Rockin' Through the Decades | |
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Created by | Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (characters) |
Written by | Ross Bagdasarian Jr. Janice Karman |
Directed by | Steve Karman |
Starring | Will Smith (host) Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. Janice Karman Ben Vereen Richard Moll Kenny Loggins Raven-Symoné Shelley Duvall Markie Post Little Richard |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Steve Karman Walt Kubiak Elana Lesser Cliff Ruby |
Running time | 19 minutes |
Production companies | Bagdasarian Productions Murakami-Wolf-Swenson |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | December 9, 1990 |
Rockin' Through the Decades is a live-action/animated TV special based on characters from Alvin and the Chipmunks . It was directed by Steve Karman, produced by Bagdasarian Productions, and premiered on NBC on December 9, 1990. [1]
The special was released on VHS by Buena Vista Home Video in 1992 as Rockin' with the Chipmunks and aired on The Disney Channel the same year. Most recently, the special has been re-released on September 8, 2009, by Paramount Home Entertainment on the DVD The Very First Alvin Show alongside A Chipmunk Reunion .
Rockin' with the Chipmunks made significant changes to the featured songs.
Segments from two episodes of The Alvin Show , A Chipmunk Christmas and an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show are also featured. "Alvin's Harmonica" can be heard in the background while Fresh Prince is on the 1950s set. Fresh Prince also does a rap introduction to the "Sleigh Ride" segment, giving his perspective on what to expect of the 1990s.
Rockin' Through the Decades | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | January 25, 1991 | |||
Recorded | November 1988 (track 1), July–September 1989 (tracks 2-11), December 1990 (track 12) | |||
Genre | Children's music | |||
Label | EMI America (US), Virgin (International) | |||
Producer | Tom Chase, Steve Rucker (track 1), Ross Bagdasarian, Janice Karman (tracks 2-11), Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis (track 12) | |||
The Chipmunks chronology | ||||
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Rockin' Through the Decades is also the title of a soundtrack music album by Alvin and the Chipmunks, released by Chipmunk Records in 1991, and contained all of the songs from the TV special, alongside three added tracks. [3]
"Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being given also to Presley. A newspaper article about the suicide of a lonely man who jumped from a hotel window inspired the song. Axton presented the song to Presley in November 1955 at a country music convention in Nashville. Presley recorded it on January 10, 1956, in a session with his band, the Blue Moon Boys, the guitarist Chet Atkins and the pianist Floyd Cramer. "Heartbreak Hotel" comprises an eight-bar blues progression, with heavy reverberation throughout the track, to imitate the character of Presley's Sun recordings.
Richard Wayne Penniman, known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Architect of Rock and Roll", Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music, characterized by frenetic piano playing, pounding backbeat and powerful raspy vocals, laid the foundation for rock and roll. Richard's innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. He influenced singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations.
Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks and billed for their first two decades as the Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks named Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.
The Chipettes are a fictional girl group from the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise consisting of three female anthropomorphic chipmunk singers: Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor, alongside their adoptive human mother, Beatrice Miller. They first appeared in the animated television series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes. The title of the show was changed from Alvin and the Chipmunks to simply The Chipmunks in 1988 to reflect this. In the animated television series and the 1987 animated film The Chipmunk Adventure, all of the Chipettes were voiced by their creator, Janice Karman, the wife of Ross Bagdasarian Jr.. Karman also wrote and voiced the Chipettes' dialogue on their studio albums, while studio singers Susan Boyd, Shelby Daniel and Katherine Coon provided their singing voices. In the animated television series Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks, Eleanor is voiced by Vanessa Bagdasarian, the daughter of Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and Janice Karman.
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Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue is a 1990 American animated drama comedy social guidance film starring many characters from several animated television series at the time of its release. The plot chronicles the exploits of Michael, a teenage boy who is using marijuana, leaving his family worried. When his younger sister Corey's piggy bank goes missing one morning, cartoon characters come to life from various items in her room and find it in Michael's room along with his stash of drugs, so they give him an intervention in the form of a fantasy journey to teach him the adverse consequences of drug use.
Mrs. Claus is the mythical wife of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift-bringer in Western Christmas tradition.
The Chipmunk Adventure is a 1987 American animated musical-adventure comedy film based on the Saturday-morning cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Alvin and the Chipmunks virtual band and media franchise created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr.. The film was directed by Janice Karman and written by Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr.. The plot follows the Chipmunks and the Chipettes as they go on a hot air balloon race around the world while their guardian David is out on a trip, not knowing that it is a cover for a diamond smuggling ring. The chipmunks travel through a series of adventures in different countries while being hunted down by the diamond smugglers, Claudia and Klaus Furschtein.
Radio Disney Jams was a series of CD compilations of music that was featured on Radio Disney, a children's radio network.
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring the Chipmunks, which was produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983 to 1987, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson in 1988 and DIC Enterprises from 1988 to 1990.
A Chipmunk Christmas is a 1981 animated Christmas television special based on characters from Alvin and the Chipmunks. Produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Chuck Jones Enterprises, it first aired on NBC December 14, 1981, nine years after the death of Alvin and the Chipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian Sr.. This was the first time that Alvin, Simon and David Seville were voiced by Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and the first time that Theodore was voiced by Janice Karman.
Chipmunk Punk is an album by the Chipmunks, as well as being the first album released by Ross Bagdasarian Jr., after he took over the voices of the Chipmunks after the death of his father in 1972. Despite the title of the album, none of the songs listed are considered to be in the style of real punk rock music. It was released in June 1980. The album peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard 200. It was certified gold by the RIAA on October 14, 1980, becoming the Chipmunks' first gold record. In 2005, it was re-released on CD, although the CD was only available through the official Chipmunks website. In Canada, the album reached No. 59.
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Snow White's Enchanted Wish is a dark ride at the Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris theme parks, and formerly at the Magic Kingdom. Located in Fantasyland, it is one of the few remaining attractions that was operational on Disneyland's opening day in 1955, although it has seen several different redesigns over its history. The ride's story is based on Disney's 1937 film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, their first animated feature film.
This is the complete discography of the fictional music group Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is a 2009 American live-action/animated jukebox musical comedy film directed by Betty Thomas and written by Jon Vitti and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, based on Alvin and the Chipmunks, characters created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and The Chipettes created by Janice Karman. It is the second installment in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series and the sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007). The film stars Zachary Levi, David Cross and Jason Lee. Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney return to voice the Chipmunks from the previous film. Christina Applegate, Anna Faris and Amy Poehler voice the new characters, the Chipettes. The film sees the Chipmunks entering high school and being under the care of Dave Seville's cousin, Toby, while Ian Hawke recruits the Chipettes to restore his career.
Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits is a set of two Christmas-themed compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1989, each featuring ten popular Christmas recordings from 1935 to 1983, many of which charted on the Billboard record charts. Both volumes were certified Gold by the RIAA in the U.S., with the second volume being certified Platinum.
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Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special is a Christmas special starring Mariah Carey that premiered on December 4, 2020, on Apple TV+. It was directed by Hamish Hamilton and Roman Coppola and executive-produced by Hamilton, Coppola, Carey, Ian Stewart, Raj Kapoor and Ashley Edens. The special centers around a holiday crisis in which the North Pole has to call Santa Claus's friend, Mariah Carey, to help.