Casey Kasem retires

Dear Casey, This may seem to be a strange dedication request, but I'm quite sincere, and it'll mean a lot if you play it. Recently, there was a death in our family. He was a little dog named Snuggles. But he was most certainly a part of- let's come...let's start again. From comin' out of the record. Play the record, okay? Please...

That's the letter U, and the numeral 2. The four-man band features Adam Clayton on bass, Larry Mullen on drums, Dave Evans, nicknamed "The Edge", on --this is bullshit! Nobody cares!

These guys are from England, and who gives a shit?

It's a lot of wasted names that don't mean diddly-shit!

This is bullshit. This is bullshit. Who gives a shit?

Diddly-shit. Diddly-shit. Diddly-shit. Nobody cares!

Snuggles. Snuggles. He was a little dog named Snuggles.

This is American Top Forty... this is bullshit!

When you come out of those up-tempo goddamn numbers, man, it's impossible to make those transitions... and then ya gotta go into somebody dying...Goddammit if we can't come out of a slow record, I don't understand it...

Why are we doing these instrumentals, cause we got 'em?

I don't understand it.I don't understand it. I don't understand it.

Will somebody find out the goddamn answer?

Goddammit, goddammit, goddammit.

Oh fuck! Snuggles. Fuck Snuggles.

Okay, I want a goddamn concerted effort to come out of a record that isn't a fucking up-tempo record everytime I do a goddamn DEATH dedication! It's the last goddamn time, I want SOMEBODY to use his fuckin' brain, to not come out of a goddamn record that is, uh, that, that's up-tempo and I gotta talk about a fuckin' dog dying!!

Boy, this is fuckin' PONDEROUS, man. Ponderous, fuckin' PONDEROUS.

This is American Top Forty... right here on the radio station you grew up with. Music Radio One-Three-Eight oh fuck!"

"I HEAR the American Top Forty jingle, and then I say this is American Top 40. Let the goddamn jingle ID this show! I ID the show whenever there isn't a jingle, don't I? DON'T I DO IT BETWEEN EVERY GODDAMN RECORD THAT WE PLAY!?!?!?"

Good fucking GOD does the U2 single kick ass. That belongs in a museum.

Awesome.

I thought Casey was actually pretty cool about it. He wasn't happy about it, but he said they had the right to free speech and creativity. Seems like Sony & U2 were the assholes. And if they hadn't been, only 200 people would have ever heard the record.

Corrected by interview with Mark Hosler:
"The thing that was interesting about Casey was that Casey in public was questioned about our single and he said, "Well, I don't like what they did, it's embarassing to me, but I'm for free speech..."
"...I'm against censorship, I'm for the First Amendment, and I think people should be able to do what they want," and then privately he said: No, I'll sue your ass if you try to put it out.

Now he really retires.

That gives Casey time to do his other work – voiceovers, cartoons, you name it. Eric says “Casey has turned down a lot of stuff over the last few years” that he can now look at.

yeah, we need MORE shitty direct-to-DVD Scooby Doo animated features.

Kasem's professional persona is self-consciously square and easy to mock (hello Negativland), but he's something of a hardcore lefty and generally more interesting than I gathered when I was listening to his show as a kid. In 1988 I heard him interviewed on NPR at the Democratic Convention, where he was a delegate for Jesse Jackson, giving clear, well-reasoned explanations why Jackson was his candidate. I was hella impressed.

Just looked up this old Susan Orlean article from the Times about him:

O.K., coming up at noon, we'll be talking about the C.I.A. and how it has contributed to deaths all around the world.

So anyway, I'm glad if he has more time for his other pursuits. I would not be surprised if he ventures into politics.

yeah wow that's a great article

Kasem's two writers, Merrill Shindler and Leonard Pitts Jr., share a narrow office decorated with pictures and letters that have been sent in.

whoa – Pitts is now a columnist for The Miami Herald.

Always wanted to hear him say "And the number one album in the U.S. this week, Atmosphere: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold."

Price of Casey Kasem's Nutso House Bouncing All Over

the house is... something.

Wife won't let kids see him

"I've never loved listening to music" - Casey Kasem

http://www.mediaite.com/online/court-ordered-probe-underway-to-find-radio-star-casey-kasem/

That is really sad.

RIP

Last year Ebert (the man who taught me to love movies) and this year Kasem (the man who taught me to love music). I'm losing the pillars of my childhood.

RIP.

I gained massive respect for him for this: http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-17/entertainment/ca-36376_1_aladdin-lyrics-magic

RIP.

RIP

best thing was when casey went vegan and all of a sudden shaggy was spouting bizarre veggie sandwich recipes. rip ck

Hated "Scooby Doo" even as a kid (I watched a total ripoff called "Goober and the Ghost Chasers" instead) but always loved the sound of this guy's voice, even on commercials for biscuit mix or whatever. RIP dude

he did a few Transformer voices too (Cliffjumper, Bluestreak).

I love that he quit Transformers over the show's refusal to knock off all of the Arab stereotypes. As with that Aladdin story that Tarfumes linked above, the presence of such things in children's entertainment obviously troubled him deeply (as it should).

I well remember this thing.

Jeezus.

http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/c/cd/Carbombya_Marker.jpg

'Carbombya' totally went over my head as a kid

oh without a doubt. For me, one of the weird things about watching children's cartoons as a grown-up has been really waking up to weird political references and slants that writers try to shoehorn in there.

I'm not aware that I derived any actual pleasure from Mr Kasem's on-air career, but damn that tape Negativland used made it all worthwhile.

(his politics did seem pretty good and everyone's gotta make a living)

he was a little dog named snuggles

@nwarikoo
On display at Arab-American National Museum in Dearborn is Casey Kasem sign previously at Los Angeles radio station: pic.twitter.com/w1GdiaY3U2

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BqRJ1cyCEAEbbtj.jpg

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BqRJ1CWCEAAB-Zq.jpg

Chris Molanphy gets to the heart of it all

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/06/16/casey_kasem_died_obituary_for_the_great_america_s_top_40_host.html

to see his devotion to centrist pop return to the heart of American culture, surviving our dalliances with rockism and irony

*sledgehammer*

don't post Peter Gabriel or i'm coming for you

How about David Rasche?

"centrist pop" returned to the heart of American culture to clog the aorta.

Except Casey had no "devotion" to "centrist pop" or whatever the fuck. By his own admission, he wasn't much of a music fan, and never listened to music unless he was doing his show.

pssst, don't tell the music writers

Whatever his affinities, he definitely conveyed a sense of community that was real. He seemed to believe in it. And he was very good.

The local oldies station in San Diego plays entire '70s era AT40 shows on Sunday mornings. They sound fantastic and seem to have been preserved beautifully.

Yeah, a station in upstate NY does that, too. Pretty fun to listen to.

They play one every Sunday here in Cleveland, too. It is incredible how many songs from the 70s have faded into obscurity.

Every time I see this guys name, I always think of one of two things: one is "Run, Scoob!", the other is "Diddly shit! Diddly shit!" over an elevator muzak version of a U2 track.

IE, Negativland.

YOU, TOO - MAKE YOUR OWN: One of the most beloved voices in music radio, Kemal Amin “Casey” Kasem, died on Fatherʼs Day 2014 after a long illness, and also a very public family squabble over his continuing care. Negativland pays tribute to this broadcasting legend by reaching into its vaults and presenting what is perhaps Kasemʼs best-known work, on Negativlandʼs long-unavailable “U2” maxi-single, offering up for public consumption (and now, for creative reuse) what has been hidden from view for 23 years.

In 1991, Negativlandʼs “U2” single had one of the shortest releases in music history, squashed like a bug after less than ten days on store shelves, under legal fire from the Irish rock band U2ʼs music publisher (Warner/Chappell) and then-record label (Island). The history of this fracas was detailed in Negativland’s book and CD release, “Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2” (Seeland 013).

Now, instead of merely reissuing the “U2” record itself, Negativland presents, for free digital download, the original un-mixed studio multi-track tape "stems" for re-mixing, re-purposing and re-inventing in whichever way the listener may choose. Negativland encourages the re-contextualization of this seminal work for whatever reason, whatsoever. In keeping with the working methods and philosophy of Negativland, and the Fair Use provision in U.S. Copyright Law (Section 107,http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html), the group offers up this raw material in the hopes that entirely new versions of the work are created and disseminated.

*** Download the files here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/x7hjlbc77djjcja/Negativland_U2_multitrack_master_.zip ***

Listeners / remixers are encouraged to post their creations at www.negativland.com and https://www.facebook.com/Negativlandland.

Chris Molanphy gets to the heart of it all

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/06/16/casey_kasem_died_obituary_for_the_great_america_s_top_40_host.html

Hmmmm...

http://www.gocomics.com/nancy/2014/07/01#.U7LN-vldUkO

When did Aunt Fritzi get replaced by Aunt Veronica?

God, daily strips are so dire.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/casey-kasem-remains-missing

Jean Kasem is completely out of her mind at this point.

During the first Gulf War, I spoke several times with Casey Kasem. He had that classic American Top 40 voice, only it opposed imperialism. I once asked about his role in THE INCREDIBLE 2-HEADED TRANSPLANT. "That was just a gig," he replied, voice smooth as silk. pic.twitter.com/tUPOX3Yzzc

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) August 15, 2020