"57 Channels (And Nothin' On)" by Bruce Springsteen

1992 / #68

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This is the first of a series of entries I call the Sesame Three.

One day back in 1992, I got a batch of 3 new cassette singles. All 3 are now lost hits. I still have the cassettes, but these tracks have disappeared from the public consciousness. They're completely lost. You never hear any of them now - and probably haven't since 1992. In fact, we very, very rarely ever heard them on local radio to begin with, since our stations were so stodgy by then. I can be proud that I didn't pick the big hits, because the top of the chart was filled by Mr. Big and the Heights.

All 3 singles in this batch had some connection with Sesame Street. I'll be featuring them here in increasing order of Sessification. First among them is "57 Channels."

Bruce's lost hit actually has only a very remote Sesame Street link. I don't know if the lyrics were meant to be taken metaphorically, or if it actually is a song about TV. I'll assume the latter. And any discussion of TV is sure to turn into a discussion of Sesame Street.

There may have been 57 channels in that cable-ready era, but at least Sesame Street was on. And it was still good. The show also introduced new closing credits with a cartoon of a dancing Statue of Liberty. Today, however, the show is unwatchable.

Among the few shows I regularly watched in 1992 was The Simpsons. I don't remember what year it was that there was a reality show about a high school where the toilet overflowed because someone clogged it, but that might have been a one-time special, not a regular series.

Bruce should have called his song "57 Channels (And Nothing On Except Sesame Street, The Simpsons, And A School Where The Toilet Overflowed)." A lot of TV in 1992 was truly miserable. I remember visiting family members, and they had on bad sitcoms that prompted me to provide some mock laughter. There was one that consisted mostly of just a teenage girl talking to herself.

I had to watch a lot of TV that year, because that was when it rained all summer. The one day it didn't rain was when all the local stations covered half the screen with their "severe thunderstorm watch" graphic. I also remember riding around in the car that day and we kept driving into a fart.

In my day, my grandparents told me what life was like without TV. Today's kids get to hear what life was like with bad TV. Their grandchildren will too, because it's worse now.