We have a fairly strict rule in the house for my five-year-old: no screens during the week. This includes TV, the iPad, my phone and the toddler-tablet that Santa brought at Christmas. I have a very solid 2-3-2 custody schedule that works for all three of us, my daughter, my ex and myself, which means my daughter is with me every other weekend. And when the weekend hits, so do the requests for screen time.
My daughter is an active child who likes to build things, so screen time is still not that abundant. She thinks she wants screen time throughout the weekend but when I suggest we build a marble track or a crazy fort instead, she’ll often choose the latter. Still, on Saturday mornings, screen time is often the best choice for the both of us. I feel that I’ve lost that excited little-kid approach to the first morning free from schedules and responsibility and I’m starting to see things from the other side. From that parent’s point of view I can understand why Saturday Morning cartoon watching is still a thing.
Come Saturday morning, I am tired. This morning she woke up at 6:18 bright eyed and ready to go. Forget that every day during the week when I try to wake her at 6:15 she shirks from any form of light like some sort of mini-Dracula. So while part of me feels guilty that I shuffle into the kitchen, get her cereal and put on the TV for cartoons while I lay there in a half daze on the couch snuggling her when she’s done eating, there’s the other part of me that loves it and is comforted by the idea that this is how early Saturday mornings in childhood should be spent.
She’s napping now, tired out from swimming lessons, and I’ve pulled out an old tape that I used to play over and over again.
Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits
I’ve just spent the better part of the last half hour searching out videos for some of these classics and I’ve honestly got my head spinning in a sort of two-tiered nostalgia. Dos-talgia, as the Spanish might say. I’ve gone down the YouTube rabbit-hole remembering a tape I listened to 20 years ago that covered songs from cartoons I watched on TV 30 years ago.
I also just discovered that there is a video for the entire cassette that strings together videos for all the songs and features Drew Barrymore (coincidentally published to YouTube on my birthday last year). At only 711 views, I think this is quite the find for any fans of this compilation.
Individual songs from the overall video are published on their own and I’ve chosen a few of my favourites below. Whether you’re nostalgic on one or two levels for these covers, I hope you enjoy them.
Josie and the Pussycats – Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly
When you talk to me about the mid-90’s, Juliana Hatfield’s name rises very close to the top of most-listened to artists. And long before Rachael Leigh Cook and Trainwreck Reid tried (and failed) to make the show cool again, Juliana Hatfield’s soprano blends just the right amount of alternative guitar and bubblegum pop to make this one of the highlights on an already stacked album.
Butthole Surfers – Underdog
How have I never seen this video before today? The song is by far the most out-there track on the album and the video doesn’t disappoint. If watching this was your first-ever introduction to the character, you’d have a hard time believing how fairly simple the cartoon concept is. Watch the video below then come back up and click through to this link to see the original cartoon opening. Taking the propaganda approach works and is a fantastic way to flip the original on its head.
The Ramones – Spiderman
I don’t think I need to say anything else.
Honestly, I could post the videos for almost every song on here, but nap time is almost over and we have a playdate to get ready for this afternoon. The three above are the standouts for me, but check the Further Listening for a few more recommendations.
After spending part of the afternoon walking down this particular memory lane, I can’t tell if I want to be 6 or 16 again…
Further Listening – More Tracks from Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits
Helmet – Gigantor. Singing it like they wrote it.
Reverend Horton Heat cover Johnny Quest and Stop That Pigeon. While Johnny Quest was never a staple growing up, there are few things that take me back to pyjamas and cereal more than Dastardly and Muttley… adding this cover to the album legitimized my childhood fascination with the show which, when I was a kid watching it, simply wasn’t as popular as some of the other cartoons being watched by everyone else.
Matthew Sweet – Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Like Juliana Hatfield, Matthew Sweet can do bubblegum and make it cool, a perfect fit for one of the simplest themes on the album. The song is very simple but they take it up a notch for a terrific ending. And honestly, does it get any more Saturday morning than Scooby Doo?