SEPTEMBER VOTING INCENTIVE FOR ALL!
So the deal here is that I've been working on background images for that bonus comic I keep working on. I had some backgrounds of scenery from my city drawn and colored but nothing that would make a good voting incentive. So I quickly drew a pic of Puck, smacked something together and the end result actually looks pretty good!
VOTE TO BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE!
As for this comic...
A few random observations.
Random observation 1: prom DJs don't usually look like this dude. This dude looks more like a real DJ at a real club. Prom DJs are usually a little older, a little doughier and lot less cool. But for the joke to land, this dude needed to look like a real DJ who never lived through the heyday of 90's techno. So I fudged it a little.
Random observation 2: I turned to Google in a moment of laziness to help me come up with the names of some 90's Eurodance bands, and I found out that Google was largely useless in this regard. It kept identifying bands like Aqua and Eiffel 65, and I started to feel like Google didn't really know what '90's Eurodance' meant. So I ended up grabbing my own collection of 90's dance CDs (yes, I own an extensive collection) and pulling names from there. And just to prove Puck's observation correct, I tried to Google a bunch of the band names on my CDs and came up with nothing. NOTHING. On the Internet. Even the Internet, the repository of all knowledge, has forgotten about a third of the bands on my weird 90's dance compilation CDs. Dead tongue indeed. The ones I listed in this comic were the ones whose existence I could verify. And yes, they were all real bands or artists. And yes, I can sing you at least one song by each of them from memory.
Random observation 3: This is certainly a bit of self-insertion on my part. I am, unabashedly, a fan of 90's Eurodance (as I am a fan of 70's disco) and feel that modern clubs and proms just don't know what good dance music is. I am a dance machine out of sync with time and space. Unlike Phoebe, though, I am at least aware of it and try not to embarrass myself by asking them to play music with a real beat you can dance to.
Puck 510
SEPTEMBER VOTING INCENTIVE FOR ALL!
So the deal here is that I've been working on background images for that bonus comic I keep working on. I had some backgrounds of scenery from my city drawn and colored but nothing that would make a good voting incentive. So I quickly drew a pic of Puck, smacked something together and the end result actually looks pretty good!
VOTE TO BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE!
As for this comic...
A few random observations.
Random observation 1: prom DJs don't usually look like this dude. This dude looks more like a real DJ at a real club. Prom DJs are usually a little older, a little doughier and lot less cool. But for the joke to land, this dude needed to look like a real DJ who never lived through the heyday of 90's techno. So I fudged it a little.
Random observation 2: I turned to Google in a moment of laziness to help me come up with the names of some 90's Eurodance bands, and I found out that Google was largely useless in this regard. It kept identifying bands like Aqua and Eiffel 65, and I started to feel like Google didn't really know what '90's Eurodance' meant. So I ended up grabbing my own collection of 90's dance CDs (yes, I own an extensive collection) and pulling names from there. And just to prove Puck's observation correct, I tried to Google a bunch of the band names on my CDs and came up with nothing. NOTHING. On the Internet. Even the Internet, the repository of all knowledge, has forgotten about a third of the bands on my weird 90's dance compilation CDs. Dead tongue indeed. The ones I listed in this comic were the ones whose existence I could verify. And yes, they were all real bands or artists. And yes, I can sing you at least one song by each of them from memory.
Random observation 3: This is certainly a bit of self-insertion on my part. I am, unabashedly, a fan of 90's Eurodance (as I am a fan of 70's disco) and feel that modern clubs and proms just don't know what good dance music is. I am a dance machine out of sync with time and space. Unlike Phoebe, though, I am at least aware of it and try not to embarrass myself by asking them to play music with a real beat you can dance to.
I think that I’m worried about Urban Cookie Collective. Bust out some lyrics, and type them up
Feel the raindrops come falling down,
See the sunshine through the clouds and
Oh oh oh … and it feels like heaven.
Technotronic was from the 80s. Pump up the jam.
They kept going with a string of hits into the 90’s. They were the forerunners of a bunch of this stuff.
So, is that what happened to C & C Music Factory?
Cancer is what happened to C+C Music Factory, unfortunately. One of the main two guys died at a tragically young age because of it and, well, that was that.
Now we know what Phoebe’s theme music will be like when the sitcom comes out. Sounds like fun!
Still haven’t figured out Puck’s.
When I first created Puck, I cranked a lot of dance music. Specifically, I delved into two eras: 70s disco and 90s techno. The former always has a bit of a mental connection to Puck for me, the latter to Phoebe. Funkytown is a potential Puck theme song. Or if we want to go more recent but still 70s feeling, I feel this is a good theme song for Puck: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f30Vu1N7emk
Ouch. I was not aware of that. Damn. For the most part I only asked because of what Phoebe suggested for their college dorm room door.
Yeah, C+C music Factory has long been a Phoebe standard but I decided to list some others here. It’s all the same stuff. Good stuff.
Well, C&C is pretty much the only one I know of. . . But I’m not sure if I should blame Mtv for that.
Ahh Phoebe; cute, sexy. irresistible.
I am glad you approve.
And with enough sugar, irrepressible!
ABBA
Wrong decade. But good music.
I am almost expected her to breakout some glow sticks.
Always keep glow sticks on you for rave emergencies.
It’s still a generation or more ahead of the dance music I remember. Just get him to play something, and then they can boogie-oogie-oogie till they just cant boogie no more.
What’s the dance music you remember? Because I’m sure Phoebe likes that too. Peaches and Herb, man.
Well, I grew up in the sixties and seventies. The sixties dances were, as they say, more a matter of choosing up sides rather than picking a partner. I got to know the music as music, not really for dancing to.
The real kind of dancing made a comeback in the seventies with disco, and that’s mostly the dance music as dance music I remember.
As for dancing itself, for me it’s a matter of “I won’t dance, don’t ask me.”
Fair enough. I love to dance. But I respect and understand those that choose not to. I’m married to a non-dancer.
phoebe being a fan of this type of music kinda explains her outfits, too….man, those were the days when we wore pastel-coloured fake fur bikinis(!) fishnet-shirts in neon and plateau shoes high enough to make you dizzy. back when the love parade turned berlin into one big dance club *sigh*
I WANNA SEE MORE HAPPY PEOPLE…..anybody else remembering mark walbergs utterly embarassing atempt at rapping?
Good memories. And yeah, Phoebe is a character I conceived of in the late 90’s, and she’s a Eurodance 90’s girl at heart. Not North American 90’s, which was all grunge and misery. But the Euro version, all glow sticks and fur bikinis.
I can honestly say that I’ve never heard of any of those bands. When you say “90s Eurodance”, the only name that comes to mind is Ace of Base.
However, when I Googled “90s Eurodance” the grid of song examples at the top of the page included at least five of the bands that you listed. (It did *not* include anything by Aqua or Eiffel 65.) Clearly my Google has different musical tastes from your Google.
That’s somewhat by design. I purposely listed bands that don’t have much name recognition. But it does sound like your Google is smarter than my Google. Probably because my Google is Canadian.
Oh no, the Canadian Educational System of Artificial Intellegence takes a hit, or is this because Canadiana still do stuff without the need for a smartphone?
It’s just Canada. Anything that has an international presence will have a Canadian wing that is far inferior to any other wing. Canadian Amazon? Sucks. Canadian Netflix? half as much content as the American version. Canadian Google? Well, I don’t know for certain that it functions any differently but there’s certainly a pattern.
One of my sacrifices made when moving to Canada from the US.
Online choices are limited.
Except the webcomics.
I dunno. When I Googled “90s Eurodance” I had issues with several of the selections. I mean, is “Cotton-Eyed Joe” by Rednexx even music?
Rednexx were musical pioneers. They showed definitively in the 90’s that you could take ANYTHING and add a thumping “uns uns” beat beneath it and BAM, instant hit! Music geniuses.
Heck, the 80s and 90s had some good music. So do all the preceding and following decades. ^_^ Good music keeps being made, you just need to keep an open heart.
NO! CLOSE THAT HEART! No good music now! Okay, there’s some. It’s just not popular. I listen to tons of current bands. They are all obscure and almost never get played on what passes for the radio.
Whigfield – Saturday Night was my jam! XD
A towering great song of goofiness.
As a child of the 70’s I now feel incredibly old.
You’re welcome.
I’m a child of the 50’s. You look incredibly young.
And it’s with this that we finally see the truth: Phoebe is the unsung gem of this comic. Too good for this cruel world
I don’t think she’s totally unsung. I mean, you’re singing her praises right now!
I sang her praises in the last strip… I literally have to sing the lyrics when I’m parodying something or I can’t get the scansion right. 🙂
Keep singing!
What is wrong with DJ-Man ?
In every panel he’s looking directly at Phoebe’s EYES !
How rude.
Phoebe does not spend hours toiling at her Sewing Machine for men to keep their gaze uplifted !
That’s another blatant tweak with reality that I always take: no matter what Phoebe is wearing, characters always look her in the eye. It just seems gross otherwise, but in reality, well … yeah.
Oh man . . . I dread seeing the result when the sugar rush ends . . .
It’ll be fun!
I had no idea there was an “Urban Cookie Collective” shaped hole in my heart until just now. Thank you.
(Now I have to go listen to Void Dweller for the rest of the morning…)
I’m glad I could fill that hole in your heart.
All of the bands Phoebe listed are phenomenally stupid. But they are all so very, very happy. And really, doesn’t that count for something?
I am sure that DJ can play some suitable songs.
From experience, I can say that a number of prom DJs seem unable to.
What a pity! I think Phoebe needs something catchy with a beat she can dance to.
I never danced, I played in a band but we did not play dance music. My wife and I tried to learn some ballroom dancing for our wedding but we failed. We were married in the mid-80s. The proper formal wedding of the time was planned not by the people getting married but by their mothers. To put it all into perspective, my mom is currently 90 years old.
So … no hot dance moves?
I didn’t even have a dance at my wedding. That’s how crazy I am.
She likes what?
Are you sure these aren’t jut obscure, or was it a Canadian thing?
Not a Canadian thing. As the name “Eurodance” suggests, the genre mostly was huge in continental Europe, with a few British acts thrown in. Cool kids the world over, though, would groove to these awesome beats. For a few brief years. Then it all went horribly stale.
Oh. Cool kids. Well that explains it. I wasn’t cool enough and D&D in high school, so I definitely not cool enough for that after college
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LySKK4-81o
I mainly had music like this in the 2000’s, and the only Eurobeat I know is from DDR. Sorry. ^^;
You are the wrong kind of person for this music. Obviously.
I remember when Puck needed adult supervision too. Then again, it might have been the university she was at.
The characters in this comic all take turns needing adult supervision. It’s a thing.
At least they’re taking turns. It will not be good the day they all need it at once.
Or was not and needed.
Something.
My foray into the 90s dance club scene ran smack into the doldrums of the Vampire/Goth/Industrial Dance Club scene of the early 2000s.
Somewhere in the latter day 2010s, my European hostdaughters all reassured me that the club scene had been rescued from its brief tango with Anne Rice novels and New Orleans pseudo-vampires.
https://youtu.be/u2j4vbaK2VI
Ugh. I remember that depressing era. That coincided with the point when all movie heroes wore black leather trench coats. I found that terribly depressing. I mean, come on, people! Where’s the neon color? Where are the glow sticks?
The problem with movie futures were that, with a handful of exceptions, they were all dark and dystopian. Problem was they were made by a bunch of cynics.
Exactly. Lift your eyes from your navels and have some damn FUN
Your promo for Hamilton tourism is more convincing than the one I keep seeing for Visalia – and yours doesn’t make me wonder who paid whom for it.
Honesty is always the best policy. No one in marketing ever believes that, but it’s true.
…DUUUUUDE. Nearly every artist/band you just listed on there is off a compilation I remember back from elementary school. Looking it up later on in life, it looks like it was an album called MuchMusic Dance Mix ’95. (The American readers will definitely will be confused – MuchMusic was the Canadian version of MTV.)
I’m with you and Phoebe on ’90s Eurodance music; kids just don’t know what glorious music they’re missing these days. (I say this while listening to a Much Dance 1999 album) They were(are) some beautiful tasty jams ;_;
…1, 2, 3, TRAAAAAIN WITH MEEEEE~
(That one stuck in my brain deep enough to remember said compilation all these years later)
Keep dropping in all the musical nostalgic gems, my good sir. They bring me as much joy as your comic does 😀
I own Much Dance Mix 93, 94, 95 and 96. Past that point, I felt they kinda faltered as the nature of dance changed. Or I didn’t like the music as much. But we are on the SAME PAGE here. Great times. I bought all of them for $3 each at Cheapies in the garbage CD bin around 2000. Best purchase I ever made. And that Playahitty “Train with Me” song is gold.
What, no 2 Unlimited, or Vengaboys?
Too recognizable. I didn’t want anyone saying, “Oh yeah! I know those bands!” I was going for the obscure ones. Technotronic was the biggest name I had on there. Also, Vengaboys is kinda post-peak Eurodance. I like the earlier stuff, 1988-1996 or so.
Well, eventhough I was not a fan of the music, being european, I recognize half of the names.
Yay for Europeans! You kept music fun when the fun died everywhere else.
Whigfield sounds like she started out with outdated political asperations. It looks like she’s Danish so . . . maybe?
I get this joke. Given the insanely esoteric nature of the joke, I’m proud of that fact.
Good!
I hope someone can explain it to me.
Seriously, though. The Whig’s philosophy has been superceeded because the argument doesn’t exist any more. New and exciting arguments have taken its place.
Because I didn’t recognize ANY of these bands, I spent a good portion of this past week listening to the music of all the names you posted.
I’m not going to denegrate anyone’s taste in music, but I do have one white elephant question… Why is is called Euro Dance when all the rappers have Harlem accents?
PS. Some of it I actually did like…
It is a music genre and time period that is hard to defend. I know that. And yet, I have a soft spot for it.
Well, a lot of European music of that era was designed in emulation of American music. And a bunch of the rappers were actually American.
Most of this stuff never actually got popular in America, though. I wonder why.
Gecko, ever since you posted this, I’m wondering what the metrics and search results have done to the algorithms at Google and YouTube.
Well, given the limited traffic I experience, I doubt there’s been any noticeable change.
Puh-lease dude, I’ve seen your readers all over.
I have never met a single Puck reader in the wilds of the internet. Except on this site. Which, I mean, that makes, I guess.
DJ doesn’t need to know the group by heart. Just do a disk search for the performers discography on the external hard drive and get that party jumping.
Yeah, true. But I think any DJ might get a little thrown when hit with a wall of names he’s never heard of before.
As Puck is over 600 years old, why would she be into dance music? I hate that genre and (being born in 1960) lived through the 70’s weak Disco, thew 80’s put an unf unf beat on it and the 90’s tut as well! I would have thought that Robin Goodfellow would have appreciated something with a span of musical instruments from accross her centuries more like this – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di6D9QVIb7w
Nope. You like what you like. No matter what your age. And sometimes a certain genre just speaks to you.
That did not speak to me.
Ah, but does it speak to Robin? 🙂
Great comic BTW. Found it recently and caught up from #1 to now in about 3 days!
Well, that IS a point. I’m not sure what speaks to Puck. She displays a penchant for twee British culture and relatively peaceful media, so … maybe a more peaceful version of the musical selection you made?
Glad I managed to win you over in this hard knocks world of webcomics.