Edd Kalehoff -- The Price is Right

 

Welcome to another round of Reminiscings of Youth this Thursday to start off today's songs on KKP. Of course, I like to cover some of those pop hits from the West and of my own yesteryear as ROY articles but as I've also done in the past, I've also covered some of my beloved theme songs from television programs in America, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Earlier this week, I heard about the passing of legendary American game show host Bob Barker at the age of 99 and I first got to know the man through his work taking care of "Truth or Consequences" (on the old black-and-white TV set) which ran between 1956 and 1975. To me, he was the template of the American game show host: charming, friendly, pretty fast-talking and unflappable, and he and a lot of his brethren struck me as the modern-day version of the old-fashioned traveling salesmen who went from town to town selling their wares, whether they were honest or not.

Then, Barker got what would be his longest and biggest gig as the host of "The Price is Right", one of the most famous game shows in American history, taking care of the show for about 35 years from September 1972 to June 2007 (it's still going on strong today). He smoothly handled each episode as the contestants went through the bidding phase on a product and then got into the various imaginative price games which sometimes inspired my own imagination for games in English classes.

Naturally, being one of the longest-running game shows in America and Canada, the theme song is also one of the most recognized. It was composed by Edd Kalehoff who has come up with music for a lot of other TV programs such as ABC's "Monday Night Football" and CBS' "60 Minutes" (yes, the ticking stopwatch). What I hadn't realized was that "The Price is Right" theme had a goodly amount of Moog and other synthesizers in there so I guess maybe it can be considered to be a technopop piece. In any case, my condolences to Barker's family, friends and many fans.

For the comparative part of the article today, I'm going to go with the three Best New Artist prize winners of the Japan Record Awards for 1972.

Aoi Sankaku Jougi -- Taiyo ga Kureta Kisetsu （太陽がくれた季節）

Hiromi Go -- Otoko no Ko , Onna no Ko (男の子女の子）

Masako Mori -- Sensei （せんせい）

"This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population – have your pets spayed or neutered."