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Episode 8
Season 1, 1984
Introducing: --
A concert has ended, and Kids Inc. is happy. Not for long. Mickey has decided that the band needs to experiment with some “artistic growth” and change their look. No one is really for it, but they eventually decide to go along.
The gears in Mickey’s head are spinning like crazy, and by the next number, he’s already thinking about a new name. A word or two from Riley, and he settles on Rocky Road to Doom (snicker!). Oh, this is gonna be bad…
The next day, Riley has the dubious honor of introducing the new band. The entire audience does a collective WTF? Everything is changed; their music, their voices, their outfits – Mickey opts for a punked out Rick James, while The Kid is a camouflage cowboy. The girls have Halloween wigs on.
Their new song, “Heavy Metal Madness” gets booed after 10 seconds. RRTD hastily retreats backstage before the tomatoes come out.
Defeated and defaced, the kids are upset with Mickey, but he explains to them that he just wants Kids Inc. to reach the top of the charts. He still hasn’t learned his lesson as he’s planning yet another wardrobe change. Everyone leaves him, presumably to get out of those clothes as soon as possible.
After Mickey drinks enough malteds to float away, he realizes the error of his ways and goes to tell the rest of the band – just as they realize how hard they were on him and come to apologize. They laugh, he laughs, and we are glad this episode is over.
I give this episode 2.5 microphones. Eh. For most people, it's not their favorite. "Heavy Metal Madness" is hard for people to stomach, even though it's meant to be a joke.
Cutting-edge 80's video technology here for "Who Wears These Shoes"
Guest star: 0
Invention count: 0
Vocab:
Nerdos (3)
Continuity, gags and themes:
Mickey is controlling and tends to get carried away
New Locations: --
Pop culture references:
Vanilla Fudge
Solos:
Mickey (2) = 6
Total: 19
Performance outfits:
Denim/red – minus blue shoes
The “Rocky Road to Doom” outfits – fright wigs, studded jackets, neon makeup – Kid has a camouflage cowboy outfit.
Red/yellow
- Backstage, you get to see a sign that says "Kids Inc. wardrobe".
- These are the same outfits as the first episode...except no one is wearing blue shoes! I guess Mickey doesn't care anymore, or they couldn't pry Ziggy out of Stacy's shoe, so they just gave up.
- This episode is actually the only one to have 6 songs (other than Decade of Hits, but this isn’t a special episode).
Songs:
Who Wears These Shoes –
Lucky Star –
Heavy Metal Madness –
Top of the Charts –
Missing You –
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go –
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