Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991 TAG: 9104120601
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E10 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: "YAKETY YAK LENGTH: Medium
The Coasters' 1958 classic, penned by Leiber and Stoller, has been drafted by the environmental army (all-volunteer, of course) and shipped out as a public-service-announcement song and video to promote recycling.
It's a typically star-studded project, featuring 19 artists ranging from Ozzy Osbourne to Stevie Wonder and including Pat Benatar, B.B. King, Queen Latifah, Randy Newman, Barry White, Charlie Daniels, Ricky Van Shelton and Quincy Jones, whose daughter Jolie directed the video. Jolie Jones also heads the non-profit, environmentally focused Take It Back Foundation.
"Yakety Yak" will have its world premiere on MTV on Monday, which happens to be National Recycling Day; that same day, it will start appearing as a trailer in 1,600 AMC movie theaters around the country (it's estimated 40 million moviegoers will see it through the summer).
The video combines live action and animation (Bugs Bunny and a Paula Adbul-less MC Skat Cat), and in the tradition of all-star do-good projects, there will be a 50-minute home video including the music-video clip, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video and individual PSAs by the guest performers.
There will also be a "Take It Back" recycling book filled with environmental information and recycling tips. And in a joint promotion with AT&T, consumers can get a free Recycling Wheel with recycling dos and don'ts, environmental tips and a guide to environmental organizations (after Monday, call 1-800-9-YAKETY).
\ In "Yakety Yak," animated characters cavort with rock stars. Call it the Roger Rabbit syndrome, but it's getting harder and harder to tell the Toons from the tunesmiths. It's hardly a new trend - after all, Bugs and his pal Porky Pig were delivering "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" for Warner Bros. 50 years ago.
Then there's the double-platinum success of "The Simpsons Sing the Blues," the fastest selling TV-rooted album since "Miami Vice," and the triple-platinum sales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' "Coming Out of Our Shells" (though much of that was via a Pizza Hut promotion).
The multi-act soundtrack for the first Turtles movie was also colored platinum, and the soundtrack for the smash follow-up has just entered the charts. The Turtles' situation is convoluted - they started as comic-book heroes on the half shell, moved to kiddie animated television series, then to live-action film, and most recently to the concert stage, lip- and hot-lick-syncing their way into children's hearts and, perhaps more importantly, wallets.
After all, a recent advertising survey found that the 6-to-14-year-old demographic, which is served by neither the under-5 ducks-and-dragons kiddie market nor the mid-teen-and-up pop industry, represent some $6 billion in discretionary income. Real money.
by CNB