Also the line about how the theme of constant surveillance is rather appropriate in _2013_ ...! I forget that some of these are not only reloaded because of RUclips copyright bullshit, but were even a couple years old when the BLIPocalypse happened! (2015)
@ULGROTHA um, I said what I said. He has inheritance rights from being the child of the famous musical legend, as well as royalties from his own music. I'm any case, he's far from broke.
BWAHAHA. That...yeah, pop culture definitely noticed it at the time. There were multiple albums named "1984", the Eurthymics even had one called "sexcrime", an actual "Newspeak" word from the Orwell book, and then, of course...THAT...Apple commercial. If you haven't seen it, do. Right now. Then there's "99 Luftballoons", about everybody being so wound-up paranoid that WWIII basically starts because some silly children's toys get mistaken for enemy blips on the radar (my personal favourite "emotional dissonance" song of all time. HAPPY PEPPY '80S PARTY SONG! about nuclear war. Actually that kinda makes it the most '80s song ever.) And speaking of being paranoid, the paper-and-dice RPG "Paranoia" very unaccidentally _also_ came out that year. It's this wonderfully snarky dark-humour setting about a world full of clones, mutants and crazy robots, run by a bonkers "Friend Computer" who still thinks it's the Cold War, due to a tragic glitch. My personal short way to describe it is and always has been "Monty Python's '1984'", and that's REALLY damn accurate. Nothing to do with anything, I just love "Paranoia" and it DOES fit in really well with the whole 1984 thing, so...
@@robinchesterfield42 The Eurythmics' song goes one further. It was from the soundtrack of the movie adaptation of Orwell's book, which of course came out in 1984. My own contribution to the phenomenon was that I read the book "1984" in the year 1984. It seemed silly not to, given that I had the opportunity.
There's cameras everywhere! Thousands of TV channels! Their signals are sent all the way to space and back! And have you heard that some nerds in sciency coats are now able to send thousands of numbers through wires!? At least the stock market is still predictable..--OH NOO!
My headcanon for this song is that it's a sequel to "Who Can It Be Now?" by Men at Work. They have similar chord progressions, they're in the same key and they're both about feeling unsafe in one's own home. The difference is this one is more literal, so it's the narrator going from general social anxiety to legit paranoia.
It occurs to me that looking back, him being paranoid may have been extremely legit, given that he entered the company under a fake name and tried to hide who he was from everyone. I'm starting to think that he legitimately is someone with serious paranoia.
Also the fact that he really dropped out of the public eye and disappeared. I mean usually with one hit wonders you can find out something about them especially if they are part of a famous family if nothing else just to dish about them. Also he wrote "Somebody's Watching Me," so that's something there. Plus him being Berry Gordy's son and spending a large chunk of his childhood and youth in the public and not by choice probably didn't help. If anything, if he already had mental health issues that probably exacerbated or even created them. Maybe for him, these songs weren't an act but an admission of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Paranoid Personality Disorder, or Schizophrenia.
That was actually, briefly a thing in early-mid 80's R&B, for some reason. I remember Rick James did it on one song (badly), as well as a few other artists. Not sure why.
To be honest I quite like Rockwell's vocal delivery in Somebody's Watching Me. I'm not sure if I'd call it "good", it's certainly overdramatic and loose sounding, but given the overall theming I find it all very suiting to the song. I honestly prefer the original vocals to that cover you used as an example, but that's just me. Also I realize I'm several years late to the party but I recently discovered this channel and have binging this series. Love your work, Todd.
Honestly I think he's an integral part to the song. I think both his lyrics and his delivery are so camp that they make the song so fun during halloween, and then you have one of the catchiest chorus' of all time to boot
An update, from Wikipedia: On November 29, 2018, Rockwell was arrested in Hollywood for allegedly beating a female associate with a chair at the Magic Castle Hotel after she approached him and demanded payment. Rockwell was released from jail on December 1, 2018, on a $30,000 bail. On January 7, 2019, the woman, who suffered multiple injuries from the attack and had undergone surgery to repair a broken arm, filed a lawsuit against Rockwell in Los Angeles for personal injury, claiming damages exceeding $25,000.
It kind of makes sense what the song is about considering he was followed by paparazzi in his childhood, he didn't get any privacy, really, to some extent.
Arcademan09 I see. But, Rockwell got arrested recently for smacking his housekeeper around. I don’t blame either of you guys here if you still want to feel sympathetic for Rockwell, despite this. I kinda do.
I think Rockwell's voice is a good contrast to Michael's. More like a story teller then a singer. Like a singing narrator or a bard. His voice is really not that bad, and I love this song! I've never even seen the video till nOHW!
@@byakuyatogami2905 It's like hearing someone claim *Game of Thrones is the greatest fucking TV show of all fucking time* I swear I'm more fucking angry about that than finding out that GOP fucking senators dumped their fucking stocks with insider knowledge of a pandemic.
I remember someone telling me this was a Michael Jackson song and I was kind of smug when I informed that person that they were wrong. Later on I felt like an idiot when I realized they were sort of right
He looks exactly like Carlton Banks. And the video for "Somebody's Watching Me" is terrifying to say the least. I think Rockwell didn't want to be famous but had to live up to it somehow so he made up an alter ego but as much as he tried to escape his father, he couldn't. And hence the song.
It may have been a one hit wonder for Rockwell but it started off an entire career for someone else. In 1992, a guy from Switzerland named René Baumann, stage name DJ BoBo (does that remind anyone else of Lady Gaga?) released a song "Somebody Dance with Me": The chorus is "I've got this feeling, Somebody dance with me" and guess what the melody was (dig it up on RUclips). It wasn't a smash hit but it was successful enough to provide him his first long term record deal and basically started his career. People outside Europe probably never heard of DJ BoBo but in Europe, this guy is a big name! He usually did not have number one hits, not even top 10, but he was constantly in the charts during the 90s and his tours used to be legendary as his stage performances were terrific. Just to give you an idea how big this guy was: When he went on tour, he often had a supporting act joining him. Just to name two supporting acts that went on tour with him throughout Europe, that he made popular over here, and that you might have heard of: 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. He was actually a guest at the wedding of Justin Timberlake and he would always meet with the Backstreet Boys whenever they toured in Europe. His single "Chihuahua" (2002), a song he wrote for a Spanish commercial and that was not even finished (he just sent in a first demo tape but the advertising agency thought this is the final version of the song, so they went along with it), was the most selling record of 2002. In Switzerland? In Europe? Nope, I mean THE most selling one. No other single in the entire world sold more copies in 2002. Oh and one more note regarding "Somebody Dance with Me": No, he did not have any rights to remix "Somebody's Watching Me". Today he even admitted that this song was just a rip off and of course, the label of Rockwell sued him 1993. There was an out-of-court settlement and it isn't known how much money he had to pay but afterwards he had the rights and could continue to distribute that song.
I actually remember a commercial from when I was a kid where the a tax collection agency actually used “Tax Man” unironically as their theme. Sometimes awesome shit just happens.
I remember being a teen and watching “I love the 80’s” on VH1.... and Ed Lover saying “there’s only one reason why this song was a hit!!! Mike singing the hook.” MY HEAD EXPLODED!!! All this time, I had grown up as a kid in the 80’s thinking this was a Michael Jackson song!!! .....and that maybe, oh I dunno.... Tito was singing the verses?
Very possibly could be, even if Rockwell didn't consciously intend that. There were a LOT of pop-culture noticings of that fact in 1984. Multiple albums, songs, references, apocalyptic happy dance songs...and I kinda love that. It's not often you catch up to the far-away year of a famous book in your lifetime!
About 10 years ago in the UK a remix of this song got massive, only it completely cut out all of Rockwell's bits so it was just the Michael Jackson parts and the video was a giant Thriller parody. Poor Rockwell. Gotta wonder who got the royalties for that sample!
Considering how many Filipinos do bad renditions of Knife during karaoke nights, that description was perfect. inb4 stereotyping!!!11!, I'm Filipino. I just hate how popular this song is here.
Yo when I was a kid I got freaked out when I washed my hair too. You can't see shit or hear shit; a killer could be breaking in and you'd never know until it was too late!
He's popped up twice since. One just days before this video was published and the other in late 2018. Both are for assaulting women in his employ. The first was a housekeeper, reported as because she didn't make a sandwich fast enough. The other is reported as someone he owned money who approached him about that and he attacked her with a chair. The latter resulted in a felony charge and a civil suit in 2019.
7:43 Rockwell’s…acting(?)…rapping(?)…whatever he’s going for here reminds me an unnerving amount of Ray Davies’ penchant for going spoken word in mid-song during the Kinks’ rock opera period. It’s more than slightly camp but it kind of works here.
A very catchy song with the unmistakable MJ stamp. I remember at the time, my best friend's three-year-old daughter used to run around the house singing "I'm afraid to wash my hair in the shower." Cute as hell!
I was almost willing to look past the DeBarge slander (even though that's ALSO some bullshit), but Teena got more talent than this lame Todd f***** can ever DREAM of having!
Jermaine Jackson was also credited for providing background vocals, so Rockwell had 2 Jackson's on the song, u can hear him most at the end of the song
But if you look at those 3 songs in reverse order, he has a quirky peeping Tom that he gets a little thrill out of, then the phone calls start, then full blown paranoia... 🤣
i was only in my early teens and didnt know anything about music yet, but from what i remember "peeping Tom" actually got pretty decent video/airplay and i liked it. and in the pre internet days i remember i use to wonder if it was the same Rockwell because i couldnt recognize him in the video.
"You know those artists like David Bowie and Madonna, who reinvent themselves with every successive album? We don't cover those artists." What about Chumbawumba and The Cardigans?
6:34 the sound of Michael's hair catching fire Gahhhhhh I chortled! Terrible! Love your acerbic wit Also, love everything about this song. Lightning in a bottle. Great take!
Motown in the 80s wasn't the cultural phenomenon that it was in the 60s but it was still producing plenty of heat. DeBarge and Teena Marie were amazing talents. They didn't have the star power of Marvin, The Temptations, The Supremes and Smokey in the 60's but grouping Bruce Willis with them to emphasize the label's decline in relevance is an insult to those 2.
"You know those artists who reinvent themselves with every new album? We don't cover them on this show." Little did Past Todd know that someday he would do an episode on Dexy's Midnight Runners, who did just that.
I actually know the history of this song and of Rockwell as both were mentioned in the VH1 programs 100 One-Hit Wonders and I Love The 80’s. The latter had celebrities (mostly low list like ones) commenting on it which has my favorite line from the episode it’s in (each year had it’s own episode dedicated to it). It went like this - “Nobodies watching you, Rockwell. You’re not fine anyway.”.
Man... I grew up in that time and always thought this song was a Michael Jackson song. I think as I got older and saw how his life was going it just made more sense to me.
Judging by the toppings on the charts for 1984 and 1985, Somebody’s Watching Me(1984) came in at 15, meanwhile Captured(1985) came in at 120, and finally The Genie not even topping the charts. So it’s fair to see Rockwell, was indeed, a one hit wonder. He’s got a wonderful voice tho, it’s orgasmic to my ears.
Actually Obscene Phone Caller did chart. It reached #35 on the billboard hot 100. Not a huge hit but a minor hit. It got some airplay I would imagine. But yeah after that his 2nd and 3rd album especially flopped horribly!!!! Captured at least had a video for Peeping Tom but The Genie sank without a trace.
My husband's dad played drums on this track. He said he never met MJ and as far as he knows Rockwell didn't ever. Rockwell was apparently kind of weird dude and liked younger women so maybe he disappeared to run away from the law.
Rockwell’s vocals on this song work well- quirky vocals/corny lyrics were a trend in early 80s funk (see haboglobotribin by Bernard wright or attack of the name game by Stacy lattisaw for voices, the breaks by kurtis blow or the message for silly vocals)
No more coke for Mr. Rockwell. I remember seeing this in '83 on Solid Gold. Which was unusual, since I was a pretty nerdy whitey from suburban Australia.
As a bit of an update, Rockwell was arrested in November 29, 2018 for beating a female associate with a chair after she demanded payment for her work. He spent 2 days in jail and was released after paying a $30000 bail. The woman is now suing him for $25000 in damages. Maybe he was paranoid that she was the obscene phone caller.
First time I hear the chorus: "Damn, this guy really sounds like Michael Jackson!"
…Yeah, figures.
Yeah, I don't remember ever hearing that Michael Jackson sang the chorus here until after Jackson died. I was surprised to learn it too.
Michael Jackson did tend to sound a lot like Michael Jackson. :P
I always liked that part the best. About 10 years ago I found out it was Michael and now I know why I loved the chorus.
@@gabe_s_videos No one can sound more like him.
Oh, no. First time I heard it, I knew it was him, that voice is _distinct._
Ok I'll admit it. I was the one obscene-phone-calling and stalking Rockwell. Sorry dude.
It's ok i hope you had fun
Dude. Not cool, you should regret that immediately.
Don't be. You inspired a song. 😎
Fun Fact: when he did the chorus to this song, Micheal Jackson insisted on being alone in the recording booth with the lights off...
foodan_atr Another fun fact: he didn't charge a single cent for his vocal services...…………………...he did it as a favor.
Wow, doing this for free with the only condition that he will do it alone in the dark
Ha! Same.
@@jocosesonata Same what?
It's a joke that I would've done the same thing. Being alone in a room with the lights off.
10:49 "...knife cuts like a knife..."
Ah yes, the floor is made of floor
In Thailand, This song was very popular, Still playing to this day.
You can tell this is an old video because he's facing the opposite direction
He should have done "seasons" with the "intro" just being what direction he was facing.
Also the line about how the theme of constant surveillance is rather appropriate in _2013_ ...! I forget that some of these are not only reloaded because of RUclips copyright bullshit, but were even a couple years old when the BLIPocalypse happened! (2015)
Lol
It's even on his channel twice. It really confused me while binging
ROCKWELL UPDATE! He was arrested last week for slapping his housekeeper.
lurch321 he's still Barry Gordy's son and if you think he's not entitled to some of those coins, you're wrong 😂
Ha nice
[citation needed]
@ULGROTHA um, I said what I said. He has inheritance rights from being the child of the famous musical legend, as well as royalties from his own music. I'm any case, he's far from broke.
@@MissSimone02 I think they're disputing whether he *deserves* it, not whether he is legally entitled.
I'm pretty sure this was intentional, but I find it amazing that a song about having no privacy, came out in 1984
BWAHAHA. That...yeah, pop culture definitely noticed it at the time. There were multiple albums named "1984", the Eurthymics even had one called "sexcrime", an actual "Newspeak" word from the Orwell book, and then, of course...THAT...Apple commercial. If you haven't seen it, do. Right now.
Then there's "99 Luftballoons", about everybody being so wound-up paranoid that WWIII basically starts because some silly children's toys get mistaken for enemy blips on the radar (my personal favourite "emotional dissonance" song of all time. HAPPY PEPPY '80S PARTY SONG! about nuclear war. Actually that kinda makes it the most '80s song ever.)
And speaking of being paranoid, the paper-and-dice RPG "Paranoia" very unaccidentally _also_ came out that year. It's this wonderfully snarky dark-humour setting about a world full of clones, mutants and crazy robots, run by a bonkers "Friend Computer" who still thinks it's the Cold War, due to a tragic glitch. My personal short way to describe it is and always has been "Monty Python's '1984'", and that's REALLY damn accurate.
Nothing to do with anything, I just love "Paranoia" and it DOES fit in really well with the whole 1984 thing, so...
Van Halen 1984, The Plasmatics Beyond the Valley of 1984. Probably a bunch more
@@robinchesterfield42 The Eurythmics' song goes one further. It was from the soundtrack of the movie adaptation of Orwell's book, which of course came out in 1984. My own contribution to the phenomenon was that I read the book "1984" in the year 1984. It seemed silly not to, given that I had the opportunity.
There's cameras everywhere! Thousands of TV channels! Their signals are sent all the way to space and back! And have you heard that some nerds in sciency coats are now able to send thousands of numbers through wires!? At least the stock market is still predictable..--OH NOO!
Big Brother!
I actually thought the way the spoken vocals sound really frantic sounded just right.
Exactly! It's not meant to actually sound musically good? but instead get across the mood. And it DOES do that.
It also makes the song campy and fun
My headcanon for this song is that it's a sequel to "Who Can It Be Now?" by Men at Work. They have similar chord progressions, they're in the same key and they're both about feeling unsafe in one's own home. The difference is this one is more literal, so it's the narrator going from general social anxiety to legit paranoia.
who can it be know is a about a guy with crippling schizofrenia in fear of being taken to a mental ward, not just some weirdos watching him
@@logical_volcel It's a matter of interpretation. :P
@@gabe_s_videos no its not, its explicitely stated
@@logical_volcel its art, tho, isn’t it? So it’s always open for interpretation.
@@gabe_s_videos no its not, "intepretation" is liberal speak for refusing to admit you are wrong
I'm glad the "badly translated Asian karaoke song" joke is in this upload.
It occurs to me that looking back, him being paranoid may have been extremely legit, given that he entered the company under a fake name and tried to hide who he was from everyone. I'm starting to think that he legitimately is someone with serious paranoia.
He chose the stagename “Rockwell” because it sounded “Prince Like”. He got it from a painting by Norman Rockwell.
it was his pops watchin' him but big frowelp too dumb to figure it out😐🤪😁✌😎
Also the fact that he really dropped out of the public eye and disappeared. I mean usually with one hit wonders you can find out something about them especially if they are part of a famous family if nothing else just to dish about them.
Also he wrote "Somebody's Watching Me," so that's something there.
Plus him being Berry Gordy's son and spending a large chunk of his childhood and youth in the public and not by choice probably didn't help. If anything, if he already had mental health issues that probably exacerbated or even created them.
Maybe for him, these songs weren't an act but an admission of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Paranoid Personality Disorder, or Schizophrenia.
@@plawson8577 - Sounds more like an ode to the Beatles; they've got the "Beat" and he's got the "Rock" (and does it "well").
The creepiest part of this song is Rockwell's botched posh voice. The way he says "wash my haiyuh...." *shudder*
Hermaeus Mora Creepy? More like annoying as hell.
That was actually, briefly a thing in early-mid 80's R&B, for some reason. I remember Rick James did it on one song (badly), as well as a few other artists. Not sure why.
Hermaeus Mora Actually, that makes me laugh and I find it hilarious.
I thought I was the only one omg something about it just yeeeeddgghhhh
@@ezwriter5589 i think he took it from RJ actually
Rockwell is like if Carlton Banks became a rapper
To be honest I quite like Rockwell's vocal delivery in Somebody's Watching Me. I'm not sure if I'd call it "good", it's certainly overdramatic and loose sounding, but given the overall theming I find it all very suiting to the song. I honestly prefer the original vocals to that cover you used as an example, but that's just me.
Also I realize I'm several years late to the party but I recently discovered this channel and have binging this series. Love your work, Todd.
Indeed, but I would like to hear someone cover this song but with polished vocals that also sound like the singer is afraid for their life.
Honestly I think he's an integral part to the song. I think both his lyrics and his delivery are so camp that they make the song so fun during halloween, and then you have one of the catchiest chorus' of all time to boot
An update, from Wikipedia:
On November 29, 2018, Rockwell was arrested in Hollywood
for allegedly beating a female associate with a chair at the Magic
Castle Hotel after she approached him and demanded payment. Rockwell was
released from jail on December 1, 2018, on a $30,000 bail. On January
7, 2019, the woman, who suffered multiple injuries from the attack and
had undergone surgery to repair a broken arm, filed a lawsuit against
Rockwell in Los Angeles for personal injury, claiming damages exceeding $25,000.
Holy shit.
Well now he's really on a watchlist
It kind of makes sense what the song is about considering he was followed by paparazzi in his childhood, he didn't get any privacy, really, to some extent.
Jinoa Parkson I never thought of it that way, almost makes me feel some sympathy really
Arcademan09 I see. But, Rockwell got arrested recently for smacking his housekeeper around. I don’t blame either of you guys here if you still want to feel sympathetic for Rockwell, despite this. I kinda do.
@@ginamolina820 You can feel bad for someone's circumstances while condemning their chosen actions, you know.
"we don't cover that in this show" You did Chumbawamba...
And Midnight Oil.
And Everything But The Girl
And Loreena McKennitt
And The Cardigans
And Dexy's Midnight Runners.
Anybody else on a One Hit Wonderland marathon?
Doing this in 2024.
I think Rockwell's voice is a good contrast to Michael's. More like a story teller then a singer. Like a singing narrator or a bard.
His voice is really not that bad, and I love this song! I've never even seen the video till nOHW!
Rockwell isn't a bad singer but what the hell is that accent he uses?
I am impressed by your liberal use of the word "bard." Even if Shakespeare wouldn't be.
@@josephtelegen8754 it's like the dnd class
@@byakuyatogami2905 It's like hearing someone claim *Game of Thrones is the greatest fucking TV show of all fucking time* I swear I'm more fucking angry about that than finding out that GOP fucking senators dumped their fucking stocks with insider knowledge of a pandemic.
@@byakuyatogami2905 Sorry about that last comment. I hope you can understand.
I remember someone telling me this was a Michael Jackson song and I was kind of smug when I informed that person that they were wrong. Later on I felt like an idiot when I realized they were sort of right
that "maybe they got him" gave me chills
Oh. My. God. Knife is on my mom's playlist and plays it every morning.
You deserve better from your mother and need to resolve this issue.
Somehow, I'd got it in my head that this was a Michael Jackson song.
I wonder how.
*watches video
Oh, that explains it.
This is a great song. That beat is sick.
He looks exactly like Carlton Banks. And the video for "Somebody's Watching Me" is terrifying to say the least.
I think Rockwell didn't want to be famous but had to live up to it somehow so he made up an alter ego but as much as he tried to escape his father, he couldn't. And hence the song.
The "Knife" song sounds like if an AI tried to generate a Peter Cetera ballad
Todd would probably find that preferable to an actual Peter Cetera ballad. 😉😎
Fearing that somebody's watching you is not an unfounded fear.
It may have been a one hit wonder for Rockwell but it started off an entire career for someone else. In 1992, a guy from Switzerland named René Baumann, stage name DJ BoBo (does that remind anyone else of Lady Gaga?) released a song "Somebody Dance with Me": The chorus is "I've got this feeling, Somebody dance with me" and guess what the melody was (dig it up on RUclips). It wasn't a smash hit but it was successful enough to provide him his first long term record deal and basically started his career.
People outside Europe probably never heard of DJ BoBo but in Europe, this guy is a big name! He usually did not have number one hits, not even top 10, but he was constantly in the charts during the 90s and his tours used to be legendary as his stage performances were terrific. Just to give you an idea how big this guy was: When he went on tour, he often had a supporting act joining him. Just to name two supporting acts that went on tour with him throughout Europe, that he made popular over here, and that you might have heard of: 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. He was actually a guest at the wedding of Justin Timberlake and he would always meet with the Backstreet Boys whenever they toured in Europe.
His single "Chihuahua" (2002), a song he wrote for a Spanish commercial and that was not even finished (he just sent in a first demo tape but the advertising agency thought this is the final version of the song, so they went along with it), was the most selling record of 2002. In Switzerland? In Europe? Nope, I mean THE most selling one. No other single in the entire world sold more copies in 2002.
Oh and one more note regarding "Somebody Dance with Me": No, he did not have any rights to remix "Somebody's Watching Me". Today he even admitted that this song was just a rip off and of course, the label of Rockwell sued him 1993. There was an out-of-court settlement and it isn't known how much money he had to pay but afterwards he had the rights and could continue to distribute that song.
I actually remember a commercial from when I was a kid where the a tax collection agency actually used “Tax Man” unironically as their theme. Sometimes awesome shit just happens.
Rockwell looks a bit like Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
That's what happens when you grow up like Carlton
...but can he dance like Carlton? THAT is the ultimate talent litmus test.
@@MrMmnngghh well I suppose so since it was his job
@@PACKERMAN2077 It was Rockwell's job to dance like Carlton? Or Carlton's job to sing like Rockwell? Who will win? YOU DECIIIIIIDE!!!!!
And sounds like Chris Rock
Crazy that probably one of Michaels best choruses is on a Rockwell aong
If he wants to do One Hit Wonderland for Halloween again I wonder if he could do I Put A Spell On You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Oh yeah!
Not sure if he is a one hit wonder
@@thebowiththemost119 Yeah, I think Screamin' Jay was topping the charts a lot.
@@themurdernerd most guys of these series actually were topping the charts a lot.
@@joaquinlezcano2372 no they weren't. That's the whole point of the series. Look up what "One Hit Wonder" means 😂😂😂
say what you want about Teena Marie, she does have a great voice.
I remember being a teen and watching “I love the 80’s” on VH1.... and Ed Lover saying “there’s only one reason why this song was a hit!!! Mike singing the hook.” MY HEAD EXPLODED!!! All this time, I had grown up as a kid in the 80’s thinking this was a Michael Jackson song!!! .....and that maybe, oh I dunno.... Tito was singing the verses?
Tito!!! 😂
I thought it was Marlon 😂
Man you're on a roll with these Reuploads today!
I always thought that this was related to the book by George Orwell. It was made in 1984, after all.
go to room 101
Very possibly could be, even if Rockwell didn't consciously intend that. There were a LOT of pop-culture noticings of that fact in 1984. Multiple albums, songs, references, apocalyptic happy dance songs...and I kinda love that. It's not often you catch up to the far-away year of a famous book in your lifetime!
Also, Apple's Super Bowl commercial.
Apparently he was born on the Ides of March. That sort of adds to the paranoia angle (if you're a Roman general at least).
About 10 years ago in the UK a remix of this song got massive, only it completely cut out all of Rockwell's bits so it was just the Michael Jackson parts and the video was a giant Thriller parody. Poor Rockwell. Gotta wonder who got the royalties for that sample!
What is it called?
@@alinacalm ruclips.net/video/Lh8_4qqX5bo/видео.html
@@alinacalm The title’s the same, by Beatfreakz
@@siaj92 holy shit ! This is amazing.
Considering how many Filipinos do bad renditions of Knife during karaoke nights, that description was perfect.
inb4 stereotyping!!!11!, I'm Filipino. I just hate how popular this song is here.
The funny thing is, Todd probably was just guessing and didn't know how popular it was XD
Camille Mueco I love that this is a fact
Camille Mueco Some Filipinos love cheesy ballads. My pop calls these ballads "baduy".
Yeah Oddity Archive's LaserKaraoke videos have featured Filipino ballad discs a couple times.
Call me crazy for this suggestion, but OHW: "A thousand miles" by Vanessa Carlton
Actually Vanessa did have another hit. Her song ordinary day was top 30 IIRC. Main criteria for a ohw being one top 40 hit.
Rockwell was interviewed last autumn by Chris Morrissey and on the Keith Harris Show, so he's not a total recluse.
11:03 Not five seconds after this line, my Asian wife who grew up on karaoke started singing along from the other room.
borat voice my asian wife
Very nice
she is also your sister?
It is actually hugely popular
Yo when I was a kid I got freaked out when I washed my hair too. You can't see shit or hear shit; a killer could be breaking in and you'd never know until it was too late!
He's popped up twice since. One just days before this video was published and the other in late 2018. Both are for assaulting women in his employ. The first was a housekeeper, reported as because she didn't make a sandwich fast enough. The other is reported as someone he owned money who approached him about that and he attacked her with a chair. The latter resulted in a felony charge and a civil suit in 2019.
Felt the blood drain from my face when he said he didn't like Thriller!
7:43 Rockwell’s…acting(?)…rapping(?)…whatever he’s going for here reminds me an unnerving amount of Ray Davies’ penchant for going spoken word in mid-song during the Kinks’ rock opera period. It’s more than slightly camp but it kind of works here.
Actually, that Knife single did get some replay here on Latin America.
I'm from Peru and I remember hearing it a couple times on the radio.
Same here, it is a large radio hit and no one knew here it came from rockwell
Bruce Willis, I'll give you, but badmouthing Teena Marie and DeBarge? Those, sir, are fighting words!
Periclis Dragonballz haha kinda sucks that he was talking that dirty about those 2 cuz they're amazing
A very catchy song with the unmistakable MJ stamp. I remember at the time, my best friend's three-year-old daughter used to run around the house singing "I'm afraid to wash my hair in the shower." Cute as hell!
Tina Marie slander will not be tolerated. Lady is a legend and has been long claimed as such by the black coalition.
I was almost willing to look past the DeBarge slander (even though that's ALSO some bullshit), but Teena got more talent than this lame Todd f***** can ever DREAM of having!
Jermaine Jackson was also credited for providing background vocals, so Rockwell had 2 Jackson's on the song, u can hear him most at the end of the song
One day Todd, One day I'll not be a broke teen and I can give you money via patreon
Eh, I'll probably be a broke adult then
wanna upvote but cant wreck dat perfect 69.
Ray Quigley I'm a broke college student with the same dreams as you
Update???
Are you a broke adult yet
How have you been
But if you look at those 3 songs in reverse order, he has a quirky peeping Tom that he gets a little thrill out of, then the phone calls start, then full blown paranoia... 🤣
i was only in my early teens and didnt know anything about music yet, but from what i remember "peeping Tom" actually got pretty decent video/airplay and i liked it. and in the pre internet days i remember i use to wonder if it was the same Rockwell because i couldnt recognize him in the video.
"You know those artists like David Bowie and Madonna, who reinvent themselves with every successive album? We don't cover those artists."
What about Chumbawumba and The Cardigans?
Everything But the Girl
Falco even
"When in the shower, im afraid to wash my hair. For fear someone is standing there" LOL
Love this song haha
Todd, you know when you randomly get a call at 4 AM with some creepy guy breathing heavily into the phone?
*THAT'S ME!!*
Julius von Brunk OH MY GAAAAWD!!
If this comment doesn't touch you... I WILL.
#MeToo
@@iwanttogivedaisyridleyafac2432 ............
The Motown of the 80s did have some success I mean The Debarge and Teena Marie was big in the R&B community. And I enjoyed this song when it came out.
I demand a review of Bruce Willis's "The Return of Bruno".
6:34 the sound of Michael's hair catching fire Gahhhhhh I chortled! Terrible! Love your acerbic wit
Also, love everything about this song. Lightning in a bottle. Great take!
That cracked me up too!
This sounds like thriller 2 now that I think about it.
Berry Gordy? The most important music executive to ever live you say? He’s still alive!
My six year old brother loves this song. Not sure why it appeals to him.
The chorus, prolly.
11:08
"So dEeEeEeEeEEEeeEply wounded"
someone will now b watching him forever after he beat up his female associate, his nightmare has come true
😱😱
...I never knew MJ was on this song ...granted I never really thought about who sung it, just accepted it as a part of life 🤷🏻♀️
Another good song with this premise is "My mind playing tricks on me" by Ghetto Boys, though it kind of deviates from the point at times.
No it’s pretty on point the main characters have mental problems and are hallucinating
Motown in the 80s wasn't the cultural phenomenon that it was in the 60s but it was still producing plenty of heat.
DeBarge and Teena Marie were amazing talents. They didn't have the star power of Marvin, The Temptations, The Supremes and Smokey in the 60's but grouping Bruce Willis with them to emphasize the label's decline in relevance is an insult to those 2.
How dare you talk about Teena Marie that way! She's a treasure
Courtney Johnson she really is
I love her and Debarge.
"You know those artists who reinvent themselves with every new album? We don't cover them on this show." Little did Past Todd know that someday he would do an episode on Dexy's Midnight Runners, who did just that.
Uh, actually, that was before this episode
I actually know the history of this song and of Rockwell as both were mentioned in the VH1 programs 100 One-Hit Wonders and I Love The 80’s. The latter had celebrities (mostly low list like ones) commenting on it which has my favorite line from the episode it’s in (each year had it’s own episode dedicated to it). It went like this - “Nobodies watching you, Rockwell. You’re not fine anyway.”.
That sounds like it was Loni Love lmao I loved that series 🤣 90s was always my fave
@@stardustmeatbagI think that was Loni Love 😂
"Or maybe... *They got him.* "
I honestly thought this was a Michael Jackson song where he got someone to do a spooky voice for a couple verses
Man... I grew up in that time and always thought this song was a Michael Jackson song. I think as I got older and saw how his life was going it just made more sense to me.
Judging by the toppings on the charts for 1984 and 1985, Somebody’s Watching Me(1984) came in at 15, meanwhile Captured(1985) came in at 120, and finally The Genie not even topping the charts. So it’s fair to see Rockwell, was indeed, a one hit wonder. He’s got a wonderful voice tho, it’s orgasmic to my ears.
I remember Morris Day's cover of it, it was part of a compilation album that was themed around the Haunted Mansion.
So, after his mom struggled with a drug problem, he started living with the woman his father cheated on...Rockwell is Adonis Creed!
I wonder if Kenny’s (Rockwell) paranoia is drug related. I mean it WAS the 80s.
I didn't know Morris Day did a cover of this song. Fun fact!
JLynnEchelon I might have to see Morris Day when he plays casino near my place
Morris Day and the muther fukn Time!
I will always associate this song with those Geico commercials that had stacks of money wearing googly eyes
Mmmm late 2000’s nostalgia
Actually Obscene Phone Caller did chart. It reached #35 on the billboard hot 100. Not a huge hit but a minor hit. It got some airplay I would imagine. But yeah after that his 2nd and 3rd album especially flopped horribly!!!! Captured at least had a video for Peeping Tom but The Genie sank without a trace.
I love your videos, but don’t shade Teena Marie. Truly underrated!! She’s fantastic. For real.
My husband's dad played drums on this track. He said he never met MJ and as far as he knows Rockwell didn't ever. Rockwell was apparently kind of weird dude and liked younger women so maybe he disappeared to run away from the law.
"Or maybe... they got him?" - I lost it here
Rockwell’s vocals on this song work well- quirky vocals/corny lyrics were a trend in early 80s funk (see haboglobotribin by Bernard wright or attack of the name game by Stacy lattisaw for voices, the breaks by kurtis blow or the message for silly vocals)
You Always Get What You Give by New Radicals or Steal My Sunshine by Len
He did eventually do Steal My Sunshine! As for New Radicals...well, Rocked! Reviews did an episode of that album, if that counts.
He just did New Radicals
@@robinchesterfield42 When did he do Steal My Sunshine? I thought he's only done You Get What You Give.
@@robinchesterfield42He did Get What You Give but Steal My Sunshine has yet to be covered. I love those songs. Takes me back to spring/summer 1999. 😊
The mysto and pizzi cover featured on the Geico commercials was a great take on this song.
As someone who lives with 6 people in a tiny house, i can relate to this song
We're all watching you, Todd. B)
I can't believe Roswell has the same backstory as Creed
LOOOL
and Rocky Balboa is the Michael Jackson of that story
@@annamelissinos2478 LOL - nice....
No more coke for Mr. Rockwell.
I remember seeing this in '83 on Solid Gold. Which was unusual, since I was a pretty nerdy whitey from suburban Australia.
This song has been bouncing around in my head for 2-3 days, I might as well watch this and cement it in!!
“Dirty Books” from The Last Dragon was a hilarious parody...but not as absurd as “Obscene Phone Caller”, an actual song.
He had a decent song on "The Last Dragon" soundtrack called "We live in a Jungle".
I love finding great new channels that go back a decade. Big up Todd, all these videos are brillant and hilarious.
Yeah I was like 13 when this came out, crazy
After my phone kept fucking up, I've never in my life have been so happy to watch Todd's beautiful videos.
Nikki Sixx in a closet with a shotgun while making the Girls x3 album. He thought... somebody was watching him.
hey hey hey...... easy with the Teena Marie jab
chris brown "Square Biz" is my eternal jam, okay?
Rockwell must've looked at Daft Punk and thought, "Masks? Shit, why didn't I think of that?"
As a bit of an update, Rockwell was arrested in November 29, 2018 for beating a female associate with a chair after she demanded payment for her work. He spent 2 days in jail and was released after paying a $30000 bail. The woman is now suing him for $25000 in damages.
Maybe he was paranoid that she was the obscene phone caller.
Would like to know what his music would sound like now