It had sold more than 500,000 copies. And some of them played instruments, maybe?SPEAKER TWO: All dancing in the real world, but in their little clay situation.SPEAKER THREE: They were disproportionately raisinly huge. And as that rift widened, the raisins fell right through it. Sarah tells us what happened next SW: In 1994, a group of raisin packers voted to shut down CALRAB. The band broke up. Please take time to look at pictures I try and show condition clear as possible. SPEAKER ONE: It was like a Mr. 1 Mar. So, CALRAB proposed this big advertising campaign, with national TV commercials. SW: This is Matthew Malcolm again. WERNER: Uh yeah, it was probably a little bit of a shock, I guess. These days, some growers are abandoning ship entirely, ripping out their vineyards and planting almonds instead. But were they a success for the raisin industry? The California Raisins released four studio albums on Priority Records, BMG, and ZTT Records between 1987 to 1994, and their signature song, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", landed on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 84 or 85. Hey. Merchandise sales included toys and Raisins images on nearly every conceivable medium: lunch boxes, notebooks, clothing, posters, bedsheets, and even a Halloween costume, just to name a few. 80s classic toys. Like that. Whod have ever thought that a beloved Motown classic would be brought back to life by a bunch of animated dried fruit? If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions. Your email address will not be published. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. [19], In 2014, the California Raisins made a cameo appearance in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called". They're just a staple. ROSS VANNELLI: Well how about doing an album? From Performing Songwriter Issue 111, July/Aug 2008. Refresh your browser window to try again. If you have any issues please contact me before leaving negative response I will always do my best make it right! We apologize for the interruption. . SW: But in some ways, it may be in the same place as it was in the '80s. Browse 55 i heard it through the grapevine stock photos and images available, or search for california raisins to find more great stock photos and pictures. It began to cost CALRAB too much to market the Raisins, and the public moved on. SW: The winning concept was a raisin with big eyes, a defined nose, and a wide mouthperfect for lip syncing. And this broke the mold. Like the whole body was just a head, with arms and legs waving about. SW: The ad was a hit. SW: The ad agency hired a guy named Will Vinton and his team to take the animated mockup of the ad and turn it into clay animationor, claymation. [8] While cel animated by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, it maintained Will Vinton's creative direction. View wiki Lots of brands tested the limits of this rule, including Sunmaid: BK: I got permission from the manager to create a claymation ad where I had the Dancing Raisins singing to the Sunmaid girl. AD SEVEN: I heard it through the grapevine! If you would like to know how we handle complaints, please click, . Those California Raisins weren't just in California anymore. SPEAKER TWELVE: And it was all claymation, and they'd sing Christmas carols and stuff there were I think other characters and things in it as well. SW: But, on the other side of the debate, if you ask Barry Kriebel, he'll tell you it is much more complicated than that. What about Michael Jackson and what he was contributing? The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. SPEAKER THREE: The one song I remember them doing all the time was "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" To the point where I was a kid and I hadn't, I don't think it really clicked to me that that was like a real song. SW: Yeah, that did not go over well within the industry. He says if it had just been up to him, he would not have ended CALRAB and therefore the Dancing Raisins. They all want to have them back [sigh] I don't know if it's just because they love the dancing raisins, or I think more than that, is they just want a powerful campaign, you know, backing up California raisins. AD TWO: We know raisins are natural, but kids just know what they like. And so he says, 'Ok fine. As for the music, the commercial featured Buddy Miles, a Carlos Santana collaborator and drummer for Jimi Hendrix, singing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"picked because of the obvious connection between grapes and raisins, but also because the song had seen a resurgence after the Marvin Gaye version had been used for the opening scene of the 1983 hit movie The Big Chill. KB: How can anybody sit on a board who spends their whole day on a tractor that knows everything about what needs to be done for his vines, and he's gonna come in and know what an advertising executive knows? RAISINS SHOW: You might have heard about us through the old grapevine. Demand was down. Many of the items created for the campaign have become part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. We love hearing from you. Almost like you can hear the band warming up "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in the distance. Today, the story of the California Dancing Raisins. How could this ad that on its surface seems like an unmitigated success also have caused all these other problems? CH: From Business Insider. This commercial has witimaginationand it was good enough that I went and bought a box of Californian grown raisins.'. SW: The raisin industry quickly followed up with more ads. Almost across the board, everyone I spoke to had good things to say about the ad itself. And I told him, all of this sounds absolutely exhausting: KB: I'm still here! I will only talk to you, Will.'. The California Raisins are often accompanied by a soundtrack of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," originally popularized by singer Marvin Gaye. But Barry Kriebel says, at that point, the actual facts had stopped mattering. And in 1998wait for it, another acronymthe CRMBCalifornia Raisin Marketing Boardtook over as the new hype machine for California Raisins. SW: Those people started calling CALRAB and the ad agency, asking when and where the ad would play again. Matthew has observed his fair share of contentious industry meetings. A board member said, 'Seth, can you do it again?' And then they called me and they said, 'you know what it's platinum in Canada too!' Web. But in 1994, the. Leave a message at (646) 768-4777, or email us at btyb@insider.com. 2016 ScienceAGoGo. And that takes unity. et Cie, S.C.A. SW: That's Alvin and the Chipmunks, for those of you aren't fans. But there's one letter that really stands out: WERNER: Okay, this is from the Fitzgerald-Hartley Company. They have two big jobs. SW: Paul. So they'd pose them, they'd take a picture of that, then they'd re-pose them slightly in a slightly different pose, take a picture of that. And maybe some people are pessimistic about it, I don't know, maybe people are tired of just the lack of unity. SW: Seth remembers going to a friend's apartment the night he got the account. Vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles. So, just like at Thanksgiving dinner, while CALRAB tried to calm everyone down and broker peace from the head of the table, squabbling raisin packers aired old grudges and argued about who was and was not getting their fair share of the cash. The Dancing California Raisins were a go. Who'd have ever thought that a beloved Motown classic would be brought back to life by a bunch of animated dried fruit? CALRAB, the organization who made the campaign, was also closed on July 31, 1994, due to disagreements with raisin producers over the fairness of required payments to the organization. First aired on September 14, 1986, Werner's idea for a 30-second television commercial introduced audiences to The California Raisins, a group of anthropomorphized raisins with expressive eyebrows, stylish shoes, and the slickest dance moves since the Chiquita Banana shimmied into advertising in the 1940s. Back in 1987, the president of Priority Records got in touch with Ross, and he asked him to produce an album of Motown hits, sung by the California Raisins. In fact, the industry was on an upswing. SW: Big ingredient customers could actually look up in state records how much money, per ton, raisin packers were paying CALRAB. In The Simpsons episode "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", The California Raisins were spoofed as The California Prunes, on a special entitled Christmas with the California Prunes. (laughs). (869) $17.99. Their cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. Did it, uh, did it drive up the price of raisins? Or 'if it's bad for Sunmaid, it's gotta be good for them. Like the Archies before them, the imaginary band was a hit. [6] However, the Raisins would continue to make their strongest impression through animated endeavors, and the characters proved popular enough that they were used to endorse Post Raisin Bran cereal. California Raisins. Thanks to everyone who left us voicemails and shared their memories of the California Raisins in our Facebook group. But that wasn't the story around town. So Fresno is like Eden for raisins. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. By the time "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" hit #1, the song had been sitting there for more than two years. Kalem Barserian will tell you the ad made the raisin industry money, and he will pull out a calculator to prove it. album - including song video, artist biography, translations and more: I bet you're wonderin' how I knew 'Bout your plans to make me blue With some other guy you knew before Between the Besides appearing in short commercials, The California Raisins shared their musical chops in television specials. This figure is also included on CalRaisins.org. A Saturday morning cartoon series, The California Raisin Show, debuted the following year, but lasted only 13 episodes. Not this time, however! And the California raisin industry is, after all, a big family. Box Office Software produced a different, unrelated California Raisins computer game in 1988 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and PC compatibles. And their arms were like small, and they had like little legs. Your email address will not be published. No, not really. RV: I said, 'I'm going to do it where it feels authentic.' The comedy podcast Felix Navipod features discussion of the California Raisins on all 166 episodes of its run. Lead vocals in the group were sung by musician Bu, The California Raisins were a fictional R&B group created in the mid-1980s for a commercial produced by the California Raisin Advisory. Lead vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles. Their cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. SW: In the end, the ad went to air. California Raisins T-shirt ~ I Heard It Through The Grapevine ~ Claymation 80s. A short time after that, he sat in a studio and sang the words into a microphone while strumming his guitar along with a few friends. SW: Michael Brunsfeld was the commercial animation director at a company called Colossal Pictures, which had been contracted to do a mockup of the ad. It's a pop song reimagined as a nervous breakdown. They help out with keeping prices stable and have an eye on supply and demand. BK: If you're one of the largest ingredient buyers for bread or cereal or something, then really you're paying for it, right? MICHAEL JACKSON: And Will, keep these guys still until they do the heard it! He was so into it that he personally got in touch with Will Vinton, the claymation animator, and asked to be included in his own commercial. KB: Couldn't find it! The figures were kept in a box for several years and headed for the trash before being obtained by Webster Colcord, a former employee of Vinton. We apologize for the interruption. 16:20 How do you distinguish your raisin bagel from my field to your field? Or did the dancing California raisins cause more trouble than they were worth? Watch the video for I Heard It Through the Grapevine from California Raisins's Sing The Hit Songs for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. SPEAKER NINE: Definitely didn't make me any more of a fan of raisins. Then in 1989, a 13-episode Saturday Morning Cartoon show calledThe California Raisin Show aired. Between 12th and 14th Streets Please take time to look at pictures I try and show condition clear as possible. The Raisins released numerous studio albums in the 1980s, starred in a cartoon series, and were nominated for an Emmy for their 1988 "Meet the Raisins" mockumentary. The article ranked The California Raisins' premiere advertisement, "Lunchbox", at #15 with comments by ad agency executive Claude Jacques and described the Raisins as "The coolest wrinkled musicians this side of the Stones. Our editor is Micaela Blei. Is it that people remember it? Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. The community that created them, and the questions they left in their wake. It was merely entertaining." (laughs). SW: Then, you've got nature to think about. The briefthe goal of the campaignwas to come up with a commercial that would make customers see raisins differently. The California Raisins, Michael Jackson, and more Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Official Music Video) Creedence Clearwater Revival 36M views some 80s music. They were all over the country, on mugs and lunchboxes and tee shirts. Little disagreements surfaced. SW: Within a month of its release, the album went gold. [Ebm E Ab Eb Cm] Chords for California Raisins Heard it Through the Grapevine (Better Quality) with Key, BPM, and easy-to-follow letter notes in sheet. But, that's not where this story ends. Strong came up with the idea and asked Motown writers Holland-Dozier-Holland to work on it with him. Blastfrompasttoys. KB: Heard it through the grapevine! Produced by Sarah Wyman, with Charlie Herman and Julia Press. Can you just give me an assignment? Free shipping for many products! His crime: growing raisins and then deciding to sell . https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/34693/California+Raisins/I+Heard+It+Through+the+Grapevine. SPEAKER FOUR: I loved those commercials as a kid, they were so cool. Watch the video for I Heard It Through the Grapevine from California Raisins's Sing The Hit Songs for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. AD ONE: Lay some happiness on me, give me raisins and I'll be. SARAH WYMAN: Charlie, I have to start with a confession. KB: And the packers got pissed at Barry and killed the program. The plot of the game involved Tiny Goodbite having to rescue his friends who have been kidnapped and held in a cereal factory. WERNER: 'Dear NBC, After weeks of trying to find out who to congratulate on a recent national ad, I came up with nothing. If there's anything we can do for you, please give me a call'. SW: I mean, how did you react when you found out about that?? And, for better or worse, they're also in it together on that front. SW: Remember, these were Fresno guys, not big city ad men. SW: His boss had him working mostly on trade adsstuff for industry publications not the kind of campaigns you or I would ever see in a commercial or on a billboard. The California Raisins are a fictional rhythm and blues musical group comprised of anthropomorphized raisins. WERNER: A frame was one snapshot. Listen on:Apple Podcasts |Stitcher | Spotify |and more. Costume, Occasion & Specialized Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Mobile Phones, Smart Watches, Accessories & Communication, Bathroom Fixtures, Accessories & Supplies, Industrial Printing & Graphic Arts Equipment, Shaving & Hair Removal Products & Equipment, The California Raisi - I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Used Vinyl - E8100A, eBay (UK) Limited is an appointed representative of, Learn more about Product Partnerships Limited - opens in a new window or tab. But Michael Jackson, well he was not about that. (981) $9.95. Our collection database is a work in progress. 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