Los Angeles, California (CNN) — Ken Ober, whose MTV game show “Remote Control” was among the network’s first forays into non-music programming, has died at age 52, his agent said Monday. Ober hosted five seasons of “Remote Control,” a pop-culture quiz show that featured contestants strapped into easy chairs to answer questions from categories such as “Dead or Canadian?” The show first aired in 1987 and helped launch the careers of comedians Adam Sandler, Denis Leary and Colin Quinn, who was the program’s announcer. Ober later moved behind the camera as a producer of the Comedy Central program “Mind of Mencia” and the CBS comedy “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”

He was apparently complaining of flu-like symptoms, headaches, and chest pain when he was last heard from days earlier, and some reports suggest that he died of a heart attack.

Ken Ober, I watched your show a lot in the late 80s. I thought it was so so cool how you proved that MTV was more than just music videos.

Here’s a great clip of Remote Control featuring Colin Quinn singing some CCR:

Also, I don’t know if youze guys remember this, but he was the guy on the couch in the Blues Traveler video for Hook, back when John Popper was fat. Towards the end of the video, every time he uses his remote control to try and change the channel, it keeps switching back to Blues Traveler. That sounds like a living nightmare.

matt wrote this on 11/17/09 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | no comments yet, be the first! | TAGS: adam sandler, blues traveler, colin quinn, denis leary, died, game show, heart attack, hook, john popper, ken ober, ken oberding, mind of mencia, mtv, remote control, the new adventures of old christine

It’s such a great video. I love the whole Happy Days theme, and the appearances of Potsie, Ralph Malph, Al, Richie Cunningham, Mr. & Mrs. Cunningham, Joanie, and, of course, The Fonz.

Spike Jonze makes the best videos.

jamie wrote this on 03/05/09 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | 1 comment so far | TAGS: 70s tv, 80s tv, 90s music, al, Al Delvecchio, al molinaro, anson williams, arthur fonzarelli, buddy holly, don most, erin moran, fonzie, happy days, henry winkler, joanie cunningham, lazer 99.3, marion ross, mary tyler moore, mr. & mrs. cunningham, mtv, potsie, pure rock, ralph malph, richie cunningham, ron howard, spike jonze, the fonz, tom bosley, weezer, wpi

matt wrote this on 10/28/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | no comments yet, be the first! | TAGS: 80s music videos, dust films, dustball, dustin mclean, head over heels, library, literal, mtv, song interpretations, tears for fears

Thanks, Dustin McLean!

Also thanks to my Norweigan brethren, A-Ha!

matt wrote this on 10/28/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | no comments yet, be the first! | TAGS: 80s music videos, a-ha, dust films, dustball, dustin mclean, literal, mtv, pipe wrench fight, song interpretations, take on me

songspeak wrote this on 10/28/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | no comments yet, be the first! | TAGS: hulu, mtv, mtvmusic.com, music videos, new site

From the AP:

NEW YORK — Clay Aiken is finally confirming what many people already knew: He’s gay.

The cover of the latest People magazine shows Aiken holding his infant son, Parker Foster Aiken, with the headline: “Yes, I’m Gay.” The cover also has the quote: “I cannot raise a child to lie or hide things.”

The magazine has an interview with Aiken and confirmed that he was on the cover but refused to release the article to The Associated Press until Wednesday.

The baby’s mother is Aiken’s friend and record producer Jaymes Foster.

Aiken, who gained fame as the runner-up on “American Idol” in 2003, rarely addressed the frequent rumors about his sexuality. In an interview with The Associated Press two years ago, he said: “I don’t really feel like I have anybody to answer to but myself and God and the people I love.”

He’s undoubtedly been asked numerous times about his sexuality. Here a 2006 MTV interview Jim Cantiello did with Clay. He was very awkward and stuttery while he was trying to get Clay to come out of the closet. It’s sort of a tense and uncomfortable:

Oh, and one more thing… this has always bugged us:

It should be… If I WERE invisible, then I could just watch you in your room.

songspeak wrote this on 09/24/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | no comments yet, be the first! | TAGS: baby, clay aiken, claymates, gay, homosexual, if i was, if i were, interview, invisible, jaymes foster, jim cantiello, mtv, new dad, newborn, parker foster aiken, people magazine, trademark

Some of you may remember that in the early 90’s, Nirvana did an edition of MTV Unplugged. It was pretty good. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. Many of the songs from the set became singles and got lots of radio airplay.

One of those was their cover of The Man Who Sold the World, originally released by David Bowie. Well, this sent Matt into a rage the likes of which I’d never seen. Whenever it came on the radio, he would tell anyone within earshot, “I didn’t like this song when it first came out, and I don’t like it now!” It was as if Nirvana had performed the song just to stick it to Matt, or at least that’s what he thought.

This has become a running gag here at Songspeak, and if I ever hear the song when Matt’s around, I always bring up how he didn’t like the song when it first came out, and he doesn’t like it now.

So, just for Matt, here you go:

And just for good measure:

jamie wrote this on 09/09/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | 5 comments | TAGS: 70s music, 90s music, 90s tv, covers, david bowie, david bowie cover, i didn't like it then and i don't like it now, mtv, mtv unplugged, nirvana, the man who sold the world, unplugged

YES! The band Ednaswap originally wrote and released the song in 1995. They’ve recorded a couple different versions of it, but for some reason, when Natalie Imbruglia released her version, no one ever acknowledged that it was a cover. This got under the skin of Matt, because he was a fan of Ednaswap and thought that Natalie Imbruglia shouldn’t be getting the credit for a song she didn’t write. Ironically enough, there is one line that appears in her version that doesn’t appear in the original version, and that line is “my inspiration has run dry”. Indeed.

If MTV, VH1, or any of the thousands of radio stations had acknowledged that it was a cover, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But they all were part of the grand conspiracy. Some of us know better, though.

And here’s hoping Natalie Imbruglia gets what’s coming to her.

jamie wrote this on 08/22/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | 2 comments | TAGS: 90s music, controversy, cover, cover of torn, ednaswap, ednaswap cover, grand conspiracy, instant karma, mtv, my inspiration has run dry, natalie imbruglia, natalie imbruglia covers ednaswap, torn, vh1

Russell Brand will be hosting MTV’s 2008 Video Music Awards, Sunday, September 7th, and I think he’ll be an amusing host, even if the VMAs tend to be real turdmuffins most of the time.

The MTV promo videos he recorded are quite amusing….

Great, isn’t it? Russell Brand really cracks me up. And of course, they showed snippets of this in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, so I couldn’t resist posting Infant Sorrow’s entire brilliant video for their song, We’ve Got To Do Something

And here’s their video for Inside of You.

Now if only I could find video of A Taste For Love…

matt wrote this on 08/21/08 for SONGSPEAK which is a pretty awesome blog. | post permalink | 4 comments | TAGS: 2008 mtv movie awards, a taste for love, aldous snow, forgetting sarah marshall, infant sorrow, inside you, jason segel, kristen bell, mila kunis, mtv, nicholas stoller, russell brand, vma