Radical Rewind Era Nostalgia Find in the Wild Featuring The WACKY-ZANY VIDEO FROM KOOL-AID! Say it with me, Tapeheads! OOOOOOHHH, YEAHHHH!!
The majority of Videovores know the wild well. It’s an often inconsistent yet unfailingly enjoyable journey of scouring through myriad second-hand shops, dirt malls and Goodwill stores accompanied by hours of attacking and stacking endless mounds of magnetic magic, all in search of that radical rewind-inclined rush, otherwise known in Lunchmeat Land as a VHScore. Though nowadays you’re apt to find redundant copies of that taunting Titanic two-tape set and other random pieces of rewind refuse rather than a fantastic former rental copy of Alligator or a minty copy of Mankillers ,you can still VHSniff out a Media Home Entertainment release of Nightmare on Elm Street with the flaps intact, and your mind is set at analog ease. Then, at odd intervals, you can happen upon a tape of a different color. It’s a find that sends a style of excitment through your bones that’s a little different than that of uncovering an established collector rarity, or a dope clamshell that could go for beaucoup bucks on the boards. It’s a find that feels more personal and perfect for you. It’s a score that soaks you with excitement and puts you knee-deep in nostalgic novelty.
Such was the story when I received an email from all around radical rewind-inclined dude, frequent LM correspondent and good friend Matt Ridgeway about how he’d just unearthed a heady slab of early 90s nostalgia called the Wacky Zany Video from Kool-Aid. If you regularly tune into this analog obsessed slice of internet, you’re probably aware that Matt and I groove on a lot of the same video vibes, and our tape tastes connect in a frequent fashion. So, it almost goes without saying that I just as excited (if not more!) about this thrift store VHScore. I’d never heard of it; I’d surely never seen it, and slices of obscure video era excess such as this one excite me to no end. Plus, with its outrageously rad title, product tie-in and vibrant kid stuff aesthetics, how could this miss?! It just can’t, man.
The WACKY-ZANY VIDEO FROM KOOL-AID has Jokin', Dancin', Game Playin' and Rappin'? Let me just say this: OOOOoOoOOHH, YEAHHH!
First, a little history on the tape: In 1991, Kay Bee Toys and Kool-Aid purportedly teamed up to create this 30 minute video that mainly consists of motor-mouthed-over-dubbed stock footage, bikers on invisible motorcycles, puns o’ plenty and gobs of footage from decades of Kool-Aid commercials. PLUS, some rappin’ rhymes straight from the Kool-Aid Man himself. Sound like a winner, Tapeheads? You’re damn VHSkippy. On the back of the tape, it explains how your friends can get a copy (so they’ll take their hands off yours!). It seems easy enough: just mail in 135 Kool-Aid points with some shipping and handling, and you’re in line to receive this rewind redeemable and turn your VCR into a veritable video party. But, wait… 135 points?! DAS ALOTTA KOOL-AID, MAN! It’s almost to the point of being prohibitive, and THIS COMMERCIAL lends itself to the belief that perhaps these tapes weren’t moving especially well at that redemption rate, and so some time later Kay Bee stepped in and started keeping these tapes in-store. So, now, for only 15 Kool-Aid points and a trip to Kay Bee, this party tape could be yours. And that’s pretty groovy, mang.
Seriously, though, man... 135 POINTS?! For what it's worth, I'm sure this tape was worth every extra glass of Kool-Aid. It must have been glorious to get this in the mail.
Two of the three segments from the tape are available online (HERE and HERE with THIS ONE being flagged by NBC!), but without a doubt, the tape is where it’s really at, Tapeheads. I mean, where else are you going to see the first part of this wacky, zany Kool-Aid video, mang? JUST ON TAPE, I TELL YA! And even if you could see the whole thing online, the insane amount of 90s nostalgia and awesome aesthetics oozing out of this video package… there’s just no comparison on the cool. Though it might not fetch triple digits with collectors (but it ain't cheap, mind you!), and it’s not exactly the genre tape of your dreams, if you come across this tape (or one like it!) in the wild like Matt did, that special rush of rewind excitement just might help you redefine the boundaries of a true dope rarity.Groove and Groove and Drink the Kool-Aid, dude.
Josh Schafer