of offensive stars led by Wayne Gretzky that gave their teams the ability to play a wide open, offensive style that led to many goals. So the players I've chosen for this list come from that era. Mike Bossy scored at least fifty every full season he played.

Obviously, if you're at all into hockey and its history, I'm sure you will have at least heard of these players but to casual fans these are names they probably don't know. If I were to write this list again in ten years or so, I'm fairly certain Jonathan Cheechoo would be on it. But as his miraculous 56 goals came somewhat recently in the 05/06 season, I figure he still has some recognition attached to his name.


5. Gary Leeman - 51 goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs, 89/90
The most recent fifty-goal man on this list, it's wholly possible that once again my Leafs bias has come into play as there are several other guys I could've put in this spot who are definitely more unknown. But whatever, I wanted to include him.

In their long and storied (and painful) history, the Toronto Maple Leafs have had a lot of great players. But only three have actually scored fifty in a season while with the team. Darryl Sittler had four seasons with more than forty goals but never managed fifty. Frank Mahovolich had 48 way back in 60/61. Rick Vaive became the first with a team record 54 in the 81/82 season. He would follow that up with 51 goals the next year and 52 the year after that. He's the only Leaf to post multiple fifty-goal seasons.

But out of the jumbled mess that was the Leafs of the late eighties - an always entertaining bunch that scored lots of goals, gave up even more and racked up tons of penalty minutes - came a bright light named Gary Leeman. During his first three NHL seasons he was an ineffectual scorer, not even posting double digits in goals. But in 86/87 his ascent began with a modest 21 goal effort. The next two years he posted over thirty goals as a member of the semi-famous "Hound Line" with Wendel Clark and Russ Courtnall and in 89/90 made the jump to 51, mostly benefiting from the sublime playmaking skills of young centre, Vincent Damphousse.

Leeman himself was still only twenty-five years old at the time and his future as an elite scorer looked bright. But it wasn't to be. That season was his last where he played at least seventy games. He only managed 17 goals in 52 games in 90/91 and the next year, despite only posting  7 goals in 34 games, was still coveted enough by the Calgary Flames to be a key part in the blockbuster trade that involved ten players and brought Doug Gilmour to Toronto. Gilmour would of course go on to achieve folk hero status as a Leaf, bringing the team back to respectability (although of course not on his own) while Leeman battled injuries and inconsistency wherever he went. He was able to win a Cup playing a limited role with the Montreal Canadiens in 92/93 but he bounced to two more teams (Vancouver and St. Louis), barely playing any games before leaving the NHL for good in 1996.


4. Danny Grant - 50 goals for the Detriot Red Wings, 74/75
For six seasons from the late sixties through early seventies, Danny Grant was a reliable scorer for the Minnesota North Stars, averaging about 30 goals a year. He actually won the 1969 Calder Trophy as top NHL rookie for his 34 goal,  65 point season.

After being such a consistent offensive presence for the North Stars it was fairly surprising that they saw fit to trade him to Detroit for defensive forward Henry Boucha. Boucha was a Minnesota native so it's possible North Stars management thought the appeal of having a hometown player would boost attendance. Whatever the case,  Boucha would only play one season with Minnesota before jumping to the WHA. That same year, Grant scored 50 goals for the Red Wings, playing with superstar-to-be Marcel Dionne. Even though the Wings were crap in the seventies (kinda like how they were in the eighties), Grant wasn't actually the first one to hit the fifty mark. Mickey Redmond actually pulled it off in the two seasons before Grant's arrival, scoring 52 and 51 goals respectively. Just like Grant, he benefited from the massive talents of Dionne.

Grant's 74/75 season was of course the high point of his career but it was also the beginning of the end. For the next four seasons he was plagued by injuries and would never even reach 20 goals again before retiring in 1979.

So why include Grant instead of Redmond? Well, Redmond not only scored fifty twice, he also holds the distinction of being the first Detroit Red Wing to accomplish the feat. This is pretty impressive considering that's Gordie Howe's team. But Howe put up 49 goals in the 52/53 season and while he of course continued to put up points at a torrid pace, that was as close as he ever got to hitting fifty goals.

Also Grant is from Fredricton, New Brunswick and I think it's pretty cool that a Maritimer is a member of the 50 goal club. Sidney Crosby is of course the other one.


3. Jacques Richard - 52 goals for the Quebec Nordiques, 80/81
The second Richard (no relation) to score fifty goals in an NHL season is infinitely less famous. However, Jacques was projected to be a star, drafted second overall in the 1972 draft by the expansion Atlanta Flames after an insane 71 goal, 160 point season with the Quebec Remparts. Comparisons were made to Guy Lafleur.  He would play for the Flames as a nineteen year old in the 72/73 season (this team was actually coached by Boom Boom Geofrrion by the way) posting modest totals of 13 goals and 31 points. His second year he'd display some of his vast potential potting 27 goals (but few assists led to only 43 total points). But he would fall back to 17 goals the following year and I guess the Flames lost patience with him, trading him to Buffalo for the 75/76 season.

Richard's years in Buffalo were tumultuous. He developed a drinking problem and began having off-ice issues, gambling, abusing cocaine and once getting injured in a bar fight. He managed just 12 goals in 73 games the year he arrived. The next two seasons he would spend a significant amount of time with the Sabres's minor league affiliate, where he actually scored at a fairly decent pace. But he just couldn't do it in the NHL. Coach Punch Imlach would later say that Richard was "wasting his talent". He was traded once more.

Now Richard was in Quebec  - the city of his glory days as a junior. In the 80/81 season, his first full one with the club (and eighth as a pro), he would finally showcase his abilities, playing on a line with Peter and Anton Stastny. He exploded for 52 goals and 103 points.

But that was to be his only shining moment in the NHL as his mediocre play returned and his numbers dropped. Future Hall of Famer Michel Goulet stepped in as the Nordiques's premiere goal scorer (he would have four fifty-goal seasons of his own) and Richard retired in 1983 as a symbol of great potential unrealized.


2. Guy Chouinard - 50 goals for the Atlanta Flames, 78/79
When Jacques Richard was lighting it up for the Quebec Remparts in 71/72 and being touted as the NHL's next big offensive star, there was a supremely gifted fourteen year old on his team. Even though this kid was four years younger than the vast majority of his teammates and opponents, he still put up an extremely impressive 70 points in 58 games. His next two years of junior would see him surpass the one hundred point mark, first with 129 then 160 - the same amazing total as Richard in his final year but at the age of only sixteen. That kid was Guy Chouinard.

Despite his crazy numbers as a sixteen year old, Chouinard was once again overshadowed by a teammate, this time seventeen year old Real Cloutier - an absolute scoring machine who had 93 goals and 213 points in 69 games. But Cloutier would opt to play in the WHA rather than the NHL and became one of that league's most dazzling and prolific goal scorers. Chouinard was still a first round pick in the 1974 draft but a late one at twenty-eighth overall. He was picked up by the same team who had selected Richard two years earlier, the Atlanta Flames.

Since he was still seventeen when he was drafted, Chouinard was too young to play in the NHL (the WHA had no such rule, by the way - Wayne Gretzky, among others would play there as a seventeen year old) so he played a year in the now defunct CHL with the Omaha Knights, finishing third in team scoring. The next year he may not have been ready to jump to the NHL and spent the 75/76 season with the AHL's Nova Scotia Voyageurs, scoring 40 goals and 80 points. His first two years with the Flames, where he put up 50 and 58 points respectively, suggested he was more of a playmaker than goalscorer, and if you look at his career NHL stats, they certainly support that claim. But in the 78/79 season, Chouinard scored 50 goals and 107 points, becoming the first Flame to ever hit the 50 goal mark and the only player to do it while the team was in Atlanta.

Actually, I would make the claim that Guy Chouinard is the best Atlanta Flame of all time. He was with the team when it moved to Calgary and continued to play well for them although his goal totals dropped from 31 to 23 to 13. His last year in the NHL, 83/84, he played 64 games for the St. Louis Blues. He had a very good career overall, if cut a little short. He had 575 points in 578 games, 205 of them goals. But if you look at it within the context of his pro career, his fifty-goal season definitely appears to be an anomaly. But not a fluke.

1. Pierre Larouche - 53 goals for the Pittsburgh Penguins, 75/76; 50 goals for the Montreal Canadiens, 79/80
The only player on this list to post multiple fifty goal seasons, even more impressive is the fact that he did it with two different teams. Larouche was the first NHL player to ever accomplish this and remains on a pretty short list. No player has yet recorded fifty goals in a season with three different teams but Larouche actually very nearly did this, scoring 48 as a New York Ranger in 83/84. He still holds a record as the only player to have scored at least 45 goals for three separate teams.

And yet he remains relatively unknown. But he was hardly a flash in the pan, scoring at a very consistent level throughout his career and finishing with more points than games played. He also won two Stanley Cups with the Canadiens in 1978 and 1979. But even though he scored fifty goals for the second time in 79/80, he was second in team scoring to superstar Guy Lafleur who was recording his sixth (in a row, I might add). In fact, whenever those incredible Montreal teams that won four straight Cups from 1976 thru 1979 are spoken of, Larouche's name rarely even comes up. Even with his fifty goal season, he's still mostly remembered as a bit player on that team of stars.

Larouche's first fifty (53, remember) goal season, coming in just his second year at the age of nineteen was definitely seen as impressive. He added 58 assists for 111 total points. He set the record as the youngest player to have a 50 goal, 100 point season (Lafleur was 22 for his first). But perhaps the fact that this record would only stand for four years before a certain teenager named Gretzky would enter the league and break it (and so, so many others) contributed to his lack of general NHL fame.

And for those wondering if Larouche was the only Penguin to score fifty before Mario Lemieux, not only was he not because Rick Kehoe would put up 55 in 80/81, he actually watched teammate Jean Pronovost (who would later play with Guy Chouinard in Atlanta) rack up 52 of his own that same season (75/76). Speaking of Lemieux, just like Gretzky, he would take one of Larouche's records away from him. In junior, Larouche scored an astounding 94 goals and 157 assists in 73/74 for what must have looked like an unassailable record 251 points. But ten years later The Magnificent One would RAPE the Quebec league for 282 points (including 133 goals).

Larouche retired a Ranger in 1988 with 395 career goals in 812 games. But the fact that he so evenly spread his scoring among those teams makes him a very interesting player indeed.

Bands We Were Supposed to Like

It seems every two years or so another band comes out of no where that the music media picks as the next big thing.  Thus they spend all their energy through glowing reviews and articles trying to convince us, the music loving public, that we should really be into this band. Now of course sometimes they're right, or at the very least partly right. Sometimes these groups that they hype up actually turn out to be decent if not pretty good.

Music is a subjective thing and it's harsh to completely attack a music journalist for his or her own personal views of a band. But so often it seems that legions of music journalists all pick the same band to trumpet and just as often it's simply unfolded like some sort of conspiracy. The band, for all its sparkling praise on music websites and in magazines, is really nothing special if not downright crap. (Kings Of Leon, I'm looking at you) Here are a few of those bands whose overblown hype has especially annoyed me over the years.

 5. Death Cab For Cutie
From 1997 through 2003, Death Cab quietly went about their business, releasing three albums to little fanfare. The group originally began as a solo project by vocalist/guitarist Ben Gibbard while he was still a member of the band Pinwheel. While it's true that the band's very first EP, Something About Airplanes was favourably received in the independent music scene, it's also fair to say they hardly made a blip on the radar. Over the next few years, the band changed drummers twice and released two more recordings: We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes in 2000 and The Photo Album in 2001. The group would go on their first national tour across the U.S. in 2000 but they were hardly a big name at the time.

Things would begin to change towards the end of 2003 with the release of the album Transatlanticism. Teen drama The O.C. used a couple songs from the album and Six Feet Under, CSI: Miami and Californication soon followed. This got them noticed, the album started selling and soon they were signed to Atlantic records on November of 2004. Their followup to Transatlanticism and first release on a major record label, Plans, was highly anticipated and came out in 2005 and reached Gold status by 2006 - the same year I started hearing about them. They played on Saturday Night Live and began campaigning loudly for PETA. Their 2008 followup,  Narrow Stairs, while representing a strong departure from their earlier style, was eaten up by critics and many even touted it as the album of the year.

Death Cab For Cutie certainly aren't a bad band by any stretch but Gibbard's supposedly "earnest" vocal style really grates on me and their melodies come across as overly simple. Sometimes when a song reaches its "C" part it just sounds like a mash of "A" and "B". Again, it's difficult to pinpoint what exactly it is about their music that bothers me but I wouldn't complain nearly so much if they didn't have so much critical and commercial success.


4. Modest Mouse

 Formed way back in 1993, Modest Mouse underwent multiple personnel changes and released three records before their fourth, Good News for People Who Love Bad News, went platinum and put them on the map in 2004. This was particularly due to the success of the record's two singles "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty". For the rest of that year, you really couldn't go anywhere without hearing these songs, particularly the catchy "Float On", a song whose repetitiveness still drives me crazy.

The success of Good News for People Who Love Bad News caused people to take a closer look at the band's previous work and their 2000 album The Moon & Antarctica, is today regarded with much critical acclaim even though I find it to be completely forgettable. Pitchfork.com seems to think it's the best alternative rock record of all time or something. Check out this embarrassing review. Whatever.

Late in 2004 the band played on Saturday Night Live (of course playing "Float On") and the album was nominated for the Best Alternative Rock Album award at the Grammys. Their 2007 followup, We  Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, reached number one on the US Billboard chart and the band did a tour with REM in 2008. I'll confess I'm not familiar with any of the songs from that record but I'm truly glad they seem to have faded from the spotlight in the past few years because I was sick of hearing what a great band they are.


3. Arctic Monkeys
Bands like The Ramones and The Sex Pistols made not being able to play your instruments cool. Arctic Monkeys looked to continue that proud tradition and, for awhile, were highly touted as a band to watch. They gained their popularity mostly through the Internet, actually through fan-based websites. This led to their debut album, 2006's Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, becoming the fastest selling debut album by a British band in history. Seriously. Think about some of the bands the UK has produced and then read that statement over again.

It actually took them several years to release a record because they wouldn't play ball with any executive meddling, which is certainly something to be respected. By the time they finally signed with Domino in 2005, they'd become a highly coveted act in the music industry.

When the record hit the US it performed almost as well, becoming the second-fastest selling debut for an indie rock group in the country. Although critics in America were slightly more reserved in praising the band than their British counterparts, I'm sure not all the bullshit I heard about them came from overseas.

Their first single with Domino, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" shot straight to number one on the British billboard chart when it was released in October of 2005. It's one of the most annoying rock songs I've ever heard, so of course critics ate it up. They were on the cover of NME a few months later and eventually the magazine declared Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not the fifth greatest British album of all time - I shit you not.

The best way I could describe their sound is "noise rock" with yammering vocals. Thankfully, their following albums, released in 2007 and 2009, didn't achieve nearly as much success and they've more or less fallen back into, I won't say obscurity but at least just moderate popularity. It had been quite awhile since a band with so little talent soared so high.


2. Interpol
Another band that Pitchfork lost their shit over (dubbing their debut album the best album of 2002), I first heard of Interpol from a friend who I lived with in the Roost at King's. While it's true that said friend is known for being...overly enthusiastic...about just about everything, I quickly found that he wasn't the only person full of glowing praise for this completely underwhelming band.

A major part of what is referred to the post-punk revival scene in New York City, Interpol formed in 1997, playing in the city, and from what I can figure, Paris. My friend explained it to me something like this: "They're a really awesome band and they could have signed and toured and become really big but they didn't wanna do any of that so they just play over in France." Right.

So anyway, after releasing some EP's and "keeping it real" in France or whatever, they finally signed with Matador Records in early 2002 and released a proper studio album, Turn on The Bright Lights, later that year. Critics seemed convinced that we were witnessing the next Joy Division (which I can assure you, was not the case) and orgasmed all over the place in their praise. The record didn't exactly explode but did manage to sell 300 000 copies by 2004. All the while, music publications did their best to tell us that we just weren't getting it because Interpol was definitely something special.

Their 2004 album, Antics, achieved Gold status in both the UK and US and all over again we got to hear about what an amazing band Interpol was but it was just the same shit. How much do Interpol bug me? Well, let me put it this way: if you consider yourself a fan I want to punch you in the face.


1. Kula Shaker
Well, we've reached the top of the heap when it comes to overblown hype for a lame band. Surely you must remember these guys. I sure as hell do. It's also true that I've barely given them a thought over the past ten-plus years. But as soon the idea for this list began forming in my amazing brain, Kula Shaker rushed straight to the forefront of my thoughts.

Like in so many of my other lists, let's go back to the nineties for a moment. After the grunge movement of the earlier part of the decade, I would say that the biggest movement in rock was definitely Britpop. Stemming from the shoegazing school of the late eighties and very early nineties, bands like Blur and Oasis became absolutely huge in England and North America and, just as it had happened with grunge, record labels, music publications and fans all scrambled to find bands of a similar style. The Camden Town area of London in particular became a sort of musical centre for many of these bands. As Melody Maker, a popular English weekly newspaper declared: "Camden is to 1995 what Seattle was to 1992..."

And it was Kula Shaker that would earn the label of the next big thing in Britpop, just as the genre's popularity was beginning its decline. While bands like The Verve and Radiohead - previously overlooked during the height of the genre - started gaining real success and acclaim around 1996 heading into 1997 (with the release of Urban Hymns and OK Computer), Kula Shaker absolutely exploded out of the gate with their album K. It quickly went double-platinum and became the fastest-selling debut since Oasis's Definitely Maybe.

Their style was Hendrix-esque psychedelic rock which I guess everyone was really in the mood for at the time. They would win the "Breakthrough British Act" award at the BRIT Awards in 1997 while music publications on both sides of the pond fell all over themselves with praise. Even some rather unwise remarks about the Swawstika in an interview with some members of the UK music press (made by frontman Crispian Mills) couldn't stop the band's momentum. If anything, it only gained them more publicity. The album continued to sell like crazy while the band played the Glastonbury Festival, the V Festival and T in the Park, all to critical acclaim.

All through 1998, fans and critics masturbated with glee over Kula Shaker and their apparent masterpiece, K.  They salivated over the news the new album would be released in the summer. But this didn't materialize and so the hype only grew. It wasn't until February of 1999 that the followup,  Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts, dropped. And guess what? It pretty much bombed. Shocker. In fact the band fell so far so quickly that, shortly after playing at V99 as a last-minute replacement for Placebo, the great Kula Shaker broke up.

They would eventually reform in 2004 but by that point, I, like much of the rest of the world, had forgotten all about them. They remain together to this day and I couldn't care less. I certainly don't miss their loopy guitar riffs, excessive use of sitar and bullshit lyrics written in Sanskrit. What I don't miss most of all (couldn't I have just said it is what I miss the least? Oh well) is hearing about how great they're supposed to be.