Originally published at: Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" | Boing Boing
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I recall the tune was also used in Listerine commercials (obviously it served that purpose well).
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I remember hearing this for the first time while on vacation in Europe during July and/or August 1985.
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Can confirm that yes, it was.
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It was rereleased in 1993 which is when it was in the Listerine commercial as well as TMNT 3. Unfortunately, Jimmy McShane died in 1995 of AIDS related illnesses.
Jimmy McShane was from Ireland and was an EMT. He was also a dancer and toured with UK artist Dee D Jackson (check out Autimatic Lover). While touring Italy, he met some producers and they created Baltimora.
The song was also featured in Beverly Hills Ninja (1997). Nasty Girl by Destiny’s Child (2001) uses the tarzan yell from this song.
Tarzan Boy went to #1 in Belgium, Finland, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. It went to #3 in the UK, #6 in Italy, and #13 on the US Billboard 100.
I think you should also check out Woody Boogie by Baltimora.
Tarzan Boy was written by Naimy Hackett who was involved in tons of other great projects.
If you want to dive into the amazing world of 80s Italo Disco, I’ve been putting together a 24 hour radio station at discoitalo dot com
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As a young CG aficionado trying to break into the industry (before spending the next 20 years trying to break back out…) those commercials were a big deal. Who knew Pixar would go on to make movies?
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AFAIK that song is about being gay. Alex Jones plays it a lot…
This put me in a Puffball Skirt frame of mind.
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Ah, 1980s Italo-Pop… Those were the times…
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I love how this looks like a really good Amiga Demo.
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Which I loved in HS because it was early CGI.
Pixar made that? TIL.
In HS I really, REALLY wanted to get into this. I did more or less independent study with my art teacher who let me do what ever I wanted on his Amiga 2500 and I did do some simple animations in Imagine 3D. Sadly, the stuff I did the most on, which was going to be sword fight featuring music from Highlander, got deleted before I could render it. Somehow my best friend formatted or otherwise crashed the hard drive. I got graded fine on it, but disappointed I had nothing really to show for it.
After HS there just was not any 3D programs (that I could find) in KS. Maybe if I had taken CAD courses or something… I shifted to 2D and Webdesign, and am now more or less a production designer. Still wonder what would have happened if I had found a proper program - or spent less time on Final Fantasy when I got my own computer and a 3D program (which I did do an animation on).
I had a sour grapes moment years later watching the Making of the Phantom Menace on the DVD. They had these artists in dark trailers with shining SUN systems, but what looked like old ass monitors, and it really looked like a grueling existence. Knowing my limits, I’d probably be agonizing over background greeblies or somthing.
I think it was AotC documentary where it showed the head animators agonizing over trying to get CGI Yoda to convey emotion.
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My friend, you made all the right mistakes and ate all the right grapes.
I miss a lot of things about that world, but not as many as I don’t miss.
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I specifically tracked this song down when I was building up my 80s playlist. I had to google stuff since I didn’t really remember any of the lyrics, let alone the title or group. I was surprised that it was an Italian group, but I attributed it to how people lose their accents sometimes when they sing. but now I know the singer was Irish, thanks @David_Hunter !
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“This monkey-business, on a sunny afternoon.”
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