FOURTEEN GROOVY REAL & FAKE BANDS IN '60s COMMERCIALS

If you were a little kid in the '60s like I was, you may have come to the same conclusion then that I did: EVERYONE IS IN A ROCK BAND. I mean, everyone, because everywhere you looked, there was a BAND -- not just the real bands like the Beatles, etc., but groovy yeahyeahyeah hippie mod combos were on every sitcom, every cartoon show, and in piles of commercials. It's what was happening, baby, and it's what got the attention of the Baby Boomers that were fueling the economy with their teenage dollars. I thought I would grab a few videos of the commercials from the time featuring bands selling some pretty unlikely things.

First up, chick lead singer freaks out over bassist's bad breath. Listerine to the rescue!



I gotta say, Tony the Tiger is not a great drummer, and his band kinda sucks, too. But I do like Frosted Flakes!



The Calvert brothers are singing about Oscar Mayer wieners. I suspect there is still sniggering going on in their native state of Ohio.



The ad agency that made this animation for Beechnut Hot Shots candy knew that if you drew a cartoon with four lads with moppy hair in collarless suits and had them bop around all Fab-ly, that was more than enough to get a Beatlemaniac sales boost.



Beechnut continues on with this one, using Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. Never liked them; this didn't help the cause.



Petula Clark shilling for Buick, with the heavy mustachioed sounds of California's Orange Colored Sky.



Stiff Up With People type "band" The Going Thing tries to be hip, but fails spectacularly. Even my grandpa wouldn't like this. He drove an Impala.



This probably-filmed-live inset commercial for ABC-TV's "Shindig!" features pop idol Bobby Sherman a couple of years before he hit the big time playing a stuttering Seattle logger on "Here Come The Brides." Here, Bobby doesn't have to talk at all, just chugs n' frugs like that's all he EVER DOES.



The Monkees had to do loads of commercials, because those boys were SO OWNED. Here's one for the new Nerf Ball, which you can get if you buy a zillion packets of Kool-Aid. Not only did I DO THAT, but I got an AWESOME Nerf tank top and I STILL HAVE IT, HA!



Pedwin Shoes with a very pro rip-off of the Monkees TV show. Rumor has it that this may be the band Every Mother's Son, who had the big pop hit "Come On Down To My Boat." I was too lazy to verify that.



The Turtles had such great hits, and even this jingle for Pepsi has some sweet harmonies. Here's an in-studio look at the recording of the commercial.



The Yellow Payges for...the Yellow Pages. I'm not even sure how many of you reading this will know what the Yellow Pages were.



Hollywood royalty spawns Dino, Desi, & Billy for RC Cola, apparently post-puberty.



And we will end with the best one...even though you can't see them, this is unmistakably the Rolling Stones pitching for Rice Krispies. I would give them ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS if they would sing this live JUST ONCE, NOW. Hey, you never know!