Loonie Tunes Lost Melodies



Warner Brothers had a certain experimental streak when it came to the Loss Leaders. 1970’s Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies is maybe the oddest of the lot: along with ultra-rare single sides by Harpers Bizarre and Van Dyke Parks and tunes by obscure WB short-timers like Hard Meat and Jeffrey Cain (I have no idea either), this three-disc set — the only one in the lot — also features these two strange radio spots.  “It’s the Plastic” is a deadpan parody of those old Olympia beer commercials that touted the purity of the brewery’s water supply, and “Chip Dip” is a surreal takeoff on the Pepsi Challenge.  Personally, I love this sort of thing: I’m always on the lookout for old radio ads and jingles, which I load into my iPod to mimic the effect of vintage AM radio.

Interesting fact: one Barret Hansen — you know him as Dr. Demento — was in charge of compiling and annotating most of the Loss Leaders.  For more detail on the Loss Leaders, check out this handy site.