 | |
| Type | Novelty animatronic |
|---|---|
| Company | Gemmy Industries |
| Country | United States |
| Availability | 1999–present |
| Materials | Latex rubber, plastic |
| Features | Motion detection, singing fish |
Big Mouth Billy Bass is an animatronic singing prop, representing a largemouth bass, invented by Gemmy Industries on December 16, 1998; sold beginning January 1, 1999; and popular in the early 2000s. [1] [2]
Gemmy ( /ˈdʒɛmi/ ) is an American novelty manufacturing company, [3] best known for its animatronic and inflatable characters. It is currently headquartered in Coppell, Texas. Founded in 1984, the company originally began producing ballpoint pens. [4] Gemmy eventually ventured into novelty manufacturing, and in 2000, it achieved marketing success with the Big Mouth Billy Bass. Following that success, the company began predominantly making animatronic figures focused on the Christmas and Halloween seasons. [5] The company distributes product internationally, especially to the United Kingdom and Japan.[ citation needed ]
The fish is made of latex rubber with an internal plastic mechanical skeleton. At first glance, the product appears to be a mounted game fish. The item was conceived by a Gemmy Industries product development vice president following his visit to a Bass Pro Shop. [6] The mounted fish turns its head, wiggles its tail on the trophy plaque, and sings cover songs, such as "Don't Worry, Be Happy" (1988) by Bobby McFerrin; and "Take Me to the River" (1974) by Al Green. [7] Green claims he received more royalties from Big Mouth Billy Bass than from any other recordings of the song.[ citation needed ]
The singing mechanism was originally activated by a motion sensor and was designed to startle a passerby. Eventually, a button was added to activate it. There have been many variants of Big Mouth Billy Bass produced by Gemmy. These use different types of game fish and aquatic animals. Variants include Big Mouth Billy Bones (a skeleton fish that sings "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers), Travis the Singing Trout (a rainbow trout that sings "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich; and "Rock the Boat" by The Hues Corporation), Cool Catfish (a catfish that sings "Bad to the Bone"), Rocky the Singing Lobster (a lobster that sings "Sea Cruise" by Frankie Ford and "Rock the Boat"), Lucky the Lobster (a lobster that sings "Doh Wah Diddy Diddy" and "Rock the Boat"), and Frankie the Fish (a blue cod fish from a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish commercial that sings an original song called "Give Me Back That Filet-O-Fish" plus a remix).[ citation needed ]
The concept was later adapted into a large mounted deer head, known as Buck – the Animated Trophy (voiced by Clint Ford) as well as a medium-sized mounted bear head. [8]
On December 7, 1999, a special holiday version of the Big Mouth Billy Bass was released. The fish had a Santa hat on his head and a ribbon with a sleigh bell on his tail. [8] An anniversary edition followed in 2014. [9] [ better source needed ]
A version from 2000 features a great white shark which plays John Williams's theme from Jaws and a cover of Bobby Darin's version of "Mack the Knife".[ citation needed ]
In 2001, a version named "Big Mouth Billy Bass Superstar" was released. This spin-off features Billy Bass standing upright on a base with a microphone in his hand. The first version sang "Stayin' Alive" and "Act Naturally", and a later revised version replaced "Stayin' Alive" with "I Will Survive". An exclusive version was sold only in France, with the songs "Don't Worry Be Happy" and "I Will Survive".[ citation needed ]
In 2018, Gemmy Industries partnered with Amazon to create an Amazon Alexa-enabled version of the animatronic. This variant pairs with any Amazon Echo device through Bluetooth, and it will move its mouth when responding to Alexa commands. It also shakes its tail when playing music through Amazon Music but does not lip sync to songs. When not connected to an Alexa device, the fish sings an original song titled "Fishin' Time" when its red button is pushed. [10]
In late 2021, TikTok user Kevin Heckart hacked a Big Mouth Billy Bass to not only lip-sync to any voice track or song, but to also dance via head and tail movements to whatever song is played through any smart speaker connections. Heckart later made a similar hack to the Cool Catfish and Frankie the Fish by the same company along with Loftus International's Tommy Trout as well as an orange Chinese Big Mouth Billy Bass 15th Anniversary Edition knockoff in mid-2022, all of them synced to an Amazon Alexa playing Nathan Evans's cover of The Wellerman.[ citation needed ]
A remake of the original Big Mouth Billy Bass was released in 2021. This new version cut "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin for Luke Bryan's 2015 "Huntin', Fishin' and Lovin' Every Day" in addition to Talking Heads' 1978 iteration of "Take Me to the River". [11]
In August 2024, a product called Trumpy Trout was marketed on Newsmax loosely resembling Big Mouth Billy Bass. This is an animatronic trout head that resembles Donald Trump including his yellow hair, and blue suit jacket and red tie. Instead of singing, when activated, Trumpy Trout repeated fish themed parody phrases of familiar Trump pastiches such as "I'm building a new pond and the bass will pay for it.". Although, unlike Big Mouth Billy Bass, Trumpy Trout doesn't look like a traditional taxidermy mounted fish, but simply the fish's face omitting the back half of the fish. The fish head is framed by a parody of the Seal of the President of the United States that says "Make Fish Great Again". [12]
For Green Day's third studio album Dookie's 30th anniversary, Big Mouth Billy Bass was chosen to play "Basket Case" for the "demastered" version of the hit 1994 rock album, Dookie Demastered, a collaboration with the Los Angeles-based art studio BRAIN. It was renamed as "Big Mouth Billie Bass". Big Mouth Billy Bass was given out on a drawing along with 14 other decors on the Dookie Demastered lineup on October 11. [13]
It was reported that Elizabeth II had a Big Mouth Billy Bass displayed on the grand piano of Balmoral Castle. [8] The Netflix drama The Crown incorrectly depicts Prince Andrew giving it to her as a birthday present in 1997. [14]
The success of the Big Mouth Billy Bass has led to several pop culture appearances, including product placements. Some of the device's notable appearances include The Simpsons , The Magicians , Family Guy , The Sopranos , King of the Hill , WALL-E , The Pirates! Band of Misfits , The Office , Peppa Pig , What We Do in the Shadows, The Act of Killing , We Bare Bears , Solar Opposites , Big City Greens , King Tweety , Arthur , Zig & Sharko , and Barbie . [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]
The Deschutes River in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many of the tributaries that descend from the drier, eastern flank of the mountains. The Deschutes provided an important route to and from the Columbia for Native Americans for thousands of years, and then in the 19th century for pioneers on the Oregon Trail. The river flows mostly through rugged and arid country, and its valley provides a cultural heart for central Oregon. Today the river supplies water for irrigation and is popular in the summer for whitewater rafting and fishing.
Lip sync or lip synch, short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.
The Verde River is a major tributary of the Salt River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is about 170 miles (270 km) long and carries a mean flow of 602 cubic feet per second (17.0 m3/s) at its mouth. It is one of the largest perennial streams in Arizona.
The eel-tailed catfish is a species of catfish of the family Plotosidae. This fish is also known as dewfish, freshwater catfish, jewfish, and tandan.
Trout Fishing in America is an American musical duo from Houston, Texas. The members are Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet. Both musicians were previously members of the folk rock band St. Elmo's Fire. They took their name from the novel Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan. The duo has released 24 studio albums through their own label, Trout Records. Trout Fishing in America is known for varied musical styles, with albums alternating between folk rock and children's music, as well as their dynamic stage presence. In addition to their music, Trout Fishing in America holds songwriting workshops with children. Four of their albums have been nominated for Grammy Awards.
"Nasty Girl" is a song by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on October 11, 2005. The song features guest appearances from Jagged Edge, P. Diddy, Avery Storm, and Nelly, and the video also contains guest appearances from Pharrell, Usher, Fat Joe, 8 Ball & MJG, Teairra Mari, Jazze Pha, DJ Green Lantern, Naomi Campbell and Memphis Bleek. It can be found on the album Duets: The Final Chapter (2005), a remixed album of Biggie Smalls' work. The single reached number one in the United Kingdom and became a top-10 hit in Finland, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand.
Trout tickling is the art of rubbing the underbelly of a trout with fingers. If done properly, the trout will go into a trance after a minute or so, and can then easily be retrieved and thrown onto the nearest bit of dry land.
"Second Opinion" is the 33rd episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the seventh of the show's third season. It was written by Lawrence Konner and directed by Tim Van Patten, and originally aired on April 8, 2001.
The black bullhead or black bullhead catfish is a species of bullhead catfish. Like other bullhead catfish, it has the ability to thrive in waters that are low in oxygen, brackish, turbid, and/or very warm. It also has barbels located near its mouth, a broad head, spiny fins, and no scales. It can be identified from other bullheads as the barbels are black, and it has a tan crescent around the tail. Its caudal fin is truncated. Like virtually all catfish, it is nocturnal, preferring to feed at night, although young feed during the day. It generally does not get as large as the channel or blue catfish, with average adult weights are in the 1-to-2-pound range, and almost never as large as 4 pounds (1.8 kg). It has a typical length of 6–14 inches (15–36 cm), with the largest specimen being 24 inches (61 cm), making it the largest of the bullheads. It is typically black or dark brown on the dorsal side of its body and yellow or white on the ventral side.
"Do Wah Diddy Diddy" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and originally recorded in 1963, as "Do-Wah-Diddy", by the American vocal group the Exciters. Cash Box described the Exciters' version as "a sparkling rocker that bubbles over with coin-catching enthusiasm" and said that the "great lead job is backed by a fabulous instrumental arrangement." It was made internationally famous by the British band Manfred Mann.
"Take Me to the River" is a 1974 song written by singer Al Green and guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges. Hit versions were recorded by Syl Johnson, Talking Heads and Delbert McClinton. In 2004, Green's original version was ranked number 117 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Green's 1974 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.
This page is a list of fishing topics.
The Wave Pictures are an English rock band consisting of David Tattersall, Franic Rozycki and Jonny Helm (drums).
Last Train to Paris is the only studio album by American musical trio Diddy – Dirty Money, composed of rapper Diddy, and R&B singers Kaleena Harper and Dawn Richard. It was released on December 14, 2010, by Bad Boy Records and Interscope Records. Story-wise, the album follows Diddy's alter-ego as he travels from London to Paris to regain his lost love. Subject matter and lyrics are based around dramatized descriptions of romance, heartache, vulnerability, regret, and emotional conflict. Predominantly styled in contemporary R&B, Last Train to Paris incorporates elements of Eurodance, Italo disco and tech house.
Big Mouth may refer to:
The fauna of the U.S. state of Nevada is mostly species adapted to desert, temperature extremes and to lack of moisture. With an average annual rainfall of only about 7 inches (180 mm), Nevada is the driest – and has the largest percentage of its total area classified as desert – of all states in the United States. Two-thirds of the state is located within the largest desert on the North American continent, the Great Basin Desert, while the lower one-third is the Mojave Desert.
The Celebrity Tour was the fifth and last concert tour by the American boy band NSYNC. Promoting their fourth studio album, Celebrity (2001), this is the second tour to showcase the album. The group stated that the tour would go "back to their roots", as they would be performing obscure songs from all three of their albums. The tour earned nearly $30 million.
"Huntin', Fishin' and Lovin' Every Day" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Luke Bryan for his fifth studio album, Kill the Lights (2015). It was released to American country radio on March 14, 2016 as the album's fourth official single. The song is about the rural Georgia lifestyle that Bryan lives in.
Miming in instrumental performance or finger-synching is the act of musicians pretending to play their instruments in a live show, audiovisual recording or broadcast. Miming in instrument playing is the musical instrument equivalent of lip-syncing in singing performances, the action of pretending to sing while a prerecorded track of the singing is sounding over a PA system or on a TV broadcast or in a movie. In some cases, instrumentalists will mime playing their instruments, but the singing will be live. In some cases, the instrumentalists are miming playing their instruments and the singers are lip-synching while a backing track plays. As with lip-synching, miming instrument playing has been criticized by some music industry professionals and it is a controversial practice.
"Filli Vanilli" is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, as well as the seventy-ninth overall. Written by Amy Keating Rogers, directed by Jayson Thiessen, and co-directed by Jim Miller, the episode centers around Fluttershy secretly standing-in for Big McIntosh in a few concerts. Big Mac lip-syncs on stage to hide it, but they are caught when Fluttershy accidentally knocks the curtain down. Aired on February 15, 2014, on The Hub, the episode was viewed by 584,000 people and received praise from critics for its writing and overall message.
Media related to Big Mouth Billy Bass at Wikimedia Commons