{"id":89221,"date":"2019-03-18T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2019\/03\/feature_uncovering_the_story_behind_nintendos_most_bizarre_tie-in"},"modified":"2019-03-18T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T20:00:00","slug":"feature-uncovering-the-story-behind-nintendos-most-bizarre-tie-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/03\/18\/feature-uncovering-the-story-behind-nintendos-most-bizarre-tie-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: Uncovering The Story Behind Nintendo&#8217;s Most Bizarre Tie-In"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/984534e09d1ac\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/984534e09d1ac\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"picture embed right img-\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a title=\"It's uncanny, no?\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/b36a668f075fa\/its-uncanny-no.large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/b36a668f075fa\/its-uncanny-no.300x.jpg\" alt=\"It's uncanny, no?\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Uncanny, no?<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>It\u2019s Saturday morning and we\u2019re relaxing on the sofa with a coffee, idly scrolling through Twitter while MTV Classics plays in the background. The 1992 video for Roy Orbison\u2019s posthumously released track &#8216;I Drove All Night&#8217; plays. Now, we\u2019re partial to Roy, the American singer-songwriter behind such classics as &#8216;You Got It&#8217; and &#8216;In Dreams&#8217;. He rose to fame in the \u201860s and was in the midst of a career renaissance in 1988 when a heart attack took him at the age of 52. His back catalogue enjoyed a revival shortly afterwards, thanks partly to the prominent use of his signature track in the hit film <strong>Pretty Woman<\/strong>. Consequently, despite hailing from an earlier generation, Orbison\u2019s songs fire up late \u201880s, early \u201890s nostalgia for us in the same way as double denim and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/arts-culture\/why-hypercolor-t-shirts-were-just-a-one-hit-wonder-3353436\/\">Hypercolor t-shirts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mention his name in conversation and \u2018video games\u2019 are unlikely to come up. Nintendo fans <em>might<\/em> be able to dredge up the trivia nugget that he (and his trademark glasses) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2015\/12\/random_heres_where_all_the_koopalings_got_their_names\">inspired his namesake Koopa Kid<\/a> courtesy of Nintendo of America\u2019s English translation of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/super_mario_bros_3\">Super Mario Bros. 3<\/a><\/strong>, but the musician was from a different generation; an <em>analogue<\/em> generation.<\/p>\n<p>Owing to the fact he\u2019d been dead for four years at the time of production, a spectral Orbison appears in the &#8216;I Drove All Night&#8217; video via snippets of distorted archival footage while Jason Priestley and Jennifer Connelly cavort in moody monochrome. An impossibly attractive couple \u2013 the objects of approximately 98% of teenage crushes of the era \u2013 Priestley does his best James Dean impression behind the wheel as he drives to meet Connelly in the middle of the desert. On arrival, the two young stars then frolic on the car bonnet and other locations, generally enjoying each other\u2019s company for the rest of the song.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\">\n<div class=\"youtube\">[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m5N9IHqqGcA?rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;showinfo=0&amp;modestbranding=0&amp;autohide=1&#038;w=900&#038;h=507]<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>As we took this nostalgia trip and cursed the ravages of Mother Time, we suddenly bolted upright at a brief shot of a van the two lovers ride past, spilling our coffee as we did a cartoon-style double-take. No, it <em>couldn\u2019t<\/em> be. Grabbing the remote we hit rewind <em>just to make sure<\/em> and there it was, plain as day:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"What the...?\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/4c36360e47070\/what-the.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/4c36360e47070\/what-the.900x.jpg\" alt=\"What the...?\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\">What the&#8230;?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Skip to 3:14 in the video to see for yourself. For some reason \u2013 for the <em>briefest<\/em> of moments \u2013 Roy Orbison was plugging <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/super_mario_bros\">Super Mario Bros.<\/a><\/strong> from beyond the grave. Other split-second references occur throughout the video:<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"col\"><a title=\"PrincessBrakes\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/1e74a4962a0d5\/princessbrakes.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/1e74a4962a0d5\/princessbrakes.original.png\" alt=\"PrincessBrakes\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"col\"><a title=\"DinoDogs\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/ef95502209df9\/dinodogs.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/ef95502209df9\/dinodogs.original.png\" alt=\"DinoDogs\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>This is perplexing for multiple reasons. Even if he was an avid gamer (which seems unlikely), of all the potential artists that <em>might<\/em> have prompted early \u201890s kids to race down to their nearest gaming emporium and pick up the latest release, Roy \u2018Only-the-Lonely\u2019 Orbison would have been <em>very<\/em> <em>low<\/em> down the list \u2013 somewhere between Ringo Starr and your gran. We can\u2019t imagine his seal of approval being the envy of consumer electronics brands in <em>any<\/em> decade, least of all the too-cool-for-school \u201890s. MC Hammer? Perhaps. Vanilla Ice? At a push, but Roy Orbison!? Too square, too operatic, and \u2013 <em>frankly<\/em> \u2013 too dead. Who on earth thought this would be a fruitful crossover for either party? We <em>had<\/em> to know, and the rest of our morning was spent in search of an explanation.<\/p>\n<p>We should remember that this period was arguably \u2018peak\u2019 Mario \u2013 or perhaps more accurately, peak Nintendo. The <strong>Super Mario Bros. Super Show!<\/strong> was on TV, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2009\/09\/feature_the_making_of_the_wizard_the_greatest_nintendo_movie_ever_made_honest\">The Wizard<\/a><\/strong> had whipped up incredible levels of anticipation for Super Mario Bros. 3 before it landed in the US, and the summer of \u201991 saw the arrival of the Super Nintendo with <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/snes\/super_mario_world\">Super Mario World<\/a><\/strong> (PAL territories would have to wait until the following year). Sure, John Connor might have mocked the mainstream Nintendo kids in <strong>Terminator 2<\/strong> while he skipped school and ripped off ATMs in his Public Enemy t-shirt, but he was being hunted by a <em>liquid metal killing machine<\/em>; the average kid his age was Mario mad.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, the plumber appeared in <em>all sorts<\/em> of places up until 1993 when the failure of the infamous Bob Hoskins live-action movie made Nintendo realise its brand could be damaged through hasty tie-ins. It put the brakes on such practices, and has arguably only recently begun branching out again with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2019\/02\/miyamoto_nintendos_universal_resort_theme_parks_will_be_really_worth_the_wait\">theme parks<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2018\/02\/miyamoto_explains_why_illumination_was_chosen_for_the_upcoming_mario_movie\">animated movie<\/a> deals.<\/p>\n<p>This haphazard approach to licencing presumably enabled MCA Records to get its hands on the plumber\u2019s likeness to promote a compilation album that you may or may not be familiar with.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"COVER\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/fc1990f68122f\/cover.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/fc1990f68122f\/cover.900x.jpg\" alt=\"COVER\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>Nintendo: White Knuckle Scorin\u2019 is a very strange album, to say the least. Ten tracks long, it includes &#8216;I Drove All Night&#8217; and it, too, gets a reference in the video (skip to 2:38). While the cover couldn\u2019t be more \u201890s if it tried, only the opening song by Jellyfish, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Xdwze-Wj6_4\">&#8216;Ignorance is Bliss&#8217;<\/a>, has any lyrical ties whatsoever to Super Mario. The remainder of the compilation is apparently made up of random tracks MCA Records had lying around the place, thrown onto a Nintendo-labelled disc because, well, <em>those idiot kids will buy anything plastered with Mario\u2019s face, won\u2019t they?!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Kotaku ran <a href=\"https:\/\/kotaku.com\/the-horror-of-nintendos-white-knuckle-scorin-5815050\">a short article<\/a> on the album eight years back after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.negativeworld.org\/topten\/5915\/top-10-weird-things-about-nintendos-white-knuckle-scorin\">Negative World<\/a> posted some highlights, if they can be called such, of a short comic that came in the album sleeve. This comic weaves the song titles into a contrived narrative featuring Mario and friends. Each title is crowbarred awkwardly into one of the characters\u2019 speech bubbles and, for the <em>particularly<\/em> slow reader, another character invariably drives the point home with a knowing &#8216;Song cue&#8217;.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"WKSPAGE\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/a8b6a9f8d2c9a\/wkspage.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/a8b6a9f8d2c9a\/wkspage.original.jpg\" alt=\"WKSPAGE\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>Closer examination of the comic reveals the ostensive reason for the entire endeavour \u2013 it\u2019s an ill-conceived pro-literacy project. Set in Dinosaur Land, Yoshi and the Koopa Kids learn to read courtesy of Princess Peach (or Toadstool here), while perennial loser Bowser subscribes to the mantra \u2018ignorance is bliss\u2019 (song cue).<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s <em>complete<\/em> nonsense but fascinating all-at-once; a hodgepodge of \u201890s vernacular and a (presumably mandated) selection of hilariously inappropriate \u2018big\u2019 words. For example, Princess Toadstool, the \u2018babe\u2019 with the \u2018dynamite bod\u2019, stuffs magical spell book pages down her \u2018d\u00e9colletage\u2019. Head over to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.negativeworld.org\/topten\/5915\/top-10-weird-things-about-nintendos-white-knuckle-scorin\">Negative World<\/a> for a more thorough look at the liberties taken with your favourite video game characters, but suffice it to say, it\u2019s utter rubbish.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"Mario getting turned on is not something we want to think about.\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/98203cddf71af\/mario-getting-turned-on-is-not-something-we-want-to-think-about.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/98203cddf71af\/mario-getting-turned-on-is-not-something-we-want-to-think-about.original.jpg\" alt=\"Mario getting turned on is not something we want to think about.\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\">Mario getting turned on is not something we want to think about.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You\u2019ve got to hand it to whoever knocked this up, though; <em>effort<\/em> has gone into this rubbish. Stringing together such woefully unrelated tracks in a Mario-branded pro-literacy wrapper was a thankless task. The result is an intriguing oddity from the height of Mario mania, for sure, but why exactly were <em>these<\/em> songs thrown together on the disc? Were there no more fitting alternatives? Sure, Dire Straits were a big deal at the time, but Mark Knopfler\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Zja63r8O2jU\">sombre reflection<\/a> of a violent clash during the UK miner\u2019s strike was even less likely to win over the target demographic than Roy\u2019s contribution. Stranger still, Virgin Records \u2013 not MCA \u2013 held the rights to Orbison\u2019s back catalogue, so getting this song on its Nintendo compilation involved <em>work<\/em> on MCA\u2019s part, certainly more than simply sweeping the recording studio floor for random offcuts and B-sides.<\/p>\n<p>Examination of &#8216;I Drove All Night\u2019s&#8217; single sleeve provides a vital clue. On the reverse we found the following dedication from Orbison\u2019s wife:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Bobby Brooks was Roy\u2019s agent and friend. I am so pleased that Roy\u2019s song, \u201cI Drove All Night\u201d pays tribute to Bobby\u2019s memory. Roy always felt that children are our future. The work of the Bobby Brooks Foundation will promote literacy in children and ensure a more promising future for us all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<aside class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"col\"><a title=\"IDROVE\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/85d8655301f75\/idrove.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/85d8655301f75\/idrove.original.jpg\" alt=\"IDROVE\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"col\"><a title=\"IDROVEREVERSE\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5416a0f1fb499\/idrovereverse.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5416a0f1fb499\/idrovereverse.original.jpg\" alt=\"IDROVEREVERSE\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The single features two \u2018B-sides\u2019, both by other artists taken from White Knuckle Scorin\u2019. Further investigation of this Bobby Brooks character uncovered a contemporary <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/1991-11-17\/entertainment\/ca-55_1_roy-orbison\">L.A. Times article<\/a> from November 1991 highlighting the release of both the single <em>and<\/em> White Knuckle Scorin\u2019 itself (unfortunately, European readers may have trouble accessing the article due to geo-locking).<\/p>\n<p>Despite a few inaccuracies (the article claims White Knuckle Scorin\u2019 is \u201ca soundtrack album for a new Nintendo video game\u201d), it sheds some light on the thinking behind the project. Bobby Brooks was an agent for various artists; \u2018a tremendous guy, a very funny man\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/eric-clapton-the-rolling-stone-interview-2-100276\/\">according to another of his clients, Eric Clapton<\/a>. Brooks was tragically killed in the same 1990 helicopter crash that also claimed legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. According to the article, White Knuckle Scorin\u2019 was the brainchild of MCA Chairman Al Teller \u2013 a somewhat confused attempt to fuse a tribute to the departed Brooks with a compilation album to \u2018tap the Nintendo youth market\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to playing Nintendo, literacy was apparently a cause close to Brooks\u2019 heart and provided the album\u2019s wholesome <em>raison d\u2019<\/em><em>\u00eatre<\/em>, with a cut of proceeds going to form a foundation in his honour. It seems that Bobby Brooks had worked (in some capacity) with the majority of the featured artists on the compilation; the tangential link between this strange selection of songs.<\/p>\n<p>The peculiar dual role of \u2018Nintendo-branded album for the cool kids\u2019 and tribute to Brooks seems to have left the album in an awkward no-man\u2019s land, satisfying neither function. None of the songs are an obvious fit for the \u2018Nintendo youth\u2019 demographic Al Teller was reportedly targeting, although it\u2019s conceivable the two objectives were inextricable. If the Nintendo licence were contingent on the pro-literacy angle provided by the Brooks connection (therefore limiting the tracks MCA had to work with), <em>that<\/em> would provide a reasonable explanation for this conceptually odd Nintendo tie-in that features veteran folk rockers Crosby, Stills &amp; Nash rubbing shoulders with Sheena Easton, while Roy Orbison warbles \u201cI drove all night&#8230; to make love to you\u201d. We all know sex sells, but <em>really<\/em>?<\/p>\n<figure class=\"picture strip\"><a title=\"WKSPAGE\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5b80bc8a7f99f\/wkspage.original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/5b80bc8a7f99f\/wkspage.original.jpg\" alt=\"WKSPAGE\"><\/a><\/figure>\n<p>Which brings us back to the video. Perhaps MCA was contractually obliged to include Nintendo references in it or maybe stipulations from Virgin Records or Orbison&#8217;s widow prevented Mario from being jammed into every frame. Alternatively, perhaps Nintendo got cold feet with the \u2018love-making\u2019 references and put the brakes on the collaboration. Its licencing department vetting procedures evidently weren\u2019t so stringent in those days, but you\u2019d assume MCA would want more than some <em>blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-them<\/em> White Knuckle Scorin\u2019 references in the final product. It\u2019s all very odd indeed.<\/p>\n<p>We encourage you to check out the eclectic mix yourself. Tracking down your very own copy is possible, although we\u2019d recommend just having a listen to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL8jzXr7zDxEYz3EyquaLNBUAq_l-8u2Bo\">this YouTube playlist<\/a> instead. Having solved the mystery of Roy Orbison\u2019s posthumous endorsement of the House of Mario to our satisfaction, the album made for an appropriately surreal end to a surprising morning.<\/p>\n<p><em>Join us next week when we\u2019ll be hunting obscure Metroid references in Miami Sound Machine lyrics.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Uncanny, no? It\u2019s Saturday morning and we\u2019re relaxing on the sofa with a coffee, idly scrolling through Twitter while MTV Classics plays in the background. The 1992 video for Roy Orbison\u2019s posthumously released track &#8216;I Drove All Night&#8217; plays. Now, we\u2019re partial to Roy, the American singer-songwriter behind such classics as &#8216;You Got It&#8217; and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}