This brand is your brand, this brand is…
I’ll probably upset a lot of Curad fans, but my favorite brandages are Band-Aid. Why? Why not? Does it bother you when people answer a question with a question?
What else? Let’s see… the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers and Deep Purple and the J. Geils Brand are some of my favorite brands from a long time ago. And Alice Cooper who was a master of branding himself and the band. I also liked Brand Funk Railroad a lot. While I’m not a huge fan of Johann Sebastian Bach, but I do really like his Brandenburg Concertos. And it wasn’t just Rock or Classical, but I liked a lot of pop singers, like Laura Brandigan (Gloria), and Minneapolis bass player, Brandré Cymone, and Motown group, Martha and the Brandellas, and soul/R&B singer Luther Brandross, and I loved watching American Brandstand as a kid.
You’re probably thinking, “Are you done already?”
Almost. Just sit tight!
Speaking of the Allman Brothers… Gregg Allman, one of the brothers, used to be married to Cher and get this: one thing I remember about Cher was that she frequently wore headbrands. So did Bruce Springsteen’s friend and E Street Band guitarist ‘Miami’ Steve Van Zandt. For that matter, so did the Boss himself. It’s a small world, huh?
Speaking of a long time ago.
I remember a TV show from a very long time ago titled Branded. Chuck Connors played some army guy named McCord who, for some reason or other, was court martialed and kicked out of the army. Chuck Connors was also in another favorite show of mine, The Rifleman. On the topic of Chucks, one of my favorite game show hosts was Chuck Wollery who was the original host of Wheel of Fortune. He didn’t host The Gong Show because that show was hosted by Chuck Barris. I don’t really know how I got to thinking about “Chuck” but it doesn’t matter.
Maybe you’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking, that his has been a lot of words to say pretty much nothing.
Below is a song about a guy named Chuck who’s in love.
Oh, and if you like branding, not these goofy puns or words, but real branding like working on developing names or a company/business identity or marketing a business or product, then check out “Design Thinking”. It’s pretty cool and there are a lot of books on the subject.
Are you still with me? Thanks for reading! 🙂
Michael B. Fishman
Michaelsfishbowl 
Design Thinking reminded me of Designing Women. This post could have gone on forever, but I liked it! I especially liked Chuck as The Rifleman, though.
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(It kinda felt like it was going on forever!) I used to like The Rifleman a lot.
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Goodness! The theme songs from both The Rifleman and Branded, ring in my mind. Listening retrospectively to the lyrics I can only now recognise them as embarrassingly cringeworthy – something of a warning about the direction of our culture that we are still trying to fix half a century later, brimming with sad, violent macho bullshit.
Never mind – I liked them at the time too. What about Sea-Hunt, with Lloyd Bridges? He emerged later as quite a comedian with a self-deprecating style – so I’ve often wondered if he was behind a title that has such an obvious alternative pronunciation.
Laura Branigan’s ‘Gloria’? No. The Patti Smith version was vastly superior.
All in all I’m still biased toward and enchanted by what came from Australia’s 70’s culture. The fact that most of it was poorly branded meant it didn’t go far, and was all the better for it.
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I liked Sea Hunt as well but I never saw much of that show for some reason? I also like Patti Smith’s Gloria, but I wonder if that’s not really a cover of the original because all she really used was the chorus? I guess my bias is toward The Grateful Dead’s cover of the song from 1985.
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I would most definitely classify it as a cover, though I’m not sure what the term really means officially. The most important aspect of a cover, to me, is change – a different spin. A cover, to me, is not the same song ….. for without change it is just an imitation.
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I liked Chuck Woolery on a show called Love Connection (I think that title is correct). He was personable and funny, back in the day. He turned into an ultra-conservative, right-wing nutjob, though.
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That show sounds familiar. I remember he hosted some show and before they went to a commercial he said that they’d be back in “two and two” and help up two fingers and I wonder if it wasn’t that one? Sad to learn about his politics 😦
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Reading about all those Chucks reminded me that ‘Chuck’ is only one nickname for ‘Charles.’ For some reason; you can also use ‘Chaz,’ ‘Chase,’ and the ubiquitous ‘Charlie.’ There’s a song we listen to by The Tones and I titled “Charlie’s on my Mind;” that about sums up the end of your ambling train there…
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I’m looking for that song to listen to it and I found one titled “Charlie” by Tones and I. (“I’ve been hearing voices in my head now…”) does that sound like the one? I never had a nickname growing up. I used to think you either had to play sports or have a large family to get a nickname.
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That’s the one!
You could be Mike or Mikey! I always wanted a nickname or a way to shorten mine to something unique. I’ve invented my own with ‘Chel,’ but it’s not common to do that.
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Only one person I know would call me Mikey and since I stopped working I don’t see them anymore. I think Chel is a good nickname (even though I’ve never used it before!)
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It’s either that or Sea, Mikey!
(Tell me I’m not the only one to go for calling you Fishman.)
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You are not the only one to go for calling me Fishman!
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