The fact that his wife helped pushed him forward past his fear and forced him to be great. They both deserve the best in life and beyond. He better be sitting next to the throne with a smile on his face.
Kylie McInnes well it wouldn’t be in one hit wonderland. Alphaville wasn’t very big in the US. They were big in other places, and have more than one hit in those places.
dude is legendary, getting a huge pop hit in his like fifties while he has a disability and then becoming a fucking meme god in japan before dying having done what he loved. nice. what a cool dude.
Wow, I just came across this. As someone who knew John Larkin personally (I once managed the officially-sanctioned Scatman John website for a time - the URL was on the "Everybody Jam" album), thanks for sharing John's story with accuracy. I first heard "Scatman" while riding the Eurostar train in the north of France while on a vacation in Europe in 1995 and I was like, "WHOA! WHAT IS THIS?!" Eventually I heard it all over Europe and got a hold of the CD single. I made a website about the Scatman because I found his story fascinating, and also discovered that this guy I traveled half the world to be introduced to his music was also from my hometown of Los Angeles and lived less than a half-hour's drive from me. His management people got me in touch with him and we exchanged emails for a time. I did get to meet him once at a jazz club in Hollywood where we watched McCoy Tyner perform...good times. He also sent me from Scat-swag (I still have a Scatman logo necktie and Scatman's World t-shirt) as well as advanced copies of his CD singles (which were never sold in the US). He traveled often so I didn't get to see him after that but I did get to visit his house and pick up some materials to scan for the website from his wife. I heard about his cancer diagnosis and was crushed to learn from an email sent from a friend of his that he died on December 3, 1999. I was invited to his memorial at his house several weeks later. In December 2019, during a road trip, I blasted the "Scatman's World" album in my car as tribute to the man. If he were still around today, I'm sure he'd be proud to know that a fellow stutterer got to become President of the United States.
@@xXRedEggXx Your reply is very odd and unpleasant. Joe Biden has publicly spoken on many occasions about his lifelong struggle with stuttering. I'm sure many people who stutter were encouraged to see someone like them accomplish so much in such a speech-oriented field as politics is.
@@xXRedEggXx i don't think one needs to agree with Biden's politics to agree that he has probably inspired many people with a stutter to pursue their dreams. a stutter is a disability that gets people made fun of a lot. the only person that made this political is you. cringe.
Todd, through the whole video: "Scatman says if he can do it so can I but I DEFINITELY can't scat" Video: Did he deserve better? Todd: "Yes. Abso-skibididoutely" You see? The Scatman always believed in you, Todd. The scat really was in you all along ;_;
As if Scatman John couldn’t be any more inspirational than he already was, he left this touching bit of inspiration right here in this video. I love you, Scatman. Thanks for everything.
the story of scatman makes me genuinely happy. he's just a guy who wanted to make happy music with unbridled optimism about the world and succeeded, even if he was seen as a fun novelty act. the fact he kept performing while having cancer makes me respect the man even more. god bless scatman, god bless
I actually find this just as endearing as a simmilar yet non-musical story of Bob Ross. He also did his The Joy of Painting series way past how long he should have while battling with cancer. The good men always go so soon.
Andrevus Whitetail I'm glad I'm not the only person that considered Scatman similar to Bob Ross. "You can do anything in your word" So Scatman made Scatland
Perhaps he was an emissary from the alternate future where 9/11 never happened, ie. the future people were hoping to see in the mid to late 90s. And when he realized he'd been sent into the wrong timeline, he retreated back under the guise of cancer.
The "God wouldn't do this" comments make me think of the Greek myth of Kleobis and Biton. The Athenian wise man Solon is talking to Croesus, King of Lydia, famous for his wealth (you get the phrase "rich as Croesus") and power (but not his wisdom). Croesus shows Solon how glorious his kingdom and wealth and asks Solon if he is not the happiest man on Earth. Solon responds that he can think of a few happier people. One of his examples, he tells the story of Kleobis and Biton. They're the two sons of the high priestess of the temple of Hera. Her oxen are missing on the day of a major festival and can't be found, so the brothers yoke her chariot to themselves to lead her miles away to the temple. When they arrive her sons are lauded by the crowd for their strength and devotion. The priestess prays to Hera saying that her sons are the greatest a mother could ever ask for, and asked that Hera gives them the greatest gift she could. The brothers fell asleep in the temple there and never woke up. Croesus would go on in a couple years time to destroy his kingdom in an ill-conceived war, seeing his kingdom destroyed and getting mercilessly beheaded by his enemies. He may think he has it all, but that's always a dangerous position, because it's all the more you have to lose. Far happier to Solon were the lives of the two men in the prime of their youth, with all the praise and adoration of their mother and of the city, who died before they had the chance to lose it all. (Croesus, of course, thought that assertion was ridiculous. He'd certainly agree with you about Scatman John's death.)
This song literally saved my life as a kid with a really and stutter. My aunt introduced me to this song when I was 10 because I was having a tough time at school with the teasing. For the first time I heard somebody like me telling me that it's okay to be different and that you should always be comfortable with who you are. Now that I'm 36 with a 10 year old who also stutters I've become his scatman (not like that sicko's) and I'm so indebted to him and my aunt. Scatman I truly love you and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you done for me with just one song. Thank you and rest in peace.
My nephew had a particularly bad stutter as a child (he has a less severe one as a teenager now). One memory that sticks in my mind of him was when he was about 9 and we were together with his friends. He started stuttering and one of them laughed at him and started to mimic him, and I could just tell by his face that he wanted to leave everyone and be alone, but he pretended he wasn't bothered by it because this friend was otherwise super nice to him, never argued etc. People think that things like stutters aren't as serious as, say, a developmental disability, but when you're that age, ANYTHING that makes you stand out in any way can be used against you to destroy your self esteem. I say this as an autistic person.
This guy took a genre completely removed from what he'd spent his life doing, and probably hadn't even considered, and made a final, international career out of it. He took eurodance and he ran with it. Bless him.
I'm not drunk at all and I cried. It's such a bitter sweet ending. He did what he loved until he couldn't any longer. I don't know if he continued because it was incurable, or because treatment would take it from him.
Yup, may have been a novelty for a time, but made a name for himself in his 50s, and he succeeded. Just hearing this story kinda made me a bit teary eyed. Scatman John, we love you, and I hope you doing a real good jazz up there with Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and so many more!
Wow. This dude got more and more wholesome and likeable as the video went along but then he became a straight up badass when he died because he refused to let cancer keep from doing what he loved. I have an entirely new respect for this artist and song. Great video, Todd.
I love how Todd just ended up genuinely loving the Scatman by the end of the review. That level of wholesome is just too pure to not love, it affected me the same way. Awesome review :D
I do too now. I remember the song well but never knew. I'll never listen to it the same way again. I'm going to go download it. I need it in my play list now
I never even knew about his popularity in Japan. But tbh of course Japan would love a guy like him considering the novelty. Also I honestly really want to check out his previous jazz work, the guy was seriously amazing and deserves respect for what he has done.
I've heard the jazz album he did (under his real name, John Paul Larkin) and it's awesome. At least from the perspective of a guy who's much more into rock than jazz.
Goddammit, Todd! I came here hoping to be mildly amused by some '90s quirky music and now I am inspired by this obscure artist. Didn't sign up for this.
@@MLBlue30 Not grunge with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, or shock rockers Marilyn Manson and Mindless Self Indulgence, or rap/rock Linkin Park. Or some rock ballads and metal.
Your best _One Hit Wonderland_ review so far. It's so possitive and nice, the viewer can feel how much you ended loving this man. And that's no surprise, Scatman was a great man, a treasure for music. i love this video, and i'm glad you decided to finally talk about the Scatman...
Thank you for this. I always assumed he just failed after this, it sounds like he had a varied and rewarding career and was blessed with skill. This makes me feel better knowing he got to enjoy it.
The damned shame is the guy couldn't enjoy it enough, but damn it all the internet seems to be a necromancer and he's pretty damn poular now even if it is for memes. Ol Scatman still brings a smile to our faces 😊
"If you don't know Captain Jack you didn't play enough DDR" I didn't think this thought would be acknowledged and turned into a statement put out into the world
I remember when this I heard his hit in 1995. I was watching video hits in the morning one weekend and my first reaction was "wtf? Who is this old guy? Is he off his mess or something? Is this some kind of joke?" Because until that point is been led to believe that only hip, young people could be legit pop stars. But even my initial cynicism couldn't fight the catchiness of this song and it won me over. And then the next year I started middle school (jnr high) and was exposed to music on the more hard rock, metal side of things and scatman John and his euro dance contemporaries were quickly forgotten. So watching this was a nice trip down memory lane and it was really cool to see that scatman John was actually a legit musician and not just some geezer they found to play a character miming to a track that some producer cooked up in his bedroom. That's how I honestly thought the track was made once I knew a little bit about music production. I always thought the scat vocals were sampled from some obscure jazz records and rearranged and had the pitch and tempo tweaked to fit the beat that they had created. Of course that was an assumption I made because I didn't care enough to look it up because I'm not the shadowy figure known as Todd. He researches that sort of stuff so that I don't have to 😄
Wow, this was way more heartwarming than I thought it would be. I listened to this song ALL THE TIME when I was a kid in the early 2000s (Apparently I listened to a lot of Euro electric music) and there was always something about the singer in the song I liked. And It makes sense. he was a brilliant awesome man!
i can tell you how it felt the exact moment this song hit it big: i was watching viva zwei with a friend of mine, scatman made its first appearance on the eurocharts, and we just lost it. this nearly 60 year old dude scatting to a eurodance track had us in stitches.. it felt like we were losing our minds, no way is this an actual song! i’ll never forget it.
Big in Japan for sure! Everyone knows about the Ultraman remix, but I also highly recommend MiChi's "All about the Girls", a great J-pop song with liberal Scatman sampling/influence from 2010 of all years!
The soldiers wearing gas masks were actually guerillas from Scatland forming preparing an ambush against Captain Jack's military occupation of Scatland.
I honestly thought it was just an early internet version of Sandstorm or a more intentional 009 Sound System Dreamscape. To learn that this was actually a chart song makes me happy.
I really hate it when Americans turn songs from Europe into memes and then think that the meme is where the song came from. 😡 seriously..why do you keep doing that?! You already did that with Dragostea Din Tei and now even 90's eurodance?
Oh man, DDT. If they're eligible I'd love to see him cover it. (My #1 hope is to get Eagle Eye Cherry at some point, because Save Tonight is one of those songs where every single time I hear it I go, goddamn, why didn't this guy have any other hits?)
Didn’t know what to expect when I clicked on a video with Scatman in the title but it wasn’t this and I’m extremely happy about that. Scatman may you rest in peace
Damn it, Todd! I've always only thought of this song as a stupid hit from my teenage years, and nothing more. You managed to make me see the beauty behind the artist, appreciate the song for what it was, and made me feel genuinely sad when you spoke of his death. And that's why I love you.
Thank you for finally covering this song. It makes me so happy to know that his music also makes you as happy as it does to me when i listen to it. An amazing and humble man in every way, taken far too soon
This man was the biggest dork and i love it. I think based on the concept of Euro Dance mixed with Jazz, something modern with something old school, is a precursor to Electro Swing. I raise a glass to you, Scatman John
English is my second language, and finding out what songs are really about over the years often surprised me xD but this one totally floored me, and I still get chills listening to it. "As a matter of fact don't let *nothing* hold you back. If the Scatman can do it, brother so can you." Like..... ;__; thank you Scatman, and RIP ♥
“Scatman’s World” was something my friends and I listened to religiously at the start of the pandemic. We were all stuck at our respective houses on discord calls and would listen to Scatman John every night. Everything at that time felt so bleak but he kept us through, as a meme at first but idk, over time his whole ethos became really important to us. Dude seemed like an absolute legend in life
I always get a warm happy feeling every time I re-watch this video. Scatman John was truly an amazing man! 💖 His story is so inspirational and a great reminder that it's never too late to do what you love!
ChristMEMEa V wow, it looks like I'm not the only one! Those were some of the first videos I ever watched on TH-cam back when I was 13! Memories, like the corners of your eyes....
Thanks for covering this. In post Soviet countries he was huge(maybe not as huge as in Japan but still) When I was a child I could not have enough of Scatman. Nostalgia is killing me. Good to see that you Todd find him great as well
My dad recorded the music video for this song off of MTV or whatever on a VHS, and i would just sit on his livingroom floor and watch it over and over again. Five year old me love dat Scatman.
Only reason I ever heard of the guy was "Pop it, don't drop it", which used a bit from "Dream A Dream". I can't hear the name without picturing a Medic and two huge middle fingers now.
really? That song took me back to my navy days. In recruit training Captain Jack was a favorite for the RDCs to make us chant while we ran our laps. Bittersweet reminder, to say the least. XD
Oh japan. You have such delightfully weird tastes (and also some not so delightfully weird tastes) but thank you. Thank you for keeping the scatman going
I was 9 years old in 1995 when I asked for the Scatman's World album for my birthday and I loved it dearly for about six months or so. I remember being outraged at the 1 star review it got in our local gossip magazine, even going so far as to draw in an additional four stars on the page and cutting it out for proudly displaying on my dresser door. Even so...this is the first time I have ever heard Song of Scatland.
Ketchup Song might actually be interesting if only for the fact that they were famous for nearly literally two weeks and then dropped off the fucking face of the earth Macarena is only going to be interesting when you lot learn what the lyrics say :)
Am I the only one who really love Scatland and Song of Scatland more than Scatman (Ski-Ba-ba-dop-dop)? I mean I love the fact that there was no cynicism to this old man.
So, i was listening to Scatman and i saw this video in the sidebar, its been so long since i have seen a video of yours, years! I actually tried to look you up not so long ago but i couldn't find you because i didn't remember your name, and its amazing that i found you while listening to the Scatman himself, and this video is fairly recent too. I really hope this video made more people appreciate Scatman John as MORE than just a one hit wonder, see the message that he tried to spread,and maybe even have people listen to more of his music. I'm glad i found this channel again, totally going to go ahead and subscribe and check out more of your content right away.
I have been wanting you to do an episode on this song for years! Scatman John was such a legendary and under-appreciated artist with such positive messages in all of his songs! (Well, except maybe "The Chickadee Song")
I also hate "The Chickadee Song". It's also very bad because he had a bad producer of this song (It was not Kai Matthiesen because he produced great songs for Scatman John's last album like "Ichi Ni San... Go!".
Nash helped introduce me to Scatman John, and I wound up looking into some of his other songs, and... yeah. He's heartwarmingly cheesey. There is a consistent, wholehearted approach in the music. It is tragic that he passed away the way he did, and cheesey as it is to say... he died doing what he loved. Yeah, it's a cliche, but for a guy like that you can just feel the dedication, love, and passion that he put into his music. I have a lot of respect for him.
I've been watching your videos all day long after finding your channel as a suggestion. It's like unearthing the library of Alexandria but in music form in such a specific way. But this was the story that brought a tear to my eyes. Thank you very much.
. . .The only thing I can take from this video is that I liked Beakman's world and couldn't get why people loved fricking Bill Nye. Then I saw a video of Bill Nye in one of my college classes and realized, I had made a terrible mistake. Bill Nye's cool to me now.
Beakman's World was better, its just that Bill Nye himself was a really cool guy who found a way to stay relevant whereas Beakman dropped off the face of the earth.
Beakman's World was better at engaging kids than Nye was, imo. While Nye was more detailed in his explanations, Beakman's presentation was more digestible to young kids.
I liked Beakman's World when I was young and I like Bill Nye when I was a little older. A lot of people hate Beakman's World. I think it was possibly because it came as childish and weird, while Nye, though silly, was more reverent. How did that translate into more popularity among kids though? No idea. Of course my memories of Beakman's World was from when I was in kindergarten, and I was in second grade at least before Bill Nye was a thing, so I might have been way off in my perception of the show.
4:01 Holy shit dude, that footage is from Norwegian public television. The host is Petter Nome, who used to have this traveling programme where they visited really weird people across the world, like a Mexican masked wrestler who was a real-life crime fighting vigilante, and they went out on the streets with him, only to almost get shot. God damn, this is like a massive nostalgia trip for me.
John has always been a small inspiration of mine. Just the fact that he hit his short "fame" in his 50's. He really proved that it's never too late to make it. Also, he made it work regardless of his debilitating stutter.
I fucking love this song. Not only is it incredibly catchy, but it’s also the best scat singing I have ever heard in my entire life. It’s so fast and smooth that every time I hear even the legends scat, I’m disappointed because this guy makes them look like absolute chumps. It’s just fucking incredible.
Of course, I get to this a year late. Great job. By the way "Everybody Jam!" was big here in the States only by way of country line dancing, which had a special dance especially for this song. It was fun. I forget how to do it now.
After not hearing it for 20 years on the radio, this song ran during an advertisement on the 2nd biggest German TV boadcaster at prime time. I don't know how or why, but apparently Scatman John still hasn't faded from memory.
The fact that his wife helped pushed him forward past his fear and forced him to be great. They both deserve the best in life and beyond. He better be sitting next to the throne with a smile on his face.
It's terrible he passed so early but he left his beautiful mark. Bless them both.
"Big in Japan" plottwist of the century.
I ugly laughed at this
It's the deus ex machina of the music industry, it feels like.
Plot twist to the plot twist: Todd does a review of Big In Japan by Alphaville :)
Kylie McInnes well it wouldn’t be in one hit wonderland. Alphaville wasn’t very big in the US. They were big in other places, and have more than one hit in those places.
@@elevatormaniacgames that hasn't stopped other bands from being on one hit wonderland
dude is legendary, getting a huge pop hit in his like fifties while he has a disability and then becoming a fucking meme god in japan before dying having done what he loved. nice.
what a cool dude.
Epicc
There's so few who can do that.
Wow, I just came across this. As someone who knew John Larkin personally (I once managed the officially-sanctioned Scatman John website for a time - the URL was on the "Everybody Jam" album), thanks for sharing John's story with accuracy. I first heard "Scatman" while riding the Eurostar train in the north of France while on a vacation in Europe in 1995 and I was like, "WHOA! WHAT IS THIS?!" Eventually I heard it all over Europe and got a hold of the CD single. I made a website about the Scatman because I found his story fascinating, and also discovered that this guy I traveled half the world to be introduced to his music was also from my hometown of Los Angeles and lived less than a half-hour's drive from me. His management people got me in touch with him and we exchanged emails for a time. I did get to meet him once at a jazz club in Hollywood where we watched McCoy Tyner perform...good times. He also sent me from Scat-swag (I still have a Scatman logo necktie and Scatman's World t-shirt) as well as advanced copies of his CD singles (which were never sold in the US). He traveled often so I didn't get to see him after that but I did get to visit his house and pick up some materials to scan for the website from his wife. I heard about his cancer diagnosis and was crushed to learn from an email sent from a friend of his that he died on December 3, 1999. I was invited to his memorial at his house several weeks later. In December 2019, during a road trip, I blasted the "Scatman's World" album in my car as tribute to the man. If he were still around today, I'm sure he'd be proud to know that a fellow stutterer got to become President of the United States.
Scatland? Lol, I made the mistake of trying out that same URL some years ago..
This was wholesome and beautiful until you made it political. Cringe
@@xXRedEggXx Your reply is very odd and unpleasant. Joe Biden has publicly spoken on many occasions about his lifelong struggle with stuttering. I'm sure many people who stutter were encouraged to see someone like them accomplish so much in such a speech-oriented field as politics is.
@@KillahMate I actually didn't know that, it really didn't sound any different from a random potshot lol
@@xXRedEggXx i don't think one needs to agree with Biden's politics to agree that he has probably inspired many people with a stutter to pursue their dreams. a stutter is a disability that gets people made fun of a lot. the only person that made this political is you. cringe.
Todd, through the whole video: "Scatman says if he can do it so can I but I DEFINITELY can't scat"
Video: Did he deserve better?
Todd: "Yes. Abso-skibididoutely"
You see? The Scatman always believed in you, Todd. The scat really was in you all along ;_;
Nice P3 femc avatar.
@@blackshoed3550 Hey, thanks! It's funny, Ive used this icon for years but the last week or so I've randomly gotten a bunch of compliments on it lol
The Scat is always in you. Especially after a three course meal.
Full of scat.
As if Scatman John couldn’t be any more inspirational than he already was, he left this touching bit of inspiration right here in this video.
I love you, Scatman. Thanks for everything.
the story of scatman makes me genuinely happy. he's just a guy who wanted to make happy music with unbridled optimism about the world and succeeded, even if he was seen as a fun novelty act. the fact he kept performing while having cancer makes me respect the man even more. god bless scatman, god bless
Skaba daba deep bro
I actually find this just as endearing as a simmilar yet non-musical story of Bob Ross. He also did his The Joy of Painting series way past how long he should have while battling with cancer. The good men always go so soon.
Andrevus Whitetail I'm glad I'm not the only person that considered Scatman similar to Bob Ross.
"You can do anything in your word"
So Scatman made Scatland
Scatman didn't die, he just returned to Scatland.
Perhaps he was an emissary from the alternate future where 9/11 never happened, ie. the future people were hoping to see in the mid to late 90s. And when he realized he'd been sent into the wrong timeline, he retreated back under the guise of cancer.
Scatland is the shitty version of scotland... Ok you can gun me down now
I thought Scotland was was the shitty version of Scatland.
The things you call dead have not yet had the chance to be born.
The 21st Century didn't deserve Scatman John.
“Whatever God wants is fine by me ... I've had the very best life. I have tasted beauty.”
- Scatman John
"His message is that the world can be beautiful and that peace and love are achievable? I should kill this guy with cancer." - God.
@Daniel Bellcaster That was my point.
@Autzen Hallock Not only did he get his message out, but it was made immortal in the form of recorded music... however horribly dated that may be.
The "God wouldn't do this" comments make me think of the Greek myth of Kleobis and Biton.
The Athenian wise man Solon is talking to Croesus, King of Lydia, famous for his wealth (you get the phrase "rich as Croesus") and power (but not his wisdom). Croesus shows Solon how glorious his kingdom and wealth and asks Solon if he is not the happiest man on Earth. Solon responds that he can think of a few happier people.
One of his examples, he tells the story of Kleobis and Biton.
They're the two sons of the high priestess of the temple of Hera. Her oxen are missing on the day of a major festival and can't be found, so the brothers yoke her chariot to themselves to lead her miles away to the temple. When they arrive her sons are lauded by the crowd for their strength and devotion. The priestess prays to Hera saying that her sons are the greatest a mother could ever ask for, and asked that Hera gives them the greatest gift she could.
The brothers fell asleep in the temple there and never woke up.
Croesus would go on in a couple years time to destroy his kingdom in an ill-conceived war, seeing his kingdom destroyed and getting mercilessly beheaded by his enemies. He may think he has it all, but that's always a dangerous position, because it's all the more you have to lose.
Far happier to Solon were the lives of the two men in the prime of their youth, with all the praise and adoration of their mother and of the city, who died before they had the chance to lose it all.
(Croesus, of course, thought that assertion was ridiculous. He'd certainly agree with you about Scatman John's death.)
Why do people absolutely have to screech that god isn't real every time they see god mentioned?
This song literally saved my life as a kid with a really and stutter. My aunt introduced me to this song when I was 10 because I was having a tough time at school with the teasing. For the first time I heard somebody like me telling me that it's okay to be different and that you should always be comfortable with who you are. Now that I'm 36 with a 10 year old who also stutters I've become his scatman (not like that sicko's) and I'm so indebted to him and my aunt. Scatman I truly love you and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you done for me with just one song. Thank you and rest in peace.
Jesus... I'm reading all the comments and crying like a baby
My nephew had a particularly bad stutter as a child (he has a less severe one as a teenager now). One memory that sticks in my mind of him was when he was about 9 and we were together with his friends. He started stuttering and one of them laughed at him and started to mimic him, and I could just tell by his face that he wanted to leave everyone and be alone, but he pretended he wasn't bothered by it because this friend was otherwise super nice to him, never argued etc. People think that things like stutters aren't as serious as, say, a developmental disability, but when you're that age, ANYTHING that makes you stand out in any way can be used against you to destroy your self esteem. I say this as an autistic person.
This guy took a genre completely removed from what he'd spent his life doing, and probably hadn't even considered, and made a final, international career out of it.
He took eurodance and he ran with it.
Bless him.
I'm a little drunk right now and I cried at the end of this. What a beautiful man
I'm not drunk at all and I cried. It's such a bitter sweet ending. He did what he loved until he couldn't any longer. I don't know if he continued because it was incurable, or because treatment would take it from him.
Sometimes I like to get drunk and rewatch this episode. There's something about The Scatman's story
16:40 "Best selling foreign albums in Japan: The Beatles, Mariah Carey, Queen and, of course, _THE SCATMAN."_
That kills me every time I rewatch this.
Oh. That explains Murakami. I meant about the Beatles, of course, not Scatman.
I love seeing The Carpenters on the list.
He died doing what he loved. And despite Lung Cancer, age and stutter, a real artist
I like to think the Scatman is up in heaven throwing a little scat down on all of us.
definitely deserved to be up there with queen for pure musical dedication
He loved cancer cells in his lungs?
Blood Bath and Beyond - Pop Goes Metal Covers Whaddya think??
@@irkmcspamtroll2556 grody
Yup, may have been a novelty for a time, but made a name for himself in his 50s, and he succeeded. Just hearing this story kinda made me a bit teary eyed. Scatman John, we love you, and I hope you doing a real good jazz up there with Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and so many more!
Don't worry, the Scatman is in Scatland watching over us
Oh hey moon spirit
Hey Mitch! Fancy seeing you here in Todd's vids!
Along with Scatman Cruthers (Jazz)
HeavyEyed hey heavyeyed
10:44 15:55 And now Scatman is not a One Hit Wonder anymore... "Scatland" and "Everbody Jam" are actual hits thanks to the power of Internet and memes.
Well in Europe he never was one hit wonder since Scatman World was also big.
@@trikalabris right
Petition to declare Scatland as meme heaven so Stefán Stefánsson can go to Scatland.
My friends called Scatman's World "PA-PO-PE-PO"
"Scatish is a language not quite like a leprechaun..'
Oh.. that clears things right up!
I still, legit, have no fucking idea what that is supposed to mean...
Wtf about leprechauns...? O.o
@@dajosh42069 The only thing I can think of is that one that show up on the Simpsons. He spoke a bunch of jibberish (my ex would quote that at random)
Dude the scat man extended universe was amazing
Scatworld
Scatworld 2: Age of autotune
Scatworld: Infinity syllables
Man, it was so sad when scatman died in infinity syllables. Louis dying was sad too. I'm so excited for infinity syllables 2.
@@denisdukaj it will be Scatworld: EndScat
My favorite was Captain Jack: Civil War.
Wow. This dude got more and more wholesome and likeable as the video went along but then he became a straight up badass when he died because he refused to let cancer keep from doing what he loved. I have an entirely new respect for this artist and song. Great video, Todd.
I love how Todd just ended up genuinely loving the Scatman by the end of the review. That level of wholesome is just too pure to not love, it affected me the same way. Awesome review :D
How could you not love the Scatman?
His improbable success is genuinely heartwarming.
I do too now. I remember the song well but never knew. I'll never listen to it the same way again. I'm going to go download it. I need it in my play list now
The SCU (scatman cinematic universe)
Or SCU (Scatitonia County University)...idk I just thought of a Scatland city and ran with it
Is Oingo Boingo apart of it since John Larkin plays piano on sax player Sluggo Phipp's solo album?
I unironically love Scatman Jon and think he is one of my favorite musicians
I never even knew about his popularity in Japan.
But tbh of course Japan would love a guy like him considering the novelty.
Also I honestly really want to check out his previous jazz work, the guy was seriously amazing and deserves respect for what he has done.
TSG Frank Mr. Big and The Cardigans were also OHWs and also were big in Japan!
As I recall, Japan loves jazz
I've heard the jazz album he did (under his real name, John Paul Larkin) and it's awesome. At least from the perspective of a guy who's much more into rock than jazz.
Alternatively titled "How Todd learned to give a shit about the Scatman"
giving a shit about scat... there is a joke somewhere in there, but i just can't... ooooooohhhh...
SpaceMonkeyEntertainment ew
"Dr Scatman; or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Scat"
damn it todd you made me care and i felt that emotion rise within me at the end. rip scatman.
Hayley W/W Same here. I was shocked when I actually started crying.
WHY AM I CRYING ABOUT THE SCATMAN. Todd, what did you DO???
Goddammit, Todd! I came here hoping to be mildly amused by some '90s quirky music and now I am inspired by this obscure artist. Didn't sign up for this.
Damn he never made it to the new millennium. At least he never got to see 9/11 and how unlike Scatland our world actually became.
Considering how much he wrote about lies and politics I think the entirety of 2001-8 would have been enough to kill him without the lung cancer.
a lot of the music from the 90s seemed more upbeat than music is now.
@@MLBlue30 Not grunge with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, or shock rockers Marilyn Manson and Mindless Self Indulgence, or rap/rock Linkin Park. Or some rock ballads and metal.
Man this made me sad now, fuk u.
@@Xetelian I didn't say all the music was happy, but good point with your examples.
I was a child when Scatman John came out and kids *loved* the Scatman. He was like your quirky fun loving uncle.
10:53 I mean how could the follow up have failed!?? He was spitting straight FACTZ here doe!!!
The 90's died when he died. Literally
Music was never that upbeat again. What a loss.
@@MLBlue30 I mean music trends in the 90s were the musical equivalent of a schizoid with bipolar II
Your best _One Hit Wonderland_ review so far. It's so possitive and nice, the viewer can feel how much you ended loving this man. And that's no surprise, Scatman was a great man, a treasure for music. i love this video, and i'm glad you decided to finally talk about the Scatman...
As someone who stutters, Scatman overcoming his speech issues was a big inspiration to me when I discovered him as a young kid
I must now have a full history of the Captain Jack vs Scatland conflict.
Thank you for this. I always assumed he just failed after this, it sounds like he had a varied and rewarding career and was blessed with skill. This makes me feel better knowing he got to enjoy it.
The damned shame is the guy couldn't enjoy it enough, but damn it all the internet seems to be a necromancer and he's pretty damn poular now even if it is for memes. Ol Scatman still brings a smile to our faces 😊
"If you don't know Captain Jack you didn't play enough DDR"
I didn't think this thought would be acknowledged and turned into a statement put out into the world
Oh its you.
I hear he's still playing in Scathmandu
Underrated comment right here
I remember when this I heard his hit in 1995. I was watching video hits in the morning one weekend and my first reaction was "wtf? Who is this old guy? Is he off his mess or something? Is this some kind of joke?" Because until that point is been led to believe that only hip, young people could be legit pop stars. But even my initial cynicism couldn't fight the catchiness of this song and it won me over. And then the next year I started middle school (jnr high) and was exposed to music on the more hard rock, metal side of things and scatman John and his euro dance contemporaries were quickly forgotten. So watching this was a nice trip down memory lane and it was really cool to see that scatman John was actually a legit musician and not just some geezer they found to play a character miming to a track that some producer cooked up in his bedroom. That's how I honestly thought the track was made once I knew a little bit about music production. I always thought the scat vocals were sampled from some obscure jazz records and rearranged and had the pitch and tempo tweaked to fit the beat that they had created. Of course that was an assumption I made because I didn't care enough to look it up because I'm not the shadowy figure known as Todd. He researches that sort of stuff so that I don't have to 😄
Wow, this was way more heartwarming than I thought it would be. I listened to this song ALL THE TIME when I was a kid in the early 2000s (Apparently I listened to a lot of Euro electric music) and there was always something about the singer in the song I liked. And It makes sense. he was a brilliant awesome man!
i can tell you how it felt the exact moment this song hit it big: i was watching viva zwei with a friend of mine, scatman made its first appearance on the eurocharts, and we just lost it. this nearly 60 year old dude scatting to a eurodance track had us in stitches.. it felt like we were losing our minds, no way is this an actual song! i’ll never forget it.
Big in Japan for sure! Everyone knows about the Ultraman remix, but I also highly recommend MiChi's "All about the Girls", a great J-pop song with liberal Scatman sampling/influence from 2010 of all years!
The soldiers wearing gas masks were actually guerillas from Scatland forming preparing an ambush against Captain Jack's military occupation of Scatland.
well, the most suprising part about this episode is discovering that this song was a hit, and not just a meme fluke
Right? I never heard of it until well into the 2000s in old videos. It never got airtime on the radio here
I honestly thought it was just an early internet version of Sandstorm or a more intentional 009 Sound System Dreamscape. To learn that this was actually a chart song makes me happy.
I remember it being a big hit. I was 6 years old at this time. I loved it!
I really hate it when Americans turn songs from Europe into memes and then think that the meme is where the song came from. 😡 seriously..why do you keep doing that?! You already did that with Dragostea Din Tei and now even 90's eurodance?
Oh man, DDT. If they're eligible I'd love to see him cover it.
(My #1 hope is to get Eagle Eye Cherry at some point, because Save Tonight is one of those songs where every single time I hear it I go, goddamn, why didn't this guy have any other hits?)
Wow, found a whole new level of respect for a guy who did a goofy, but good, song.
Marvel: Infinity War is the most ambitious crossover in history
90s eurodance: This.
Didn’t know what to expect when I clicked on a video with Scatman in the title but it wasn’t this and I’m extremely happy about that. Scatman may you rest in peace
Damn it, Todd! I've always only thought of this song as a stupid hit from my teenage years, and nothing more. You managed to make me see the beauty behind the artist, appreciate the song for what it was, and made me feel genuinely sad when you spoke of his death.
And that's why I love you.
Thank you for finally covering this song.
It makes me so happy to know that his music also makes you as happy as it does to me when i listen to it.
An amazing and humble man in every way, taken far too soon
This man was the biggest dork and i love it. I think based on the concept of Euro Dance mixed with Jazz, something modern with something old school, is a precursor to Electro Swing. I raise a glass to you, Scatman John
English is my second language, and finding out what songs are really about over the years often surprised me xD but this one totally floored me, and I still get chills listening to it. "As a matter of fact don't let *nothing* hold you back. If the Scatman can do it, brother so can you." Like..... ;__; thank you Scatman, and RIP ♥
Smiled from ear to ear throughout the entire episode. This song will always have a special place in my heart.
After all these years I still keep coming back to this episode when I’m feeling sad. If the Scatman can do it so can you 😊
I actually learned something today
Kien Johnson that the end of the story?
I would assume more of the beginning myself.
*SCAT IN THE SHADOWS*
(I always wanted to know what would be the first Patreon request).
cartmann94 what I do when the bar bathroom is occupied
Scatman deserves the entire world
“Scatman’s World” was something my friends and I listened to religiously at the start of the pandemic. We were all stuck at our respective houses on discord calls and would listen to Scatman John every night. Everything at that time felt so bleak but he kept us through, as a meme at first but idk, over time his whole ethos became really important to us. Dude seemed like an absolute legend in life
I always get a warm happy feeling every time I re-watch this video. Scatman John was truly an amazing man! 💖 His story is so inspirational and a great reminder that it's never too late to do what you love!
You have to do the other one hit wonder capitalizing off the jazz revival of the 90s Mambo No. 5!
For monika, just monika.
@@Xetelian hes a loyal man lolol. Only for monika fuck adultery.
He also did a cover of Invisible Man by Queen.
A damn good one, too. Maybe better than the original.
Only ever did two covers. Invisible Man by Queen, and Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.
I love them both just a bit more than the original.
Anybody remember those Super Mario 64 videos from 2009 with this song in it?
ChristMEMEa V Absolutely! :)
oh yeah.
My memory was of some old TH-cam Poops that had it on there myself. :)
I remembered and love those videos
ChristMEMEa V wow, it looks like I'm not the only one! Those were some of the first videos I ever watched on TH-cam back when I was 13! Memories, like the corners of your eyes....
I like this episode, it warms the cockles of my heart. I sometimes return to watch it when I need a feel-good boost
Thanks for covering this. In post Soviet countries he was huge(maybe not as huge as in Japan but still) When I was a child I could not have enough of Scatman. Nostalgia is killing me. Good to see that you Todd find him great as well
It was huge over here in Poland. My dad introduced it to me lol
I was 5 in 1995 and from germany and loved scatman john! Captain Jack too ofc jsmdaklaakl thanks for this trip down memory lane
This is a great song. And nice to finally know what the song was about.
Damn I’ve never heard this before. But it’s a JAM!
How? Seriously, HOW?
Unf this was one of my favorite songs when I was 6. I still dig it 23 years later
would you say, a glam jam?
How have you never heared this song before? Its an internet classic!
Weird that a Todd in the shadows video made me cry
My dad recorded the music video for this song off of MTV or whatever on a VHS, and i would just sit on his livingroom floor and watch it over and over again. Five year old me love dat Scatman.
DDR is the only reason I got familiar with Captain Jack in the first place.😂 13:06
Only reason I ever heard of the guy was "Pop it, don't drop it", which used a bit from "Dream A Dream".
I can't hear the name without picturing a Medic and two huge middle fingers now.
Me too.
*looks up the thing*
Oh my lord. Thank you. And also? No thank you. You know what I mean.
really? That song took me back to my navy days. In recruit training Captain Jack was a favorite for the RDCs to make us chant while we ran our laps. Bittersweet reminder, to say the least. XD
"Only You" was the only song i could ace at the highest difficulty. Blown away to have heard that name again.
That was the first CD I ever received, I loved it and hearing it makes me a bit nostalgic. I needed that tonight ^^
"If we giggle every time I say the word scat, we're not going to get anywhere. Get it out of your system now."
Uh...phrasing...
November 2020, I fully embrace Scatland and want to be there now.
Oh japan. You have such delightfully weird tastes (and also some not so delightfully weird tastes) but thank you. Thank you for keeping the scatman going
I was 9 years old in 1995 when I asked for the Scatman's World album for my birthday and I loved it dearly for about six months or so. I remember being outraged at the 1 star review it got in our local gossip magazine, even going so far as to draw in an additional four stars on the page and cutting it out for proudly displaying on my dresser door. Even so...this is the first time I have ever heard Song of Scatland.
This guy was absolutely the bee's knees. His music still holds up to this day, and The Scatman himself had a thoroughly wonderful history.
when it comes to 90's novelty songs, you ARE going to do the "Macarena" at some point, right?
azn1011 i thought he already did.
definitely don't think he did
azn1011 same with the ketchup song
I had a CD that both had Scatman, The Macarena and europop dance remake of Kiss' disco song.
Ketchup Song might actually be interesting if only for the fact that they were famous for nearly literally two weeks and then dropped off the fucking face of the earth
Macarena is only going to be interesting when you lot learn what the lyrics say :)
RIP Todd's Corolla
R.I.P. more requests for One-Hit Wonderland or Trainwreckords (for the year, at least).
slightly scratched it
This is some solid jazz, no doubt.
Scott Garceau is ABSOLUTELY incomprehensible nonsense. I don't know if you used that sports radio screen grab on purpose but I died.
This is the best One Hit Wonderland, hands down.
17:26 ... that actually got me. Like, I just started crying. Holy shit.
I adored this song when i was little. Im so glad to see it's still a banger
Am I the only one who really love Scatland and Song of Scatland more than Scatman (Ski-Ba-ba-dop-dop)? I mean I love the fact that there was no cynicism to this old man.
scatland yes song of scatland eh. More a fan of invisible man scatland and everybody jam
I didn't expect coming out of this with a lot of feelings, but it happened.
Didn't even know he died nearly 20 years ago until now. :(
"if we giggle every time i day the word 'scat' we aren't gonna get anywhere"
yep. he's a substitute teacher, alright
Man, full of energy & hope. Too good for this world.
So, i was listening to Scatman and i saw this video in the sidebar, its been so long since i have seen a video of yours, years! I actually tried to look you up not so long ago but i couldn't find you because i didn't remember your name, and its amazing that i found you while listening to the Scatman himself, and this video is fairly recent too.
I really hope this video made more people appreciate Scatman John as MORE than just a one hit wonder, see the message that he tried to spread,and maybe even have people listen to more of his music.
I'm glad i found this channel again, totally going to go ahead and subscribe and check out more of your content right away.
Can we bring up the fact that Todd mentioned good old Captain Jack! Both the Captain and Scatman are two great acts lost too soon.
I have been wanting you to do an episode on this song for years! Scatman John was such a legendary and under-appreciated artist with such positive messages in all of his songs! (Well, except maybe "The Chickadee Song")
I also hate "The Chickadee Song". It's also very bad because he had a bad producer of this song (It was not Kai Matthiesen because he produced great songs for Scatman John's last album like "Ichi Ni San... Go!".
Nash helped introduce me to Scatman John, and I wound up looking into some of his other songs, and... yeah. He's heartwarmingly cheesey. There is a consistent, wholehearted approach in the music. It is tragic that he passed away the way he did, and cheesey as it is to say... he died doing what he loved. Yeah, it's a cliche, but for a guy like that you can just feel the dedication, love, and passion that he put into his music. I have a lot of respect for him.
I've been watching your videos all day long after finding your channel as a suggestion. It's like unearthing the library of Alexandria but in music form in such a specific way. But this was the story that brought a tear to my eyes. Thank you very much.
Hehehe Scat as in poop
Alright the joke has been made now nobody else can repeat it without the threat of legal action
Avossk Hehehe scat means poop™
I sue you Uravity
Hot diggity damn, on the comment about shit, what do I see? Two TH-cam Bots creating spam.
Scat me daddy
Yung Noodle Just report em
Avossk I know, but I just found it funny.
. . .The only thing I can take from this video is that I liked Beakman's world and couldn't get why people loved fricking Bill Nye. Then I saw a video of Bill Nye in one of my college classes and realized, I had made a terrible mistake. Bill Nye's cool to me now.
Beakman's World was better, its just that Bill Nye himself was a really cool guy who found a way to stay relevant whereas Beakman dropped off the face of the earth.
Beakman's World was better at engaging kids than Nye was, imo. While Nye was more detailed in his explanations, Beakman's presentation was more digestible to young kids.
I liked Beakman's World when I was young and I like Bill Nye when I was a little older. A lot of people hate Beakman's World. I think it was possibly because it came as childish and weird, while Nye, though silly, was more reverent. How did that translate into more popularity among kids though? No idea.
Of course my memories of Beakman's World was from when I was in kindergarten, and I was in second grade at least before Bill Nye was a thing, so I might have been way off in my perception of the show.
I blame theme songs. Bill Nye's was so much more of an ear worm
I consider Bill Nye to be like Mickey Mouse, simple and clean, while Beakman is the Donald Duck, the edgier, more temperament one.
4:01 Holy shit dude, that footage is from Norwegian public television. The host is Petter Nome, who used to have this traveling programme where they visited really weird people across the world, like a Mexican masked wrestler who was a real-life crime fighting vigilante, and they went out on the streets with him, only to almost get shot. God damn, this is like a massive nostalgia trip for me.
did you make out with him?
Dont be a dick
This made me happy. Everybody Jam is legit bop! Thanks for this
Thank you for teaching me about this person I knew of, but never truly knew ABOUT.
John has always been a small inspiration of mine. Just the fact that he hit his short "fame" in his 50's. He really proved that it's never too late to make it. Also, he made it work regardless of his debilitating stutter.
Flipnote hatena has permanently branded to first part of the song into my brain
I fucking love this song. Not only is it incredibly catchy, but it’s also the best scat singing I have ever heard in my entire life. It’s so fast and smooth that every time I hear even the legends scat, I’m disappointed because this guy makes them look like absolute chumps. It’s just fucking incredible.
Of course, I get to this a year late. Great job. By the way "Everybody Jam!" was big here in the States only by way of country line dancing, which had a special dance especially for this song. It was fun. I forget how to do it now.
th-cam.com/video/hsfsGGh2YZ8/w-d-xo.html
I never thought I would be crying at the end of one of your videos but here we are
After not hearing it for 20 years on the radio, this song ran during an advertisement on the 2nd biggest German TV boadcaster at prime time. I don't know how or why, but apparently Scatman John still hasn't faded from memory.