Elmopalooza!

[Kiki]

Decided to put this in the "classic" catagory, because after all it is about 10 years old or so (time flies!). I watched this special when it first came out, but bought it instantly when it came out on video and even on CD.
There's quite a few impressive guest-stars who do covers of Sesame Street songs (the whole thing is celebrating 30 years of SSt). There are a lot of people who don't like it, thinking that they butcher the songs and they're trying too hard to be appealing to "older people". The title of it's cool even! Well, actually, again Elmo is getting over-exposure, but it's a cool reference to the music festival.

I really enjoy this special! How about you guys?

Kiki

 

[Drtooth]

Just a quick question... is there a difference between the broadcast version and the home video version? Something seemed like it was missing.... and I never actually caught the broadcast version. It took me almost 9 years to finally get the VHS at a dollar store out of curiosity. And I really enjoyed it. Not as much, mind you, as the one where the thinly veiled parody of Donald Trump tries to buy up the street and tear it down... but much more fun than The Street we live On.

I'm disappointed the one song I really liked hearing the cover of, I Love Trash by Steven Tyler, wasn't in the special at all. But I really loved the cameos by John Stewart and Chris Rock... especially the "No Dirty Jokes" line. "Great! I had all these great mud jokes too."

I really hope the 40th anniversary has a special similar to this one (or the aforementioned 25th one), and not like the ultra-economical Street we Live On, that had to put the history of the show in a retrospective that fit a regular episode of the show.

 

[Oscarfan]

I have the TV version on tape, and I didn't notice any difference. I thought it was a good special. I like how they did remakes of the not-so-famous songs, and the better known ones had a brief lyric in the finale each.

 

[Drtooth]

Oh yeah... other than the cover of "I Love Trash" (which apparently is album only) we didn't get the same ol' stuff like Rubber Duckie and ABCDEFGHI... they even re-recorded the song that was banned... which oddly enough sounds even more sexual when they sung it and Nearly Missed a Rainbow. Of course, I really didn't like that one. I hate Rosie's singing voice.

But that "I Would Like to Visit the Moon" song was especially haunting. Much more melodic and beautiful than that one sung by Ernie and a Goat whiffing helium in an earthquake...errr... Arron Nelville.

 

[antsamthompson9]

I have it on DVD. I think it's good. It had some funny parts.

 

[Son of Enik]

I also very much enjoyed this special...I bought it on DVD 7 years ago. I thought the song selection was eclectic but great, I particularly enjoyed The Fugees, Jimmy Buffett (thankfully a song with Kermit!) and Kenny Loggins, who's rendition of "One Small Voice" still chokes me up. I was never a big fan of that song until I heard Loggins sing it here, bravo!
Okay, a little too much Elmo here, but it was a sign of the times and all in all I thoroughly enjoyed "Elmopalooza".

 

[Kiki]

I'm disappointed the one song I really liked hearing the cover of, I Love Trash by Steven Tyler, wasn't in the special at all. But I really loved the cameos by John Stewart and Chris Rock... especially the "No Dirty Jokes" line. "Great! I had all these great mud jokes too."

Yeah, it was pretty funny in a lot of parts, I mean... you wouldn't hear those sort of things (even though they're pretty tame) on any "kiddie" show really, although I found the special very appealling, I know a lot people (including girls my age) who loved it.
I agree. I was dissapointed that Steven Tyler's cover of 'I Love Trash' wasn't included. It's on the Elmopalooza! CD (and also on the Elmo in Grouchland one, too), but I would've loved to have seen it performed.

I have the TV version on tape, and I didn't notice any difference. I thought it was a good special. I like how they did remakes of the not-so-famous songs, and the better known ones had a brief lyric in the finale each.

That's what I liked, too! I mean, 'Nearly Missed' isn't an alarmingly popular SSt song and I'm so glad it was included, it one of my faves. I loved at the end how they all did the characters' trademark songs, too (Cookie got A LOT of applause!)

Oh yeah... other than the cover of "I Love Trash" (which apparently is album only) we didn't get the same ol' stuff like Rubber Duckie and ABCDEFGHI... they even re-recorded the song that was banned... which oddly enough sounds even more sexual when they sung it and Nearly Missed a Rainbow. Of course, I really didn't like that one. I hate Rosie's singing voice.

But that "I Would Like to Visit the Moon" song was especially haunting. Much more melodic and beautiful than that one sung by Ernie and a Goat whiffing helium in an earthquake...errr... Arron Nelville.

ROFL! I agree with that, too. That was a very sweet version of the song on Elmopalooza. I found it weird that they added 'I Want a Monster to be my Best Friend', seeing as it was banned in the past. And then you see En Vogue perform it!

 

[Drtooth]

ROFL! I agree with that, too. That was a very sweet version of the song on Elmopalooza. I found it weird that they added 'I Want a Monster to be my Best Friend', seeing as it was banned in the past. And then you see En Vogue perform it!

Well, the song was banned for that one line "I'll let him do whatever he wants to, especially if he's bigger than me." (which we all know was conceived as a 500 pound gorilla joke) That line was changed to "Because he'll always belong to me" or something like that. Which, I stated, sounds oddly enough more like an innuendo.