WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.659 I want you to close your eyes for just a second. 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:04.960 I'm going to try to trigger a very specific dormant 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.500 memory in your brain right now. Uh -oh. That's 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:10.539 a good one. Picture this. You are sitting on 00:00:10.539 --> 00:00:12.759 the carpet, maybe it's Saturday morning in the 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:16.140 mid -90s, and you've got a massive bowl of sugary 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:18.559 cereal in your lap. Oh, yeah. I know where this 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:21.730 is going. And suddenly... you hear a pick slide 00:00:21.730 --> 00:00:24.710 down a guitar string. That iconic scratching 00:00:24.710 --> 00:00:27.929 sound, followed by one of the most aggressive 00:00:27.929 --> 00:00:30.969 high -speed riffs in television history. And 00:00:30.969 --> 00:00:34.210 then, just four words, go. Go Power Rangers. 00:00:34.409 --> 00:00:36.869 It is instantaneous. I mean, it's basically a 00:00:36.869 --> 00:00:39.929 Pavlovian response for anyone born between, say, 00:00:40.030 --> 00:00:43.210 1980 and the year 2000. You hear that riff, and 00:00:43.210 --> 00:00:44.890 your heart rate actually goes up. It really does. 00:00:44.990 --> 00:00:46.969 It triggers this fight or flight response, but, 00:00:46.969 --> 00:00:49.450 you know, in a fun way. Exactly. It is a massive 00:00:49.450 --> 00:00:51.729 cultural touchstone. But here is the thing, and 00:00:51.729 --> 00:00:53.590 this is the entire reason we are doing a deep 00:00:53.590 --> 00:00:56.689 dive into this today. Most people completely 00:00:56.689 --> 00:00:58.890 dismiss it. Yeah, they do. We think of it as 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:01.549 just a cheesy, disposable jingle from a kid's 00:01:01.549 --> 00:01:04.730 show about teenagers in spandex fighting rubber 00:01:04.730 --> 00:01:07.329 monsters. Which, to be fair, is exactly what 00:01:07.329 --> 00:01:10.129 the show was. Right. True. But when you actually 00:01:10.129 --> 00:01:12.989 look at the Wikipedia page for Go Go Power Rangers, 00:01:13.269 --> 00:01:15.769 which is our source material today, you start 00:01:15.769 --> 00:01:18.950 unpacking the production history, the music theory 00:01:18.950 --> 00:01:22.310 behind it. and the absolute insanity of the people 00:01:22.310 --> 00:01:24.810 who ended up performing it later on. It's wild. 00:01:25.010 --> 00:01:27.750 It really is a fascinating case study in musical 00:01:27.750 --> 00:01:29.909 evolution. It is not just a jingle. It really 00:01:29.909 --> 00:01:32.430 isn't. We are talking about a track that premiered 00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:36.329 in the U .S. on December 2, 1994 under Sabin 00:01:36.329 --> 00:01:39.689 Records. and the UK release followed closely 00:01:39.689 --> 00:01:42.290 on December 14th. Right. And on the surface, 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:44.810 yes, it's a children's theme. But if you strip 00:01:44.810 --> 00:01:46.989 away the visuals of Megazord and just look at 00:01:46.989 --> 00:01:50.109 the audio, it is a technical marvel. It's essentially 00:01:50.109 --> 00:01:52.909 a speed metal anthem that somehow tricked the 00:01:52.909 --> 00:01:55.650 entire world into thinking it was a full, sweating, 00:01:55.909 --> 00:01:58.269 thrashing rock band. And that trick is exactly 00:01:58.269 --> 00:02:00.269 where I want to start. Because looking at the 00:02:00.269 --> 00:02:02.390 notes you pulled together from the source, this 00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:04.709 might be the biggest fake out in 90s music history. 00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:07.290 Oh, absolutely. We assume we are listening to 00:02:07.290 --> 00:02:09.469 a band. We hear drums, we hear bass, we hear 00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:12.330 a screaming guitar solo. But that is not what 00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:14.389 was happening in the studio, was it? Not even 00:02:14.389 --> 00:02:17.009 close. And this is the central aha moment of 00:02:17.009 --> 00:02:20.189 this whole deep dive. The architect of the sound 00:02:20.189 --> 00:02:23.289 is a composer named Ron Wasserman. OK. And just 00:02:23.289 --> 00:02:26.370 a quick side note, in the liner notes, he sometimes 00:02:26.370 --> 00:02:29.949 used the alias Aaron Waters dash the mighty raw. 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:32.430 The mighty raw. That sounds like he should be 00:02:32.430 --> 00:02:35.030 one of the Power Rangers or maybe a pro wrestler. 00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:38.419 I love it. It is a phenomenal 90s alias. But 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:41.219 here is the reality. That original 1994 track, 00:02:41.340 --> 00:02:43.439 the one that ran for the first three seasons 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:46.400 and completely defined the show, it was a one 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:49.319 -man job. Just him. Just him. And I don't mean 00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:51.360 he played all the instruments one by one and 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.120 layered them like Prince or Dave Grohl might 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:56.300 do. I mean, he didn't play the instruments at 00:02:56.300 --> 00:02:58.900 all. Wait, clarify that for me because I'm listening 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:01.319 to the track in my head right now. I hear a drummer 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:04.639 heating cymbals. I hear guitar feedback. I hear 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:07.439 shredding. You are hearing a keyboard entirely. 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:10.960 Ron Wasserman does not play the guitar. He does 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.800 not play the drums. He sat down at a keyboard 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:16.780 that was preloaded with high quality guitar and 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:19.539 drum sounds and he played the entire band on 00:03:19.539 --> 00:03:21.699 the keys. That is actually difficult to wrap 00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:24.000 my head around. Because usually when you hear 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.020 synthesized rock from the early 90s, think about 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:29.719 video game music from that era. Yeah, the classic 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:32.000 bit -crushed sound. Right. It sounds like a bad 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.800 MIDI file. It sounds sterile. But this track 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.270 has grit. has human error, or at least it feels 00:03:37.270 --> 00:03:40.110 like it does. That is the genius of Wasserman's 00:03:40.110 --> 00:03:42.349 composition. He wasn't just hitting notes, he 00:03:42.349 --> 00:03:44.550 was playing the personality of the instruments. 00:03:44.889 --> 00:03:46.889 He understood what a rock drummer does, where 00:03:46.889 --> 00:03:49.330 the kick drum hits, how the snare snaps. He knew 00:03:49.330 --> 00:03:51.969 the groove. Exactly. He understood that a guitar 00:03:51.969 --> 00:03:54.969 solo needs to scream and sustain. He programmed 00:03:54.969 --> 00:03:57.490 that rock energy into the track, key by key. 00:03:57.909 --> 00:04:00.030 So the anthem that convinced millions of kids 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:02.889 they liked heavy metal was essentially a digital 00:04:02.889 --> 00:04:05.379 illusion. It was the ultimate fake it till you 00:04:05.379 --> 00:04:08.259 make it. He needed a stadium rock sound. He didn't 00:04:08.259 --> 00:04:11.360 have a band. And he was under a super tight TV 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.439 deadline. So he built a virtual band inside his 00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:17.040 workstation. That is incredible. The full track 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:20.180 clocks in at four minutes and 43 seconds. And 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:23.139 it carries this frenetic martial arts energy. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:25.620 But it was born on a circuit board, not in a 00:04:25.620 --> 00:04:27.939 garage. That context actually changes how I hear 00:04:27.939 --> 00:04:29.939 it now. It's almost more impressive that he pulled 00:04:29.939 --> 00:04:33.120 that off with 1994 technology. But this brings 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:35.180 up the genre debate. You mentioned speed metal 00:04:35.180 --> 00:04:38.240 earlier. Yeah. I feel like if you ask a serious 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:40.120 metalhead, they might get pretty offended if 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:42.360 you call the Power Rangers theme metal. Oh, it 00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:44.819 is a massive point of contention. If you go on 00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:47.600 to music forums or Reddit threads, you will find 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:50.379 people arguing about this for pages. Is it heavy 00:04:50.379 --> 00:04:53.160 metal? Is it power metal? Is it just hard rock? 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.279 It's definitely heavier than standard pop. It's 00:04:56.279 --> 00:04:58.500 got the distortion. It's got the tempo. It's 00:04:58.500 --> 00:05:02.300 aggressive. Exactly. And Wasserman himself actually 00:05:02.300 --> 00:05:05.600 weighed in on this in a 2023 interview, which 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:07.920 I think settles the debate, or at least complicates 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:10.860 it in a really fun way. He describes it as speed 00:05:10.860 --> 00:05:14.560 metal, sort of. sort of is doing a lot of heavy 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:16.720 lifting there. It really is. But he makes a very 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:18.600 technical distinction that I think is brilliant. 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:21.800 He says it's not exactly heavy metal or pop metal 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:25.500 because of the vocals. OK, how so? Well, in traditional 00:05:25.500 --> 00:05:28.139 heavy metal or thrash, you usually have a certain 00:05:28.139 --> 00:05:32.279 vocal texture, guttural, deep, maybe a bit grungy 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:34.480 or screaming chord voices. Right, the Cookie 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:37.439 Monster vocals or just that gravelly. James Hetfield 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.680 sound. Exactly. Wasserman didn't do that. He 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.339 kept the vocals clean. He wanted the melody to 00:05:43.339 --> 00:05:45.519 be accessible to kids. He didn't want to scare 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:47.480 them. He wanted to energize them. That makes 00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:50.240 total sense. So he calls it speed metal, sort 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.180 of, because the music is thrashing, but the singing 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:54.860 is pop. So the instrumentation is doing one thing. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.459 being aggressive and fast, and the vocals are 00:05:57.459 --> 00:06:00.180 doing another, being melodic and catchy. It's 00:06:00.180 --> 00:06:02.699 a hybrid. Precisely. And here is where it gets 00:06:02.699 --> 00:06:05.220 really interesting. Wasserman actually made a 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:07.019 comparison in that interview that I love, and 00:06:07.019 --> 00:06:09.379 it might shock you. He compared the track to 00:06:09.379 --> 00:06:11.800 Metallica's album, Hardwired to Self -Destruct. 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:16.680 Wow. OK. That is a bold claim, comparing a children's 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:20.160 TV theme to Metallica. I could hear the metal 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:22.540 fans typing angry comments already. But look 00:06:22.540 --> 00:06:24.860 at why he made the comparison. He wasn't comparing 00:06:24.860 --> 00:06:27.339 the darkness or the lyrical themes. He was comparing 00:06:27.339 --> 00:06:30.819 the velocity. The speed. Yes. He said, wow, they're 00:06:30.819 --> 00:06:33.279 hitting that speed. He loved that Metallica album 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.699 because it was flying at such a fast pace. And 00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:38.519 that is the secret sauce of go -go Power Rangers. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:41.600 Velocity. That tracks. The show is about martial 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:44.240 arts, backflips, giant robots fighting aliens. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:46.379 You cannot have a mid -tempo ballad for that. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:48.660 You need music that feels like it is sprinting. 00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:51.100 And that combination thrash metal speed with 00:06:51.100 --> 00:06:53.579 pop sensibility vocals is why it works so perfectly. 00:06:53.980 --> 00:06:56.480 It had the speed of metal to feel cool and dangerous 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:58.860 to a six -year -old, but the accessibility to 00:06:58.860 --> 00:07:01.060 get past the sensors and the parents, it was 00:07:01.060 --> 00:07:03.879 basically the perfect gateway drug to rock music. 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:07.519 So we have the 1994 TV version. The keyboard 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.480 speed metal track. That is the one we all know. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:15.459 But then we hit 1995. The franchise completely 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:18.100 explodes. They decide to make a feature film. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:21.439 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the movie. A cinematic 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:24.639 masterpiece. Truly. And suddenly, the budget 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:26.970 isn't just guy with a keyboard anymore. This 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:29.389 is the pivotal moment for the song's credibility. 00:07:29.870 --> 00:07:32.589 They decide to re -record the theme for the movie 00:07:32.589 --> 00:07:34.870 soundtrack, and they didn't just hire some session 00:07:34.870 --> 00:07:37.670 guys off the street, they formed what was essentially 00:07:37.670 --> 00:07:40.449 a supergroup. I was looking at this list in the 00:07:40.449 --> 00:07:42.329 notes earlier and I actually had to double check 00:07:42.329 --> 00:07:44.370 that this was real. We were talking about legitimate 00:07:44.370 --> 00:07:47.269 rock royalty playing on a song for a kids movie. 00:07:47.430 --> 00:07:49.610 We are. They called it the Power Rangers Orchestra. 00:07:49.750 --> 00:07:52.110 Which is a very classy name for a group that 00:07:52.110 --> 00:07:54.550 includes some serious heavy hitters. Walk us 00:07:54.550 --> 00:07:56.389 through this lineup. Who is actually playing 00:07:56.389 --> 00:07:58.209 on this? Okay, let's start with the rhythm section. 00:07:58.509 --> 00:08:01.970 On drums you have Matt Sorum. Wait, Matt Sorum? 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:05.069 As in the drummer for Guns N' Roses during the 00:08:05.069 --> 00:08:07.740 Use Your Illusion era? The very same. At the 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:09.560 height of his career, midway through the 90s, 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:11.860 he is laying down the drum track for Power Rangers. 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:14.899 That is insane. Then on vocals, you have Eric 00:08:14.899 --> 00:08:17.779 Martin. The Mr. Big Guy. The voice behind To 00:08:17.779 --> 00:08:20.800 Be With You. Yes. A premier rock vocalist with 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.740 an incredible range. Yes. Then you have Tim Pierce 00:08:23.740 --> 00:08:26.100 on guitar, John Pierce formerly of Pablo Cruz 00:08:26.100 --> 00:08:29.199 on bass, and Kim Bullard on keys. What a lineup. 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:32.100 And they went into RUMBO recorders in Los Angeles 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:34.480 to do it. RUMBO recorders? Why do I know that 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:37.820 name? Because it's a legendary studio. Guns N' 00:08:37.980 --> 00:08:40.039 Roses recorded Appetite for Destruction there. 00:08:40.100 --> 00:08:42.620 Tom Petty recorded there. This wasn't a bedroom 00:08:42.620 --> 00:08:45.279 project anymore. They went to the Cathedral of 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:47.840 Rock and Roll to cut this track for real. So 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.179 this validates the composition, doesn't it? Because 00:08:50.179 --> 00:08:52.440 you cannot hide behind a keyboard anymore. You 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:54.799 have Matt Sorum hitting actual drums. If the 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:57.039 song was fundamentally bad, it would sound ridiculous, 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:59.679 played by a real band. That is exactly the point. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:02.320 The movie version proves that Wasserman didn't 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:05.679 just write a catchy jingle. He wrote a legitimate 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:08.690 rock composition. When you put Eric Martin's 00:09:08.690 --> 00:09:10.990 vocals on it and let Tim Pierce shred on a real 00:09:10.990 --> 00:09:13.629 guitar, it doesn't sound like a cartoon theme. 00:09:13.950 --> 00:09:16.149 It sounds like an epic power ballad. It really 00:09:16.149 --> 00:09:18.769 does. It's a five -minute and three -second rock 00:09:18.769 --> 00:09:21.590 anthem. It's funny because usually the movie 00:09:21.590 --> 00:09:24.509 version of a TV theme is worse. They try to overproduce 00:09:24.509 --> 00:09:26.950 it or make it edgy for the cinema, but in this 00:09:26.950 --> 00:09:29.370 case it felt like the song finally got the physical 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:32.080 body it deserved. It's like seeing a pencil sketch 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.299 turned into a giant oil painting. It fulfilled 00:09:34.299 --> 00:09:36.620 the promise of the original track. The original 00:09:36.620 --> 00:09:38.620 was the blueprint, and the movie version was 00:09:38.620 --> 00:09:41.279 the skyscraper. But the story doesn't stop in 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.860 the 90s. And this is what surprises me. Usually 00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:45.779 these things fade away. We get nostalgic. Maybe 00:09:45.779 --> 00:09:48.600 we listen to it on YouTube for a laugh. But Ron 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:50.899 Wasserman came back to it almost 20 years later. 00:09:51.179 --> 00:09:55.179 He did. In 2012, he released a digital album 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:58.879 called Power Rangers Redux. And his reasoning 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:01.240 for this was really interesting. He admitted 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:03.360 that back in the 90s, the original recordings 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:05.539 were a bit of a rush job. Well, TV schedules 00:10:05.539 --> 00:10:07.799 are brutal. I imagine he had to churn that music 00:10:07.799 --> 00:10:10.379 out weekly. Exactly. He was composing scores 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:13.039 for episodes sometimes in a matter of days. So 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:15.899 even though the theme was iconic, he always felt, 00:10:16.299 --> 00:10:18.879 technically speaking, he could do better. He 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:21.240 wanted to use modern technology and his extra 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:23.659 20 years of production experience to punch up 00:10:23.659 --> 00:10:25.519 the track. Sounds like a director's cut. He wanted 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:28.120 to polish the mix. He wanted the energy to match 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:30.940 modern sound standards. Think about how rock 00:10:30.940 --> 00:10:35.159 music sounded in 2012 compared to 1994. Everything 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:37.600 became louder, punchier, more compressed. Right, 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:40.419 the loudness wars. Yeah. He didn't want the Power 00:10:40.419 --> 00:10:42.759 Rangers theme to sound retro or thin compared 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:45.360 to modern rock. He wanted it to hit just as hard. 00:10:45.659 --> 00:10:47.840 That shows a lot of pride in the work. He didn't 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:50.440 just cash the royalty checks and move on. He 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:52.500 cared about the sonic quality of the legacy. 00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:56.259 But speaking of legacy, the show itself kept 00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:59.159 changing, and the song had to survive those changes. 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:02.639 This brings us to what we might call the adaptable 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:05.980 era of the song. Starting in 2011 with Power 00:11:05.980 --> 00:11:09.360 Rangers Samurai, the show brought in a new performer, 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:12.759 Noam Kanyal, to handle the theme. And this is 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:15.480 where we see just how flexible that core hook 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:17.899 really is. Right, because the show changes themes 00:11:17.899 --> 00:11:20.080 every year or two. You have samurais, then you 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.139 have dinosaurs, then you have space ninjas. It 00:11:22.139 --> 00:11:24.889 is a lot to keep up with. And the song shapeshifts 00:11:24.889 --> 00:11:27.590 to fit them. Kanyel's version was used for Samurai 00:11:27.590 --> 00:11:30.570 and Super Samurai. Then for Power Rangers Megaforce 00:11:30.570 --> 00:11:33.629 in 2013, they rearranged it again. They changed 00:11:33.629 --> 00:11:36.129 the lyrics to fit the specific plot of that season. 00:11:36.470 --> 00:11:38.450 Even earlier than that, the notes mentioned Alien 00:11:38.450 --> 00:11:41.100 Rangers had minor lyric changes too. Good catch, 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:43.299 yes. It's a branding exercise at that point. 00:11:43.659 --> 00:11:45.879 You can swap Mighty Morphin for Megaforce, but 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:49.039 you cannot lose that go. Exactly. Even when the 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:51.759 show eventually moved on to entirely new compositions 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:55.440 for seasons like Dino Charge or Ninja Steel or 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:59.080 Beast Morphers and Dino Fury, they still forced 00:11:59.080 --> 00:12:02.480 that Titular refrain go go Power Rangers into 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.779 the melody. It's the DNA of the franchise You 00:12:04.779 --> 00:12:06.980 can change the suits you can change the actors, 00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:09.759 but you can't lose that sequence of notes It 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:12.100 is the sonic logo. It's like the McDonald's whistle 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:14.779 or the intel chime But what I find even more 00:12:14.779 --> 00:12:17.860 fascinating is how this sonic logo escaped the 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:20.600 show entirely We have to talk about the covers 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:22.679 because looking at this list from the source 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:25.759 material Calling it eclectic is an understatement 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.600 It is unhinged. Unhinged is definitely the correct 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:30.960 word. The list of covers shows that this song 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.139 crossed boundaries that shouldn't exist. It wasn't 00:12:33.139 --> 00:12:35.320 just covered by pop singers, it was fully adopted 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:37.460 by the metal community. Let's run to the highlights. 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:40.759 You have a new metal version from 2003. Released 00:12:40.759 --> 00:12:43.559 by Buena Vista Records, which makes total sense. 00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:46.259 It was the era of baggy pants, wallet chains, 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:49.440 and backward caps. New metal is huge, so Power 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.539 Rangers went new metal. That's standard marketing. 00:12:51.700 --> 00:12:53.519 But then we completely go off the rails. Tell 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:57.679 me about the Goblins. Oh, man. Yes. There is 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:01.039 a band called Necro -Goblicon. Necro -Goblicon. 00:13:01.059 --> 00:13:02.879 That sounds like something you would fight in 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:04.899 the Dungeons and Dragons campaign. They are a 00:13:04.899 --> 00:13:07.919 melodic death metal band, that. Well, their whole 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:10.159 gimmick is Goblins. They released a track called 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:13.720 the Goblin Rangers theme. It is a full on evil 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:16.720 parody of the song with Goblin theme lyrics. 00:13:16.820 --> 00:13:19.139 That is incredible. Taking a song about pure 00:13:19.139 --> 00:13:22.500 -hearted teen heroes and turning it into a goblin 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:24.700 anthem. That is high art right there. And it 00:13:24.700 --> 00:13:26.799 gets heavier. There is an underground death metal 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:30.100 act called Vile Inscription. Oh, wow. They covered 00:13:30.100 --> 00:13:32.720 the song, but they used video clips from the 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.179 Power Rangers video game. It's guttural. It's 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:37.720 aggressive. It's literally death metal Power 00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:39.600 Rangers. I bet Ron Wasserman did not see that 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:41.399 coming when he was programming that keyboard 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:44.720 in 1994. Probably not. But it proves the riff 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:46.879 works. You can play it clean or you can play 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:49.340 it with maximum distortion and double kick drums. 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:52.899 And it still sounds structurally good. Leo Maracchioli, 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:56.179 the Norwegian metal singer who is huge on YouTube, 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:58.899 did a version two. It just translates to every 00:13:58.899 --> 00:14:01.000 shade of heavy music. And then on the complete 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:03.080 opposite end of the spectrum, you have an official 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:07.220 remix from 2019 featuring DJ White Shadow released 00:14:07.220 --> 00:14:10.039 by Hasbro. So now it is in the club. Exactly. 00:14:10.179 --> 00:14:12.639 From Norwegian metal to the dance floor. So. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:15.480 What is the ultimate takeaway here? We have a 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:19.279 song that started as a rush job by one guy pretending 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:22.299 to be a band. It evolved into a supergroup performance 00:14:22.299 --> 00:14:24.960 with Guns N' Roses members. It's been turned 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.559 into death metal, new metal, and club remixes. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:29.899 Why does this song survive? Why are we still 00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:32.139 talking about it 30 years later? I think it speaks 00:14:32.139 --> 00:14:34.950 to the power of a truly great hook. We often 00:14:34.950 --> 00:14:37.710 dismiss children's music or TV themes as disposable 00:14:37.710 --> 00:14:39.690 or merely functional. We think, oh, it's just 00:14:39.690 --> 00:14:41.090 there to sell toys. Right, it's just a commercial. 00:14:41.490 --> 00:14:43.470 Exactly. But Wasserman created something that 00:14:43.470 --> 00:14:46.309 was musically sophisticated. It adhered to the 00:14:46.309 --> 00:14:48.850 rules of rock and metal so well that it earned 00:14:48.850 --> 00:14:51.350 the genuine respect of actual metal musicians. 00:14:51.730 --> 00:14:53.970 It transcended its medium. It stopped being a 00:14:53.970 --> 00:14:57.129 cartoon song and became just a great song. It 00:14:57.129 --> 00:14:59.289 became a piece of shared language. If you are 00:14:59.289 --> 00:15:02.289 in a bar in Los Angeles or a metal club in Norway 00:15:02.289 --> 00:15:05.149 or a convention in Tokyo and you play that riff, 00:15:06.129 --> 00:15:08.129 everyone knows what it is. It connects generations. 00:15:08.269 --> 00:15:10.029 You have the original fans who are now in their 00:15:10.029 --> 00:15:12.330 thirties and forties and their kids who know 00:15:12.330 --> 00:15:15.870 the newer versions. It is also a massive testament 00:15:15.870 --> 00:15:18.889 to constraints. Wasserman didn't have a budget. 00:15:19.649 --> 00:15:21.330 He didn't have a band. He had a tight deadline 00:15:21.330 --> 00:15:24.279 and a keyboard. And he created something more 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:26.620 memorable than most of the real rock songs released 00:15:26.620 --> 00:15:30.259 in 1994. It is the ultimate proof that creativity 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:32.500 thrives when you have limits. If he had hired 00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:34.639 a generic session band that day, maybe it would 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:36.820 have just been a standard, forgettable rock track. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:39.759 But because he had to program it, he gave it 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:42.360 that superhuman speed and precision that made 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:44.879 it iconic. Well, that brings us to the end of 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.740 our deep dive into the surprisingly complex world 00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:51.299 of Go Go Power Rangers. It has been a wild ride. 00:15:52.179 --> 00:15:54.679 But before we go, I want to leave you with a 00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:57.500 final thought to mull over. We spent a lot of 00:15:57.500 --> 00:15:59.460 time talking about how the original song was 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:02.799 a digital illusion. Fake drums, fake guitar, 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:07.000 but real energy. We live in a world now where 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:09.679 AI and digital production are taking over everything. 00:16:10.419 --> 00:16:12.840 People are constantly debating what is real music. 00:16:13.450 --> 00:16:16.009 But if a song that millions of kids bang their 00:16:16.009 --> 00:16:18.470 heads to was technically fake, but the feeling 00:16:18.470 --> 00:16:21.549 it gave them was completely real, does the authenticity 00:16:21.549 --> 00:16:24.649 of the instrument actually matter? Or is the 00:16:24.649 --> 00:16:26.769 emotional energy the only thing that really counts? 00:16:26.950 --> 00:16:28.730 That is the big question. Something for you to 00:16:28.730 --> 00:16:30.230 think about the next time you hear that guitar 00:16:30.230 --> 00:16:32.370 riff explode in your head. Thanks for exploring 00:16:32.370 --> 00:16:34.070 this with us and we will catch you on the next 00:16:34.070 --> 00:16:34.549 deep dive.