The opening song...why the change? - Jem (1985) Discussion

[–] WOLVERINE25th 13 years ago

Wondering that myself. My guess'd be the new song was more "commercial." Since the show was just an extended commercial for the toys, makes sense to have a jingle that encompasses that. I would love it if Shout Factory made an option of what theme you could have play for every episode you watch. This theme is crap.

I'm the best there is at what I do, and that ain't pretty.

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[–] BSQuared_41 13 years ago

I honestly don't remember it changing. Anyone have a clip of the two versions?

"The only way to increase property values on Sesame Street is to get rid of the homeless."

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[–] kklestatsgirl 13 years ago

Sadly, I have the lyrics to both memorized.

Original Version

Jem (Jem is excitement) oh
Jem (Jem is adventure) oh
Glamour and glitter
Fashion and fame

Jem (Jem is truly outrageous)
(Truly, truly, truly outrageous)
Oh whoa Jem (Jem)
The music contagious (outrageous)

Jem is my name
No one else is the same
Jem is my name

But we're the Misfits
Our songs are better
We are the Misfits, the Misfits
And we're gonna get her

Jem (Jem is truly outrageous)
(truly, truly, truly outrageous)
Oh whoa Jem (Jem)
The music contagious (outrageous)

Jem is my name
No one else is the same
Jem is my name

Second Version
Me and my friends are Jem girls
Jem, Jem is my name
Exciting adventure
Fashion and fame
Once you're a Jem girl
You're never the same

Common, common and be a Jem girl
Jem, Jem is my name

Me and my friends are Jem girls
Jem, Jem is my name
Truly outrageous
That's a Jem girl
Glamour, fashion and fame

Exciting adventure
Fashion and fame
Once you're a Jem girl
You're never the same

Common, common and be a Jem girl
Jem, Jem is my name
(Jem)

So...when do we get to see this castle of yours?

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[–] BSQuared_41 13 years ago

Yeah, I finally noticed the difference when I let the credits play instead of fast-forwarding through them like I had been doing on my DVR'd episodes.

The new song is pretty lame, and I still prefer the original, but it's not THAT terrible.

Oh, and kklestatsgirl, just a friendly note, the lyrics for the second one would actually be "Come on, come on, and be a Jem Girl" not "common."

"You can't slit the throat of everyone whose character it would improve."

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[–] DeRo64 13 years ago

I thought they sort of alternated between episodes. I remember both songs on a Season 1 DVD.

"There is no escape, John!"

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[–] EricaBrodie1977 13 years ago

Well, if they're gonna change the opening song they miles well put Raya as the drumer and Shana as guitar player then sense they've changed the opening song. That makes sense right?

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[–] bohoki 13 years ago

yea i'm confused why they changed it then had the old openings every few episodes

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[–] kloog 13 years ago

That's a mistake on the DVD set released by Rhino in 2004 which is also the source of the episodes you might be viewing on youtube or have downloaded. The original opening is done for the first half of the series then the new opening for the second half.

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[–] WOLVERINE25th 13 years ago

Actually it's like that on Hub as well.

I'm the best there is at what I do, and that ain't pretty.

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[–] kloog 13 years ago

The original opening theme should be on episodes 1-29~ (somewhere around there). The second theme "Jem Girl" should be used on all episodes after that. That's how it originally aired and makes sense since the 2nd opening contains scenes from episode 26 which was not produced yet when episode 1 came out. The upcoming DVD set from shout! factory should have the correct placement.

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[–] WOLVERINE25th 13 years ago

They cheaped out on the intro, just taking the original and expanding it with clips from the show in order to fit the longer song.

I'm the best there is at what I do, and that ain't pretty.

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[–] newplanet 13 years ago

I'm pretty sure the second intro isn't longer, they just needed the extra clips to replace the footage of the Misfits who, of course, don't "crash" the theme tune like they do in the first intro. Which apart from making it more gender specific - and prompting me to turn the telly down - is another reason why the second intro is much MUCH worse than the first.

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[–] mydlands 13 years ago

I just finished watching the whole series thanks to the new complete series DVDs from Shout Factory. On the DVDs it's a mix of first and 2nd themes. What I noticed is that in the episodes that did not feature the Misfits so much (or at all), the "Jem Girls" theme was used. But there were a few episodes in the 2nd and maybe 3rd seasons where the original Jem theme came back.

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[–] kloog 13 years ago

Shout seems to have the order correct, ignoring the instrumental/echo issues. The original theme was used probably for a certain number of episodes until they switched but since the broadcast order is different it starts to mix at the end. I can't imagine them randomly mixing them. I used to hate the Jem Girl theme but unfortunately when you start to become a Jem fan you forgot about certain horrors :D

The Mitigating Factor
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMitigating

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[–] amazonprince71 13 years ago

Yes...we do ignore those don't we? However...the whole Jem Girl song besides not being as creative, interesting or dynamic musically than the original...is just plain stupid and has nothing to do with the show as they never refer to themselves as "Jem Girls" in the context of the show, so why would the audience buy into those lousy lyrics?

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[–] kloog 13 years ago

Probably a marketing concept, "me and my friends are Jem girls" so we purchase all the Jem merchandise. The change occurred after they didn't make as much money on the toy line as they projected due to competition with Mattel and their own foolish mistakes with the products.

The Mitigating Factor
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMitigating

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[–] amazonprince71 13 years ago

But the dolls came with those awesome cassette tapes with songs from the shows! How could those not sell well? :) More importantly...why have they never released those songs on CD? I'm sure many of us Jem lifers would want those in our music collection, right? (never too old to embrace our inner child).

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[–] kloog 13 years ago

The master tapes for the songs are supposedly missing as of right now, that's why I started to remaster them for myself.

According to many Jem sites the following issues lead to the end of the line.

1. Mattel employee stole a box from the garbage prior to launch and used that to help Mattel prepare new toy lines (very unconfirmed)
2. Mattel rushed out Barbie and Rockers to compete (general knowledge)
3. Hasbro delayed the toyline until after the show was airing (general knowledge)
4. The boxes were too big for standard toy shelves (totallyjem)
5. The dolls were not the same size as Barbie so nothing was interchangeable (general knowledge)
6. Some parents felt the rocker attitude wasn't appropriate (interview from la times)
7. Heavy competition lead to each line suffering sales losses.

The Mitigating Factor
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMitigating

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[–] theocanada 9 years ago

Was anyone else bothered by the grammar of the new song? People overly use the "and I" correction but in this case it's applicable. It should be "my friends and I are Jem girls." Saying me and my friends is like if she was saying "Me is Jem girl!" instead of "I'm a Jem girl." I had to skip anytime it was the new song but totally enjoyed sitting through the old song each time.

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[–] bartallenii 9 years ago

It's because the Misfits were no longer a major part of the show. Now that the Stingers were the main antagonists and the Misfits were now background players (if even that in S3) they just put in a new theme song that didn't even acknowledge the Misfit's existence.

"Our cows make a decent living wage, so please, no tipping."

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[–] rapture87 9 years ago

There were a number of episodes that didn't feature the Misfits long before the Stingers arrived on the scene!! Such episodes as "Homeland Heartland", "Renaissance Woman", "Hollywood Jem" (Parts 1 and 2)" and "Alone Again" didn't feature the Misftis OR the Stingers (who hadn't been introduced yet).

But you are absolutely right in so far as the theme song being changed to ALLOW for the Misfits being absent on occasion. A lot of parents didn't LIKE the Misfit dolls, you see - they deemed them to be scary and/or inappropriate for children. Hence, a decision was made to quietly shoehorn them out, as Mattel felt like they were HURTING the doll line more than helping it, I guess.

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] rapture87 9 years ago

Aside from the fact that the Misfits ceased to appear in every single episode, unlike Season 1, I think it may have been felt that the original opening song was too sultry and sophisticated for a kid audience.

I would personally take the original song over the kiddy replacement intro at any hour of the day or night, of course, but I understand why it might have been considered less-than-appropriate for Mattel's target audience.

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[–] smashingthemirror 9 years ago

I used to (incorrectly) hear the lyric as "We are the Misfits, our songs are bitter". Lol

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